Game of Death (1978)

[死亡遊戲]

Director: Robert Clouse
Starring: Bruce Lee, Gig Young, Colleen Camp

Synopsis:
A martial arts star fakes his death in a bid to take down the syndicate extorting him and his girlfriend.

Impressions:
When you have a film in production and your lead dies, you have three choices: 1) scrap the project, 2) start over with a new lead, 3) awkwardly try to finish the movie using whatever hook or crook you can. This film took the third option as a rather repellant bid to cash in on Bruce Lee's fame. Lee's original concept for the movie is really cool, using the pagoda as a demonstration of the flaws of current martial arts styles and how his own system of Jeet Kune Do means to overcome those flaws. The original footage from this film represents the highlight of the movie and arguably the only real reason for watching it.

The new plot that got cobbled together uses three different stand-ins for Lee, none of whom look all that much like him (and no oversized sunglasses, fake beards or cardboard cutouts taped to mirrors will change that). The story is decent enough, but the way it exploits Lee's death (even using footage from his actual funeral) leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Quite a few people turned down participating in the picture out of respect for Lee. I did like Dean Jagger as Dr. Land and Robert Wall as enemy heavy Carl Miller. From the original footage, the iconic match with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar stands out most, but the other two fights with Dan Inosanto and Ji Han-jae are good too.

You can see the original footage elsewhere and that may be enough for you. If you aren't too repelled by what was done here, morbid curiosity might be enough to get you through. You'll probably be happier watching the pagoda fight scenes online, but that's just my take on it.

Rating:
50/50