GAME OF DEATH

Director : Robert Clouse

Producer : Raymond Chow





Stars Bruce Lee, Dean Jaeger and Bob Wall. Bruce Lee died during the making of Game Of Death, which was finally released in 1978, 5 years after his death. Although Bruce completed the fantastic fight scenes (including the one shown above with Kareem Abdul Jabbar - the giant basketball star trained by Bruce Lee), his character Billy Lo is played by another actor wearing sunglasses elsewhere.
Billy Lo (Bruce Lee) is a martial arts films star (like Bruce himself), and a local protection racket want him as a part of the syndicate agency. When Billy refuses their offer, knowing it would lead to trouble, he is shot down during filming for a kung-fu film, after consistent threats from the agency. Billy persuades doctors to announce to the world that he is dead, to keep himself and his girlfriend in safety, and a public funeral is held containg a model of his body.
At a local ring fight (including Samo Hung), Billy discguises himself and plans his revenge on the agency. At the end of the fight, Billy enters the locker room where a superb fight scene takes place, and kills one of the agencies leading members (Bob Wall). The agency are positive that only Billy Lo would have the power and skill to do such a thing, so they have his coffin digged up. Obviously, they find only a model of Billy's body, and they plan to properly kill him this time. This leads to a number of classic fight scenes as Billy moves from room to room, especially against the gigantic Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

Rating : 6/10 This film contains some excellent fight scenes, but really does lack the presence of Bruce Lee elsewhere. It is a reasonably average film and is certainly not one of his best efforts. The plot is slightly tedious, although interesting at times. I would definitely recommend any of his other films as an alternative.