Le Jeu de la mort

Aside from the obvious its a shame Lee died at this time. It robbed us of an amazing opportunity in movie history. This movie as it is, is pretty cool, the idea that he fights a different skilled opponent of increasing difficulty on each level is really cool. His death turns the film in to a bit of a chopped up mess.

It was part of a double bill at my hometown theater (a "monoplex," you'd probably call it, today). As this occurred in 1978, I guess it was done to honor the fifth anniversary of Bruce's death. And, I was ABSOLUTELY FLOORED by all the fight sequences! *Borderline spoilers ahead.* Especially, the ones with Kareem and Inosanto. Being a seventh-grader, at the time, I didn't know what bad editing looked like, so (from my p.o.v.) the revised product was flawless. And, the story idea? Not too bad! *Hey! Even on _today's_ cop shows, you still have episodes about mobbed-up boxers, jockeys, and other sports figures. So, why not martial artists?* If I rented it on VHS, today, I'd probably find it unworthy. But, I don't want to taint my nostalgia. So, I'll just give it the same four-star rating I gave it then. And, to heck with all the nay-sayers!

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

The sad: Bruce's premature death, the disposal of the original script, the inclusion of the current one, the cop-out ending, "Bruce's" punking out... The Funny: The double used through mist if the film meant to be passed off as Bruce Lee, the blatant use of stock footage from other Bruce films, the acting... The enjoyable: The score is very underrated, one of John Barry's finest (I have the soundtrack to this movie, along with another Barry film, Night Games.) Some real good martial arts sequences make the wait for the real Bruce footage towards the end, especially the locker room fight between "Bruce" and Bob Wall (choreaographed by Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, who reportedly portrayed Bruce in that scene.) Sammo himself appears as a fighter in the film. I give this movie a modest recommendation.