History Trivia / GameOfDeath

* PlayingAgainstType: Dean Jagger, best known for playing cuddly grandfather types, plays the BigBad.

** There is a persistent rumor that the film is a sequel to ''Film/WayOfTheDragon''. This is disproved by the character names (Hai Tien in ''Game of Death'' and Tang Long in ''Way of the Dragon'') and different characterizations of the two (Hai Tien shows much less remorse than Tang Lung, speaks much better English and is much worldlier and cooler). This rumor seems to have been kickstarted by a 1974 book ''Cinema of Vengeance'' that got few things right about the film.

** After being told by an American fighter about something named "the Game of Death" to make the TitleDrop, Hai Tien would be taken by bus to the pagoda the next day, along with a team of four: the two thugs, the American, and a locksmith that would open the pagoda's gate. The ground was meant to be guarded by 10-20 fighters with black belts in UsefulNotes/{{Karate}}, whom Hai Tien and his partners would have to fight to get inside. The first and second floors were meant to be guarded respectively by Hwang In-shik, who would utilize a unique kicking style, and Taky Kimura, this playing a master of praying mantis kung fu; the other three floors, with Inosanto, Ji Han Jae and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, are well known. Inosanto's fight against Chieh Yuan would have seen the latter using a wooden bar to try to counter the former's eskrima sticks, only to be easily countered every time, after which they would drop their weapons and Inosanto finished him unarmed.
** Lee shot footage of Inosanto's and Ji Han Jae's characters attacking In-shik outside of the pagoda, which some have speculated to be not test footage but a real scene, possibly one before Hai Tien and the team arrived in which In-shik was being punished for allowing Hai Tien's apprentice escape alive or something.
** Two different takes were shot when Creator/KareemAbdulJabbar's character loses his sunglasses and reveals his light-sensitive eyes. One showed regular irises with a red filter, depicting some albino-like condition (this was the take included in the documentary ''A Warrior's Journey''), but the other had him with [[HellishPupils slitted red irises]], implying he was some kind of mutant or demon (this one was first showcased in ''Bruce Lee in G.O.D''). Bruce Lee's notes shed no light about what was Kareem's character supposed to be, only reveal his name being Mantis, presumably unrelated to Kimura's mantis kung fu fighter, and the fact that Hai Tien's sister apparently knew something about him and warned her brother in a previous scene.
** Lee was indecisive about what would be the treasure on the last floor, so much that according to insiders, he was glad of stopping production to go shoot ''Film/EnterTheDragon'' because he could stop thinking about it. It is unknown whether he ever settled down for something, but people who knew him believe the treasure would have been a mirror, meaning that a fighter skilled enough to defeat all the guardians could consider himself the treasure (Lee already used this conclusion in his unproduced film ''Film/CircleOfIron'' after all). Lee Kun also claimed there would be a darkly funny scene at the end, after the exhausted Hai Tien came out of the pagoda, where a young martial artist would come to challenge him before running away in fear of Lee's DeathGlare. The rest of the ending would have Hai Tien's family freed and the crime lord arrested by the police.

** Producers initially wanted noted BruceLeeClone "Bruce Li" (real name Ho Chung Tao) to portray Billy Lo in the new footage alongside Kim Tai Chung. Presumably sharing the screen depended on who looked most like Bruce at specific angles. However, Li was three years into his career as a "leading" man and fed up with playing in Brucealike roles (making an exception for numerous biopics where he's obviously an actor playing Bruce and not trying to fool audiences) and turned down the opportunity.

* {{Corpsing}}: During one of the bloopers, Lee who is normally TheStoic in his movies save for a few comedic scenes, struggled not to laugh when the stunt dummy of Chieh Yuan's character was hurled off the steps. His struggle only lasted 3 seconds.
* DiedDuringProduction: Creator/BruceLee scheduled to continue working on the film in September 1973 but he died in July, so the film remained unfinished.

* NovelizationFirst: In 1975, an unauthorized novelization of the film, loosely based on all we know about the original film's plot, was written by a Japanese author. Given the surprising level of detail of the book, pundits have come up with some theories about how the author knew so much about an unfinished film, with speculations that Lee's Japanese cameraman Tadashi Nashinoto might have leaked it.

