GAME OF DEATH (1978) Retrospective / Review 

Lee's original script for Game of Death was ahead of its time. It's essentially the basis of almost every video game; fight through a level, defeat the boss, level up.

Watching the behind the scenes footage of Game of Death always made me sad, it looked like Bruce and the cast were having so much fun making this movie, and it's a shame that it was never fully completed. Still, the archived footage that we do have kicks all sorts of ass.

the musical score of Game of Death is awesome

One aspect I really liked about Bruce Lee's concept was that his character was a former champion, considered the best and a retired from the sport of martial tournaments. So the syndicate wanted him more than anyone else for the mission. James Tien's character (The last guy before Bruce to fight Kareem) was supposed to be the then current world champion who hated being under the shadow or Bruce's character, so the animosity developed in the idea of the characters was very smart. James wanted to prove he was better, but in the end, paid with his life due to ego.

It is still creepy to me how much Bruce's faked death in this movie bares resemblance to Brandon Lee's death. Being shot by a stuntman on the set of a movie...

I won't lie, the soundtrack is perhaps the only thing that keeps me not disregarding the 1978 movie altogether. Its great, I like the main theme.

The Pagoda sequence is awesome and shows how brilliant Bruce’s vision was. The once thought lost footage was Unearthed at Golden Harvest by a Hong Kong film historian.

I have seen images of Bruce's family outside the 1978 Game of Death premiere with Brandon being interviewed before going to see this film. I cannot imagine how bad it would be to go see the film when the scene of his father's ACTUAL funeral comes on. Totally disrespectful.

Your attention to detail is unrivaled

Was waiting for this one Oliver, thank you very much. Bruce Lee is my idol and a person who's philosophy and determination against the odds and disciple in self belief has gotten me through some dark times in my life.

Bruce lee's mum walked out in tears at the premier of GOD at the scene when they dug up Bruce's coffin at his grave, as if it weren't bad enough showing Bruce's actual funeral.

A quick fact: The people doing Bruce's voice in the discovered Game of Death footage are... Bruce Lee: A Warriors Journey - John Little. Bruce Lee in G.O.D - Bey Logan.

He was a great innovater and makes you wonder what great films and ideas he could have created if he didn't pass.Great review.

Even with all the silliness and the fact they exploited Lee's death , I still love this film and have since I was a teenager, I wore out the vhs something fierce . I don't know about the score being mediocre , it's one of my favorites from any of his films and it's one of my favorite Barry creations, it's powerful and invigorating. I also love , totally obsessed with the sequence in and outside of the factory , it's total perfection the way it's staged , edited , and choreographed , just perfect. And yeah , Game of Death part 2 is a terrific companion piece, it's easily one of the best martial arts films from that era , totally stunning fight choreography, and some great set design and cinematography. Great retrospective again, you never fail to deliver

Damn, they used the "modern editing techniques" that The Simpsons mentioned in the "Radioactive Man: The Movie" episode!

Not a very good film, but the tower boss battles and the soundtrack by John Barry are outstanding.

Game of death couldv'e been lee's best film if he finished it.

Birthday was yesterday Ollie and this is the best late gift I have ever had love your retrospectives as always

16:40 I forgot how great that kick to the head was. As you can see clear as day it connected and did go through a crate to do so.

When the so-called sequel is a much more enjoyable movie of the released version of Game Of Death, you know something wrong happened.

The best film channel on RU-vid, hands down

Even though the fight in the locker room wasn’t Bruce. It was done so well in the spirit of lee that fans suspended their judgement. I remember hearing thunderous applause when Billy lo kicked Carl into the locker BBC and uttered that iconic line YOU LOSE CARL MILLER!

You should do a full video of Game of Death II; there's some surprisingly high-profile names attached to that production!

I'm a sell-out to John Barry and LOVE this score.

