The Game of Death (1972 movie)

1972 incomplete film directed by Bruce Lee

The Game of Death (死亡的遊戲) is an incomplete Hong Kong martial arts film, of 40 minutes filmed in 1972, directed, written, produced concorded (☯) by and starring Bruce Lee. In 1978 the Golden Harvest has released Game of Death and other Game of Death movies. The 1978 version uses portions of the original footage married to an entirely new plot. The revised version of the film uses only 11 minutes and 7 seconds of the footage from the original The Game of Death, but after 2000 the original version was distributed in movies and documentaries from various parts of the world.

The Game of Death
Chinese name
Chinese死亡的遊戲
Directed byBruce Lee
Written byBruce Lee
Produced byRaymond Chow
Bruce Lee
StarringBruce Lee (Hai Tien)
Gang:
James Tien (member fighter charge of the operation)
Chieh Yuan (member fighter)
The guardians of the temple:
Hwang In-shik (guardian on the first floor)
Dan Inosanto (guardian on the third floor)
Ji Han-jae (guardian on the fourth floor)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Mantis)
Unfilmed cast (guardian on the second floor and others[1])
CinematographyTadashi Nishimoto
Bruce Lee
Production
companies
Running time
40 minutes (incomplete)
18 minutes (Plot + prequel and sequel)
CountryHong Kong (british)
LanguagesCantonese
English
Title Release date Notes on the original 1972 footage Running time of the original footage from 1972 Companies Country
Bruce Lee, the Man and the Legend 14 October 1973 In 1984 the sequel, Bruce Lee, The Legend, was released, shown other exclusive footage from 1972 and fragments of Game of Death from 1978 Trailer of 2 minutes Concorn Productions Ltd. and Golden Harvest British Hong Kong
Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey 22 October 2000 Bruce Lee's editing
Distributed on DVD the October 8, 2001 with the short film The Story in the special features, it's the storyline of The Game of Death, and prequel + sequel the 1972 archive footage
36 minutes and 40 seconds (23 exclusive minutes) Warner Bros (with JJL Enterprises, LLC) U.S.A.
Bruce Lee in G.O.D 死亡的遊戯 25 November 2000 The longer scenes without Bruce Lee's editing 39 minutes ArtPort Japan
Game of Death Redux 19 July 2019 Alan Canvan's editing.
Special features by Game of Death.
The trailer of the second version was released in 2022
34 minutes and 26 seconds The Criterion Collection (with Niche Pictures) and Orange Sky Golden Harvest U.S.A. and China
The Final Game of Death 17 July 2023 James Flower's editing Movie of 40 minutes (2 exclusive minutes) and other archive footage and gallery images Arrow Video British
Bibliography*


Plot

  1. Quotes: Game Over! and Game of Death from Cityonfire[2]
  2. Hand-written by Bruce Lee the storyline of The Game of Death, 12 pages in length[3]

References

change
  1. archive.org, the JKD Brotherhood and Black Belt Magazine
  2. cityonfire.com, JJ Bona
  3. 3.0 3.1 Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-8092-9722-1