The Game of Death is an incomplete 1973 Hong Kong martial arts film directed, written, produced by and starring Bruce Lee, in his final film attempt. Lee died during the making of the film.
Over 100 minutes of footage was shot prior to his death, some of which was later misplaced in the Golden Harvest archives.[citation needed] The remaining footage has been released with Bruce Lee's original English and Cantonese dialogue, with John Little dubbing Bruce Lee'sHai Tien character as part of the documentary entitled Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey. Most of the footage which was shot is from what was to be the centerpiece of the film.
During filming, Lee received an offer to star in Enter the Dragon, the first kung fu film to be produced by a Hollywood studio (Warner Bros.), and with a budget unprecedented for the genre ($850,000). Lee died of cerebral edema before the film's release. At the time of his death, he had already made plans to resume the filming of The Game of Death.
After Lee's death, Enter the Dragon director Robert Clouse was enlisted to direct additional scenes featuring two stand-ins which, when pieced together with the original footage as well as other footage from earlier in Lee's career, would form a new film (entitled simply Game of Death) which was released in 1978, five years after his death, by Golden Harvest.