It wouldn't surprise me if they found more footage of Game Of Death. They found more footage of Metropolis over 90 years after it was made, and the Hong Kong film industry pumps out so many movies a year that their film vaults are probably packed with undiscovered footage.

An Oliver Harper review/retrospective just makes my day!

I liked this one just because I got to see Bob Wall actually show what he could do. The first Lee movie I ever saw was Enter the Dragon and his purpose is to get utterly outclassed by Bruce, so watching him demonstrate his ability was a treat.

A retrospective on Sorcerer 1977 would be great. Talk about a troubled production. 40th anniversary Blu Ray was recently released. It's a masterpiece of a film.

Love the soundtrack of game of death!

I have aspergers syndrome, I need order and repetition in a lots of things in my life. I have a huge list of films that for one reason or another I need to watch, the only way I can describe it is that they make me feel calm and safe. I love nothing better than to get in bed with my wife and watch one of the films in my list to fall asleep. All these films mean a lot tome and I don't think I could function for long without them. What I'm getting at is that your entire channel is part of that. I love the depth you go to and the amount of info in your vids really makes me centred. I wish I could explain what it feels like but all I can say is thank you, you help me function. Also yours is the only crowed funder I've ever supported. How could I not? Can't wait to see the finished thing.

@ 4:43 I imagine the theme from Bloodsport where Dux vs Chong Li was playing at this part of this video.

Has there ever been an in depth interview with James Tien, especially in regards to Bruce, his career in Hong Kong and his vision for this movie in particular?? James Tien starred with Bruce in The Big Boss, Fist of Fury and was meant to have a fairly sizeable role in this movie as well. He had a good career on his own before and after starring with Lee. It would be interesting to hear his point of view on all of this. Bruce was and always will be the greatest in my opinion. This may have been the greatest film ever had he lived to complete it and we can only dream about where his career would have gone afterwards.

Thank you Oliver for bringing back one of the controversial (but fun) movie genres of all time, the Martial Arts. Here in Chile, many of these films were highly popular between the 70's and mid 80's and the place to watch them were some grindhouse cinemas where they show with other two flicks. According to some newspapers, one of the last showings of "Game of Death" in Santiago de Chile was in the Christmas of 1986 at the Acapulco Cinema (now turn into a Christian Temple). By $100 pesos (0,5 pounds of today) you could enjoy a program that included "Game of Death", "Search and Destroy" (1979) and.... "Remo Williams" (1985). An awesome selection that now is possible to bring back to life thanks to Blu-Ray or Torrent, but nothing compare to watch this flicks in the big screen with your gang. Thanks and keep making more of your awesome videos.

One of your best, Oliver! Wonderful work, as always.

I'm usually not up for remakes, but this could a good one. You could have loads of different legends in the pagoda. Great retrospective as usual mate.

I had that same set of videos back in the day, I didn't notice the Bond sound at the time, but now you mention it I can hear it clearly. Enjoyed the retrospective, stellar work as usual sir.

Another home run, good sir. Thank you so much for this. I was always fascinated with what this film could have been. Cheers and continued success, M.

Oliver you nailed it once again!! Your reviews are Mint!!

Anyone else ever noticed the impact THE GAME OF DEATH had on the videogame industries?? In this movie Bruce Lee fights in Pagoda,in which in every floor....or "level",there is a different set of thugs and a different end area/ end level boss for Lee to deal with....just videogames. I think this movie had a big impact on game designing because of how the movie is layed out.

Why didnt his wife Linda Lee sue/demand the funeral footage be removed?

The original version would have been amazing if it were finished. The Levels concept is exhilarating.

Excellent work! Thank you so much for reminding me about the travesty (and huge guilty pleasure) that is Game of Death. Well done on your excellent channel, you have a real talent mate :)

As a kid I had the vhs and loved the John Barry score. I constantly played the opening credit scene and listened to that song. Maybe I loved it so much because I also like Bond soundtracks.

