Post-mortem Lee
by Jansen Musico

Game of Death (1978)
D: Bruce Lee and Robert Clouse
S: Bruce Lee, Dan Inosanto, Ji Han Jae, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Bruce Lee was gone too soon. He died before he could ever complete what could have been his greatest movie project, The Game of Death. He had already shot a couple of fight scenes before halting production to make way for Enter The Dragon. When it was finally time to work on it, it was too late. All that was left was parts of the raw footage, which unfortunately was worked into a horridly refocused plot.

There are several cons to this posthumous project. The biggest downside to it was that Bruce Lee’s vision was not carried out the way he intended it to be. The Game of Death dropped “The” from the title and became a clip show muddled with blown up references to Lee’s own life. This reworked story follows Billy Lo, a Hong Kong action star being coerced by a syndicate to join their ranks. Lo fakes his own death and uses this as a cover to get to the big boss. Of course, the filmmakers took advantage of this plot device. Almost eighty percent of Billy Lo’s scenes were played by Bruce Lee stand-ins wearing cheap disguises. They also took the distasteful liberty of using Lee’s actual funeral footage and spliced it into the film.

On the flipside, the weaknesses of Game of Death only heightens the brilliance and genius of Bruce Lee. The difference in choreography is very telling. Viewers can automatically distinguish whether it’s a proxy or the real deal they’re seeing on screen. Lee has an undeniable spunk and swagger when he fights. His moves are snappier, more forceful, and laced with sharp hints of comedy—something Jackie Chan has always gunned for but never really succeeded in doing.

Though Game of Death is considerably lackluster plot-wise, Bruce Lee made all the difference. For a film that runs more or less than an hour-and-a-half, his twelve minutes are the only ones that matter. His final fight sequence, which shows Lee donning his iconic striped yellow jumpsuit, is a benchmark in fight film history. He faces three fighters, each specializing on a different fighting style: Dan Inosanto (Filipino Martial Arts), Ji Han Jae (Hapkido), and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Jeet Kune Do). Lee tackles his opponents using much wit to shoulder his technique and power. It was assumed that Lee wanted to prove something about the art of fighting with this sequence, but all of that was buried with him in his death. Though if there really is something that can pulled out of Game of Death, it’s this: the legacy of Lee lives on.