The Real Game
This is the story surrounding the making of Bruce Lee's "Game Of Death".
Raymond Chow has laid a screen of lies around Bruce Lee's most important project. He is a master of the carefully prepared public image. This man radiates calmness, with his quiet voice and almost permanent smile. But behind that smile lie some very sharp teeth, as many have found out. Like most successful businessmen, loyalty does not seem to be a word in Chow's vocabulary, and this is a key point to remember in relation to Bruce Lee and Game Of Death.
Bruce Lee signed with Raymond Chow to do "The Big Boss" and "Fist Of Fury" for a meer £3000 per film. These films were huge box-office successes that added to Chow's financial gain, but most importantly saved "Golden Harvest" from probable extinction. Now that his initial contract with "Golden Harvest" was complete, he could do whatever he wanted. He found that everyone wanted a piece of "The Little Dragon" , including Italian producer Carlo Ponti.
Ponti offered Bruce a blank cheque if he would do a film with Sophia Loren, which would have made him the highest paid actor in the world. Despite lucrative deals, Bruce decided to form his own production company, "Concord Productions" , and displaying a large amount of loyalty, asked Chow to become his partner in his new business.
"The Way Of The Dragon" , which saw Bruce write, direct, star, choreograph and play instruments on the soundtrack, was the first "Golden Harvest / Concord" co-production. It broke all box-office records in Hong Kong. Chow was over the moon by now, with the sure knowledge that Bruce's films were wiping out competition from "Shaw Brothers". All was well between Lee and Chow, as their second co-production, "Game Of Death" got underway. But all this was about to change, America was coming to Raymond Chow...
All the contacts Bruce had made at "Warner Brothers" had finally paid off after his "Warrior" concept hadn't worked and a confidential memo stating he was "too oriental" to play the part in "Warrior" , or as it was re-titled "Kung Fu" . Because of the "now or never" nature of the Americans, the shooting of "Game Of Death" was temporarily halted, and "Enter The Dragon" began. Raymond Chow was now working with the Americans, with possibilities seeming endless. If he could develop strong ties with "Warner Brothers" , he would never have to worry about "Shaw Brothers" again. This was a way of using Bruce to make a name for himself overseas.
"Enter The Dragon" was a "Warner Brothers / Golden Harvest / Concord Productions" project. Chow began preparing pre-production publicity material which stated the film was a "Warner Brothers / Golden Harvest " production, completely missing out Bruce's company name from the credits. Chow then began giving interviews to the Hong Kong press, stating that Bruce was like a stupid child who owed all his success to Chow's fatherly advice. Chow said that he was the puppet master and Bruce was his senseless puppet. But these tactics backfired on Chow. "Warner Brothers" were only interested in Bruce and not Chow's "Golden Harvest" company, making Bruce feeling betrayed by his old .
Bruce planned to co-produce his next project "Little Phoenix" with "Shaw Brothers" , even as far as going to shoot a series of costume tests. But before Chow's star pupil could defect, Bruce died, leaving "Enter The Dragon" complete and "Game Of Death" sadly unfinished.
In an interview, Raymond Chow stated that he couldn't look at the "Game Of Death" footage for a long time because he was too upset. That's odd, considering that he sent a camera crew around to film his dead 'friend's' home for the cash-in documentary "Bruce Lee, The Man & The Legend". They also filmed plenty of footage of the grieving Lee family, the funeral services, Bruce's body and the 'brave' Mr. Chow escorting a grief-stricken Linda Lee to the airport. These cinematic grave-robbers even returned to film more shots of Bruce's house as the removal men stripped the place. In a matter of weeks, this 'tribute' to the late Bruce Lee was being shown in all the Hong Kong cinemas. Would you say that these were the actions of a man terribly upset by a friend's death? I think not. With 'friends' like these...
Raymond Chow still harbored hopes of breaking into the American scene, and "Game Of Death" with Bruce Lee's name was the key. Bruce's original script was thrown away with indecent haste, and replaced with a tacky American scenario that would hopefully convince the American that Chow could produce films just as bad as their own.
A cast of American has-beens were assembled to star in Mr. Chow's version of "Game Of Death". These included Gig Young, a notorious alcoholic who blew his brains out shortly after 'completion' (He's drunk in almost every scene in the film). Hugh O'Brien, with connections to organised crime, shot his girlfriend, then himself shortly after 'completion'. Dean Jagger, the fanatical right-wingist, once got a director fired because of his political sympathies, also died shortly after 'completion'. Then there's Colleen Camp, a Z-grade 'actress', with hardly no credits to her name, was given the main female role.
Raymond Chow hired Robert Clouse to be director just that he could put 'By the makers of Enter The Dragon' on the film's poster. The only thing Chow got right was hiring Samo Hung (choreographer) and Bob Wall. By that I mean they tried talking Chow out of letting Clouse direct the film. Bob Wall later said that "Game Of Death" was hindered by having the man he considered the worst action director of all time. I agree, because Bruce knew what he was doing on "Enter The Dragon" and I don't think Clouse did. The locker room fight between Bob Wall and the Bruce Lee double looked better than the rest of the fight (minus the last real Bruce footage at the end) is because Samo and Bob barred Clouse from the set for that fight.
Three Bruce Lee doubles were used in "Game Of Death". Chen Yao Po, for the non-combat scenes; The extremely ugly Kim Tai Chung, mishandles the fights; and Yuen Biao, who physical shortness contrasts badly with the string-bean appearances of the other 'actors'. To make the action scenes even worse is the awful caterwauling, which, far from sounding anything like Bruce's war-cries, seems to be straight out of a Tom and Jerry cartoon.
Bruce Lee's character in "Game Of Death" is called Billy Lo. Billy is a Kung Fu actor (an excuse to show scenes from Bruce's previous films) with a blonde American girlfriend. They are being pressured to sign exclusive managerial contracts with American organized criminals. Billy always seems to be lurking around dimly lit rooms, wearing those stupendously large sunglasses, which he never takes off. It's almost as if he doesn't want anyone to see his face. Curiouser and curiouser... The American mobsters, obviously on holiday in Hong Kong shoot Billy in the face (excuse for jumping scene at the end of "Fist Of Fury". Billy fakes his own death, and is given a fake funeral (cue for Clouse to stick in real footage from Bruce's funeral). Raymond Chow must be wiping away the crocodile tears when he saw these scenes of Bruce's funeral and corpse. Personally, I think that this material should never have been included in the film, it is a disgrace to the memory of Bruce Lee. Anyway, donning a false beard, Billy is free to exact his puny revenge against the mobsters and their henchmen. The girlfriend gets kidnapped and stuck in a special warehouse constructed out of balsa wood, cardboard and sugar glass. Billy arrives at the warehouse and is attacked by motorbiking American stuntmen wearing different coloured versions of the famous black and yellow catsuit. Could this be an excuse to get Billy into the catsuit? You got it. Billy then goes the bad guys' headquarters, situated up the stairs of a restaurant's dining room. This is where we finally get to see the genuine Bruce footage, Danny, Chi and Kareem. Then its back to the double for a fight with Hugh O'Brien, who fights like an pensioner in a pub brawl. Then we have the dummy of a near-senile Dean Jagger plunging from the roof to his death through some neon signs. Then we have Colleen Camp warbling her way through the song "Will this be the song I'll be singing tomorrow", while the credits show Bruce in some shots from his earlier films.
"Golden Harvest's", Raymond Chow wasted no time making "Game Of Death 2". Fans hoped to see more unseen footage of Bruce, but Chow was not going to let go of this ultra-valuable footage.