My second favorite Bruce Lee movie. Awesome film. And a great score. Kick ass movie. GAME OF DEATH R I P BRUCE LEE

Hi Oliver. Great review as always. I was lucky enough to see the Japanese version at a Bruce Lee convention in London, which was attended by his younger brother Robert in 2001. They announced that they were going to show the Game of Death fights and at the time most of us didn't know about the unreleased footage. So imagine our surprise as the cartoon pagoda merges into the Dan Inosanto footage. They also showed the rest of the outtakes which were just 3 or 4 different takes of the same shots, but lasted around 90 minutes. This is what was found by Bey Logan in the Golden Harvest vaults. However I always think the fights need to be slightly trimmed, as the seem to hold on to the shots a fraction to long and this affects the overall pace. Like a lot of fans, it was the only footage of Bruce's actual funeral we could see at that time. Also the shooting incident in the film for told Brandon's tragic death in similar circumstances on the set of The Crow.

Been looking forward to this one. Great work, Oliver.

thnx my friend for doing another great Retrospective review of my Sifu of life. can't wait for more, i love ur work bro, in my opinion u are the best to listen to and to watch. Bruce Lee will always be a special person to me with his Philosophy and mostly true speaking. he was ahead of his time and i wish he was still alive the man saved me many times in darker days. Thnx Oliver for always making such great videos i love them all. keep up the good the work. Greetings from Amsterdam.

What a great review one of my guilty pleasure movies. Very big Bruce Lee fan! Thank you Oliver!

I love this movie, despite its flaws, and it's a shame Bruce never got to finish his vision due to his unfortunate death. The 2013 DVD features all of Bruce's footage as a bonus feature, so I still recommend picking it up.

*Take a shot every time he says "bad taste".*

Great review. I was waiting for the new one and I am very happy that this was your choice. I love Bruce Lee and grew up with martial movies. I would love it if you could do some reviews of older Hong Kong martial arts movies, not just the commonly known ones, but the many, many great ones we've watched as kids and teenagers.

I can tell this took some hard work to get clear. The film is notorious and a great example of when studios and moneymen win out; when really the best thing to do is to just leave it unfinished and tastefully release what was accomplished. Well done on this one dude.

Fighting scenes with very few edit cuts. So rare these days...

Another thing worthy of note is that, for Billy Lo’s trickier, more-acrobatic movements, he was doubled by Yuen Biao, a former Chinese Opera fellow student of Sammo Hung (and Jackie Chan, for that matter). There is also one bit in the sequel where Kim Tai-Chung is doubled by Hwang Jang-Lee (which is in your video at 16:33), who had amazing kicking abilities and was considered the “King of Leg Combat” (and also had a role in _Game of Death II_ ). Sadly Kim Tai-Chung passed away at 54 back in 2011.

I've been waiting for this one too,cheers dude.

Glad you gave mention to game of death 2, it's nuts but it is really fun.

Love these videos bro!

How does this channel not have more subscribers?? it's bloody brilliant!!

The non Bruce scenes (fights) were choreographed by the legendary Sammo Hung, who cameos fighting Bob Wall. Yuen Biao is the impressive fighting double of principal fighting double Kim Tai Jong who himself was the double for the two actors they cast as Billy Lo (besides the re-edited Bruce footage). The wonderful James Hong dubbed the Billy Lo character. Enter The Fat Dragon is a wonderfully affectionate Lee tribute starring Sammo which is quite hilarious. Glad to hear you had fun with part 2, I love it, so much fun. Great video.

Game of Death is the first retrospective/review to use 1080p.

One thing about the 4k blu ray they accidentally put the Audio from the Hong Kong version in the Danny Inosato fight.

@17:28 Oh why! LOL! Ed Wood would be proud!

STUNNING work Oliver.

Your really awesome Oliver.. love your work thank you

The fight against the Hapkido master may be one of the best martial arts fights of all time considering the skill of both of them.

Thank you so much for doing this film!!!!!!!!

“You lose, Carl Miller!”

