How Bruce Lee's 'Game of Death' Triumphed Despite the Loss of Its Star

In 2019, Hollywood media expressed astonishment when reports surfaced that James Dean would appear in a new film. Dean, who passed away in a 1955 car accident, was set to be digitally recreated for Finding Jack, with his estate's approval, to portray a Vietnam War veteran.

While this digital resurrection captured attention, it wasn’t the first time filmmakers achieved such a feat. In 1978, Golden Harvest unveiled Game of Death, a high-energy martial arts film featuring the legendary Bruce Lee.

Lee’s passing five years prior posed a unique challenge, but the production team found innovative ways to bring his presence to the screen.

The Dragon

Born in San Francisco on November 27, 1940, Lee grew up in Hong Kong, his parents' homeland. His early career as a child actor and rigorous dance training shaped him into a dynamic performer with remarkable stage charisma. After moving back to the U.S. for high school in the 1950s, he attended the University of Washington and later developed his unique martial arts style, Jeet Kune Do.

Lee’s magnetic personality and graceful movements caught the attention of casting agents. He secured several TV roles, including a prominent part as Kato, the sidekick in the action series The Green Hornet (1966-1967).

However, Lee’s ethnic background restricted his career prospects. His concept for the TV show Kung Fu was given to David Carradine. Disillusioned with Hollywood, Lee went back to Hong Kong, where he starred in films like Fists of Fury and The Chinese Connection, proving his ability as a leading actor. Hollywood eventually recognized his talent and cast him in Enter the Dragon (1973), a film about a secret martial arts competition on an isolated island. The movie became a massive success, though Lee passed away before its release.

Lee passed away on July 20, 1973, at the age of 32, just weeks before Enter the Dragon premiered. While the exact cause of his death is still debated, it is widely thought that he experienced a cerebral edema, potentially due to heat stroke or an adverse reaction to a painkiller. (Lee had undergone surgery to remove his armpit sweat glands to prevent visible stains during performances, which some believe made him prone to overheating.)

The overwhelming success of Enter the Dragon highlighted Lee’s star power, but his untimely death left studios unable to fully benefit from his fame. This was particularly frustrating for Golden Harvest, which had gathered between 40 to 100 minutes of footage for Game of Death, a film Lee both directed and starred in. Shooting took place from August to October 1972, after which Lee paused the project to film Enter the Dragon for Warner Bros. As the 1970s progressed and Lee’s popularity soared, Raymond Chow, Lee’s former colleague at Golden Harvest, began exploring ways to create one final film featuring the late actor.

Resurrection

Game of Death was not particularly heavy on plot. Lee’s original premise was simply about a protagonist fighting his way to the top level of a building to retrieve a stolen treasure, and encountering various rivals along the way. It was something of a video game premise at a time when video games were only as sophisticated as Pong.

Golden Harvest was pleased to see that Lee had shot most of a face-off with towering NBA player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. At 5 feet, 8 inches, Lee looked diminutive next to the 7 foot, 2 inch basketball star. The size difference made for a thrilling visual. So, too, did Lee’s wardrobe choice for the film: A bright yellow track suit later adopted by Quentin Tarantino for 2003’s Kill Bill.

The obvious issue was that the movie was only a fraction of what Lee had planned to shoot, with most completed scenes coming from the latter half of the film. To try and shape it into something coherent, Golden Harvest hired Robert Clouse, who had directed Lee in Enter the Dragon. Clouse reworked the plot so that Lee’s character, Billy Lo, is a performer up against a syndicate exploiting their talent. After faking his own death, he infiltrates their compound to exact revenge.

Many expenses were spared in order to complete Game of Death. To accomplish an illusion of Lee’s presence, Clouse shot Lee lookalikes—one who could act and one who could perform martial arts—and made sure the camera didn’t linger too long. The faux Lees were shot at angles, in favorable lighting, wearing fake beards, or even from behind to make sure the fact that it was a completely different actor it wasn’t too jarring. When the doubles proved impossible, Golden Harvest simply reused scenes from earlier Lee films. In one scene, Clouse resorted to shooting a cardboard cutout of Lee.

Martial artist Kim Tai-chung executed the fight sequences under the guidance of Hong Kong stunt coordinator Sammo Hung. (Chung also portrayed Bruce Lee’s “ghost” in the 1986 film No Retreat, No Surrender, which featured a young Jean-Claude Van Damme.) Yuen Biao stepped in for Lee in dramatic scenes, with both actors' voices later dubbed in English.

One of the most controversial decisions involved using real footage from Bruce Lee’s funeral for a scene where his character pretends to die. This choice was widely seen as distasteful, but Golden Harvest appeared unconcerned about potential backlash. The idea of a posthumous Lee “comeback” film seemed to overshadow any ethical concerns. (Lee’s family was reportedly not involved in the decision to include this footage, though his funeral services in Hong Kong and Seattle were documented as part of a career retrospective.)

Game Over

Game of Death was finally released in 1978, though only about 12 minutes of the film featured actual footage of Bruce Lee. The remaining 88 minutes relied on creative editing and stand-ins to mask Lee’s absence. While the movie was a commercial success, its reception largely depends on whether viewers see it as a tribute to Lee’s unrealized potential or a cynical attempt to profit from his legacy, akin to the many Bruce Lee imitators that flooded low-budget films in subsequent years.

“While competitors endlessly searched for the ‘next’ Bruce Lee, whose unique blend of charisma, humor, and dynamic martial arts prowess set him apart, Lee’s collaborators spent six years devising a way to incorporate his final scenes,” noted Gary Arnold of The Washington Post in 1979. “They could have used these completed sequences, which stand alone as polished routines, in a documentary about his life. Instead, they crafted a fictional narrative to justify Lee’s final appearances.”

The dilemma faced by the creators of Game of Death wasn’t entirely unprecedented. In 1937, producers of Saratoga had to complete the film after its star, Jean Harlow, passed away at 26 due to kidney failure before finishing her role. Similarly, Ridley Scott’s Gladiator (2000) used CGI to address the death of co-star Oliver Reed, as did 2015’s Furious 7 following Paul Walker’s tragic accident. The 1994 film The Crow also faced a comparable situation after Bruce Lee’s son, Brandon, died on set due to an accidental gun discharge, yet the movie was completed.

In another heartbreaking turn of events, Game of Death became the last film for Oscar-winning actor Gig Young, who had shared scenes with Clouse and Lee. On October 19, 1978, Young and his fifth wife, Kim—a German magazine editor he met during the production of Game of Death—were discovered dead in their Manhattan apartment just three weeks after their wedding. Authorities declared it a murder-suicide, though no motive was ever uncovered.

In 2020, producer Alan Canvan repurposed the authentic remaining footage of Bruce Lee to create Game of Death Redux, a 40-minute short film aiming to fulfill Lee’s original concept for the project. This version was included in a box set released by The Criterion Collection.

For Clouse, who passed away in 1997, his true collaboration with Lee was immortalized in Enter the Dragon. Regarding Game of Death, he offered little justification, simply stating: “I’m embarrassed by that movie.”