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'Game of Death' is the equivalent of having your dog swallow a gold ring - you've got to sift through the cr*p to find the polished stuff.

Completely different to Bruce's original vision, the 1978 version is hugely controversial. To some, it's a shameless cash-in and insult, to others it's a curiosity. To me personally, it's a guilty pleasure. Obviously, with such limited footage of Bruce Lee to use, the film was always going to suffer. Not only that, but how do you incorporate the footage into a film and give it context? The stand-in's that are used to fill the time leading up to the Lee footage are never going to fool anyone. Even as a kid, I could tell it someone else. The techniques used to have Bruce Lee on screen range from awful (superimposed heads) to tasteless (his real funeral) to fairly good (quick cuts from old footage). The disguises that Billy Lo and Bruce's doubles wear throughout the film are hokey but nothing that we haven't seen in Lee's films before (Fist of Fury), so that didn't bother me too much.

Despite some awful dubbing and a poor script, 'Game of Death' is still watchable for it's action. Fight choreographer Sammo Hung makes the non-Lee fight scenes entertaining even if the doubles don't match Bruce Lee's speed or technique. However, they do capture some traits of Lee's fights including the slow motion finishing move. Also, the film's budget allows for a number of locations ensuring that Billy's quest for revenge keeps moving. In this regard, the Hollywood frills that are added give the film a degree of watchability, especially the classy score which appears throughout and heightens the final scenes.

But of course, the main point of watching 'Game of Death' is to see Bruce in action. Although criticised for cutting down the "pagoda sequence", I think it still contains enough to satisfy. You have to remember that this original footage included two companions of Lee's who don't feature in the 1978 film, meaning a lot had to be left out. The nunchuk duel is unique while the fight with Kareem Abdul Jabbar is bizarre but thrilling.

There are some moments of bad taste, but on the whole the film is a cheesy and quite fun attempt to build up to the final 20 minutes. Whether you think this was a cash-in or a tribute, you still need to see it in order to understand the 'Game of Death' phenomenon.

Game Of Death is a mess of a film,and that's putting it lightly. Nothing to do with Bruce Lee's original conception for the film in 1973,the filmmakers here took the fight footage {somewhat edited down} that he shot for that proposed film,placed it at the end of the film,and than decided to pretend that the rest of the film also features Bruce Lee. Badly. In fact the sheer ineptitude of this aspect of the film is extraordinary,as well as several doubles,none of whom look like Lee and usually wear sunglasses to try to hide the fact,there are also shots and brief bits from previous Lee films edited in and even a scene with a guy wearing a Lee mask!

Nonetheless,there is a certain fascination to the film. The plot is kind of interesting and even has a scene in which Lee's character,a movie star, fakes his own death by being shot whilst filming a scene,this being disturbingly similar to the way Lee's son Brandon died many years ago. There is loads of fighting,not all of it great,but it's pretty constant and contains at least two good sequences {a fight in a changing room and a battle with some motorcyclists}en route to the 'real' Lee stuff at the end,which is certainly worth the wait. The duel with Kareem Abdul Jabbar is almost as good as the famous one with Chuck Norris. Dean Jagger is a great slimy main villain,and John Barry {an odd film for him} provides great musical backing,even if the main female star Coleen Camp is not really good enough to sing his lovely theme song.

Game Of Death is undeniably a piece of exploitation and sometimes leaves a bad taste in the mouth,as when a funeral scene is interspersed with shots of Lee's real funeral. It's really a bad movie and for the most part a badly made movie too, but it's certainly not dull and is kind of fun, as many bad movies are.

lee didn't manage to finish this film but director robert clouse (of e.t.dragon fame) manages to pick up the pieces left behind and make a film out of it which is where the film falls down. you see they had to bring in stunt doubles to replace Lee so everytime he's wearing shades or has his back to you you just know that it's not really lee. for the scene in which lee is shot they reused scenes from the superb fist of fury(it is sooooo obvious because the colour quality is different)!!! apart from the fun of spotting which scenes lee failed to complete, the changing room scene is fantasticly good fun to watch, your jaw will drop open at lee's two final finishing moves the penultimate kick is compareable to lee's complete bicycle kick in e.t.dragon. overall this film is well worth the mere £5.99 of which it costs in england

"Game of Death", a frankenstein concoction of bits and peices of Bruce Lee's final performance in a movie originally shot in 1972-73 and a later filmshot in 1978 after Lee's death is really two movies in one.

The first, a crime/revenge caper helmed by Robert Clouse is not as bad as you may have heard. The scenes are intercut badly and Lee's many doubles do look bad, but as a movie on it's own merit it isnt that bad.

The film concerns a young movie star, Billy Lo (played by several uncredited doubles) and a crime syndicate headed by evil Dr. Land (Dean Jagger who is good) His henchman (Hugh O'Brian, Mel Novak, and Bob Wall) won't let our hero rest until he signs an exclusive contract with them, which will put Billy under their control. Colleen Camp and Gig Young Co-star. Camp is benign as Billy's voluptuous girlfriend and Young looks like he wants to be anywhere else. The score is excellent courtesy of John Barry's music which sets a mood for the picture. The second part of the movie is the final fight scenes in a pagoda which include Bruce Lee himself in some magnificent fight scenes with several worthy advesaries including Kareem Abdul Jabbar(!) and Danny Inosanto. The last 15-20 minutes are the only to feature the real Bruce Lee, but watch the locker room fight, it is very good on it's own merit. In summary, a cheesy 70's Kung Fu movie that wraps around some spectacular footage of Bruce Lee in his "final performance", but which also has some charm of it's own.

Don't be misguided by my tag line, but the last 15 or 20 minutes of this movie are worth of keeping Bruce Lee fighting Kareem Abdul Jabbar in the pagoda is a thing of beauty, the stand ins and an overclothed and irritating Collen Camp are laughable and unnecessary. Check out Sammo Hung in one of his early appearances."Bruce's" fight scene with Bob Wall is vastly underrated. Not a bad movie.