#1036e: CLOUSE, Robert: Game Of Death (1978)

CLOUSE, Robert (Hong Kong)
Game Of Death [1978]
Spine #1036e
Blu-ray


Released five years after Bruce Lee's death, this eccentrically entertaining kung-fu curio combines footage from an unfinished project directed by and starring Lee with original material shot by Enter the Dragon director Robert Clouse to create an entirely new work that testifies to the actor's enduring place in the pop-culture imagination. Using stand-ins, doubles, and archival footage to compensate for Lee's absence, Game of Death follows a martial-arts movie star who, when he is threatened by a cutthroat crime syndicate intent on controlling his career, must take his skills from the soundstage to the streets. It all builds to an exhilarating climax that is pure Lee: a tour de force of martial-arts mastery in which the legend himself, clad in an iconic yellow jumpsuit, fights his way up a multilevel pagoda, with the towering Kareem Abdul-Jabbar among his formidable opponents.

101 minutes
Color
Monaural
2:35:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2020
Director/Writer


Robert Clouse was 50 when he wrote and directed Game of Death.

Other Clouse films in the Collection:

#1036d: Enter The Dragon (1973)

The Film

A

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Twenty-four page paper magazine with poster featuring an essay by Jeff Chang.

Commentary

On the special-edition version by producer Paul Heller.

Alternate English-language soundtrack

High-definition presentation

Of the 1981 film Game of Death II.

Game of Death Redux

Presentation of Lee’s original Game of Death footage, produced by Alan Canvan.

Interview 1

With Lee biographer Matthew Polly.

Interview 2

With producer Andrew Morgan about Golden Harvest, the company behind Hong Kong’s top martial-arts stars, including Lee.

Interview 3

With author Grady Hendrix about the “Bruceploitation” subgenre that followed Lee’s death, and a selection of Bruceploitation trailers.

Multiple programs and documentaries

About Lee’s life and philosophies, including Bruce Lee: The Man and the Legend (1973) and Bruce Lee: In His Own Words (1998).

Interviews

With Linda Lee Caldwell, Lee’s widow, and many of Lee’s collaborators and admirers, including actors Jon T. BennRiki HashimotoNora MiaoRobert WallYuen Wah, and Simon Yam and directors Clarence FokSammo Hung, and Wong Jing.

Promotional materials

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

By Spine #

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