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Game Of Death FAQs Answered

Given the flood of information, disinformation, lies, surmise and pie in the sky that surrounds the Little Dragon's last legacy, here, in the parlance of the internet, are the answers to some Frequently Asked Questions.

Q: What is the 'unseen' Game Of Death footage?

A: In 1972, Bruce Lee shot scenes for a film he planned to call Game Of Death. He suspended shooting in order to make Enter The Dragon, and passed away before he could resume. In 1978, the Golden Harvest film company made a film of the same title, into which it edited scenes from Bruce Lee's footage. However, to this day, much of the material Lee shot remains unseen, and the film has never been seen in the way he originally intended.

Q: What does the 'unseen' footage consist of?

A: In the film, Lee and two other combatants, James Tien and Chien Yuan, must fight their way up a pagoda, a multi-levelled tower. Each floor of the pagoda is guarded by a different martial arts master. Lee shot the scenes in which he and his companions encounter Filipino weapons expert Dan Inosanto, Korean Hapkidoist Chi Hon-tsoi and basketball legend Kareem Abdul Jabbar. He also shot exterior footage, in the New Territories which shows Inosanto and Chi showing off their skills.

Q: Were the fights on any of the other 'floors' of the pagoda ever shot?

A: Definitely not.

Q: Does any other 'exterior' footage exist apart from the training shots seen in Bruce Lee: The Legend?

A: If it does, it's either in the hands of a private collector, or gathering dust in a vault somewhere in Hong Kong. Though there are stills of Bruce Lee shirtless and squaring off with Dan Inosanto, no such film footage has ever surfaced.

Q: Are the shots of Lee in a suit fighting on a rooftop car park production stills from a lost Game Of Death scene?

A: No. They were publicity shots of Lee taken for a Hong Kong magazine.

Q: Where was the footage stored between 1972 and the present?

A: In the '70s, Golden Harvest incorporated Game Of Death footage into its own Game Of Death film, and into two documentaries, Bruce Lee, The Man And The Legend and Bruce Lee The Legend. They then shelved the remaining footage. In 1991, copyright of the Golden Harvest library was taken over by Star TV. A company named Media Asia controlled the rights to the library, and distributed the Golden Harvest films worldwide for Star TV. The unseen Game Of Death material was transferred from Harvest to the Media Asia storage facility, where it was later discovered. Some people claim that HK film expert Bey Logan found them between chicken excrements. However, Logan denies the chicken excrements part. He told me that he just found them by accident while going through the archives at Media Asia.

Q: Has 'unseen' footage appeared anywhere apart from the Golden Harvest releases mentioned above?

A: Yes. Some brief clips are visible in Walt Missingham's documentary The Intercepting Fist, and a longer sequence is included on the Media Asia DVD of Fist Of Fury.

Q: Is there any 'unseen' Game Of Death footage in Game Of Death II (a.k.a Tower Of Death)?

A: No.

Q: Did every frame Lee shot for the film survive?

A: Apparently not: The footage Lee filmed begins with a scene in which Chieh Yuan arrives at Inosanto's floor of the pagoda, then engages Inosanto in a fight in which he wields a large log-like pole. This footage is apparently lost. (Note: Bruce Lee fan Andy Staton remembers seeing the scene in a Cantonese print of Bruce Lee, The Man And The Legend, but Media Asia does not have this version of the documentary.)

Q: Is Bruce Lee's version of Game Of Death commercially available.

A: It was not until the year 2000, when it was provided as a special feature on the Platinum Edition of Hong Kong Legends DVD of Game Of Death.

In 2001, John Little released a documentary entitled Bruce Lee - A Warrior's Journey,  which includes this footage as well, edited according to Lee's own intentions. As the Lee Estate's official archivist, Little has access to all Brcuce's notes, sketches and other materials.

While Little's version provides the better sound (he himself dubbed Bruce Lee and did a good job on that) including sound effects and music, the Hong Kong Legends DVD provides the better picture quality.

Q: Will any one video or DVD release ever feature every frame of Game Of Death footage left by Lee?

A: Probably not. The cost of licensing such a huge volume of material (over 90 minutes) from Media Asia, would be prohibitive. Anyway, much of the footage consists of repeat takes of the same shot, which would be of interest only to the most die-hard Little Dragon fans.

I hope this cleared up some confusion. :-)

Written on April 25th 2003

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