Great review and very informative

Great review (as per usual), Oliver! A trip down memory lane: i had those old 4-Front VHSes, too.:) I also remember stumbling across the TV showing of 'A Warriors' Journey' one night and being shocked and amazed that they'd found and reassembled the original footage - though i thought it was on Channel 5, rather than 4? I may well be misremembering, though. The only downside of this excellent retrospective is that i was planning on covering 'Game of Death' on my blog and pretty much everything i was going to say is now redundant. Grr!:p

In the stock footage, Bruce Lee picks up a book with "siu lam ji/shao lin tzu" written on it. That means "Shaolin Temple".

I remember watching the game of death footage on a film projector way before the movie

The Bruce Lee fallout was clearly a reason for Spider-Man' Hong Kong "adventure" in the live-action series "The Chinese Web" aka "The Dragon's Challenge." And this is one of those films, like Orson Welles' Mr. Arkadin, where the story behind the movie is more engrossing than the film itself.

This is amazing Oliver great job

Bloody hell you are good!

Now you’re talkin’. Thank you for doing this one.

Man I wish they would really remake that Bruce lee game for the original Xbox with the upgraded graphics & better controls & achievements & a few bonus things & unlocks if they wanted to throw that in the game . I that would be a real treat oh well I guess wishful thinking I’ve always thought about that game & wished they would remake it or remaster it . I love Bruce lee man. t as the young kids say now Adays true legend

I've always LOVED this film, including the 1978 version, there's something awesome about the naffness of it all combined with the prestige of it being Bruce Lee's 'final film'. Also- Oliver; are you ever going to talk about Mike Habjan's Superman Vs Hulk series? I'd love to hear your opinion on that...

This needs to be remade in Lee's actual vision.

Stellar stuff yet again, Mr Harper.

Excellent video!

This was a very interesting one Oliver. Thx 👍👌

the actor/stuntman next to Sammo At 9:48 it's Yuen Biao not Tang Long according to Bey Logan Yuen was uncredited.

Sammo Hung seems like he was a loyal friend to the real Lee.

a refreshing move on making a retrospective on one of Lee's films

I would love to see you review Battle Creek Brawl/The Big Brawl and The Protector

The guarded item at the top of the tower is probably not that special but the fact that it is so mysterious gives it this sort of aura,you just WANT to know now!lol...

What an excellent review ! 😊

Oh, shit, Robot Romp for the end card! Love that song!

What I don't understand is that why couldn't Robert Clouse get the two actors who were fighting alongside Bruce Lee in the original footage and incorporate them into the movie, he could have had the story revolve around them somehow and that way there wouldn't be a huge chunk of the footage missing from the final release which is basically all the footage containing Bruce Lee's sidekicks.

Good use of the DRAGON Bruce Lee story trailer music. Excellent!

Great vid loads of info

awesome break down

This one troubled me a lot as a kid watching it by myself. Luckily, (the first time) my father skipped to the only scenes that included Bruce and simply explained he had already gone away. Its clearly a Bruce Lee movie to me, but only because of that. If only he could be here today. Thanks Oliver (as always) and RIP Mr. Lee.

It sucks that that Bruce Lee died to early.😔 If Bruce Lee had lived a little longer, Game of Death would have been completed the Bruce Lee intended it to be; because I'm curious to see how the movie would have really looked like instead of the Robert Clouse version.

another powerful oliver harper review ladies and gentlemen!

14:58 Fun facts and additional trivia: Game of Death 2: Tower of Death is directed by Ng See-Yuen, best known for producing some Jackie Chan films produced by Seasonal Film Corporation (whose also a Co-founder of the film company) who produced Snake in the Eagle's Shadow and Drunken Master.

ALL your stuff is great!

The original fighting scenes with Bruce Lee is awesome!

A fantastic insight

My God thank you so much Oliver for this Retrospective. Could you please produce one for one of my favorite movies growing up. Paramount's: CLUE....