* AlanSmithee: Robert Clouse wrote the script under the pseudonym Jan Spears.

* FollowTheLeader: The original's concept was widely copied: even before the 1978 version came out, two films were made to capitalize on the legend of Game Of Death: ''Goodbye Bruce Lee: His Last Game Of Death'' (1975, starring Bruce Li) and ''Enter the Game of Death'' (1977, now starring Bruce Le). After 1978, ''The True Game Of Death'' (1981, starring "Bruce Lee Siao-Long") was made, which ripped off the general plot, and sometimes whole segments of the film were redone almost shot for shot. Also "Tower of Death" took it's inspiration from the 1978 version, shooting a movie around some footage of Bruce Lee.
* MissingEpisode: Due to the unfinished nature of the film, there have always been speculations whether more scenes might exist or not. Before 2000, about 30 minutes were still catching dust in the archives, but that year, a documentary called ''Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey'' managed to find and piece together as much of the footage as they could find (which includes all of the fight footage from the upper three levels of the pagoda), revealing for the first time the movie's original plot, based on Lee's outlines and sketches. Currently 42 minutes of footage have been found and made public.
* PlayingAgainstType: Creator/DeanJagger, best known for playing cuddly grandfather types, plays the BigBad.

** There are many rumors about more scenes that were filmed (like alleged fights in the car park or at the airport) that are supposedly either destroyed or in the hands of private collectors. Nothing of this can be proven.
** There are many rumors that the pagoda has more than five floors plus the ground level, and about other fighters Creator/BruceLee meets, like samurais, ninjas and even zombies. None of these are true.
** There is a persistent rumor that the film is a sequel to ''Film/WayOfTheDragon''. This is disproved by the character names (Hai Tien in ''Game of Death'' and Tang Long in ''Way of the Dragon'') and different characterizations of the two (Hai Tien shows much less remorse than Tang Lung).

* RomanceOnTheSet: Creator/GigYoung met his fifth and final wife Kim Schmidt in Hong Kong while working on this movie. Tragically, three weeks after they were married the couple was found dead, the apparent result of a MurderSuicide by Young.

** Before Lee's death, this would have been a mix between an action movie and a philosophy piece on Lee's own ideas about martial arts. The action side involved a retired martial arts champion named Hai Tien (played by Lee) who has to save his sister by giving her captors, a Korean mafia, what they believe to be treasure at the top of a pagoda. The philosophical side was to showcase the different single styles of martial arts through each pagoda level and how Lee's own concept of Jeet Kune Do beats them all by ironing out many flaws in said styles. His character would have also been accompanied by two foils in the form of a brash street fighter (played by James Tien) and an orthodox martial artist (Chieh Yuan) also hired by the mafia. The producers changed to whole plot after Lee's death to a generic revenge story with an evil syndicate.
** The door to the pagoda was meant to be guarded by ten fighters with black belts in UsefulNotes/{{Karate}}, whom Hai Tien and his two partners would have to fight to get inside. The first and second floors were meant to be guarded respectively by Hwang In-shik, who would utilize a unique kicking style, and Taky Kimura, this playing a master of praying mantis kung fu. According to sources, Wong Shun-leung was originally approached to play the role of the 2nd Floor Guardian as a UsefulNotes/WingChun fighter, but he declined and was replaced by Kimura, who then ironically tried to refuse the role because he didn't have a clue of the praying mantis Lee wanted him to use (he only accepted after being heavily insisted by Lee, who would have presumably coached him). Creator/SammoHung was cast as the third fighter in Hai Tien's trio, but by the time Lee was ready to film with him, Hung had moved on to another project, so he was replaced by Chieh Yuan.
** Lee had conceived several other characters with their own casting choices, but their scenes were never filmed. These included the leader of the karate army (played by Bolo Yeung), an American ally to Tien (played by Lee's usual collaborator Bob Wall), Tien's master (Creator/GeorgeLazenby, a friend of Lee in real life whom he had been eager to work with), Tien's sister (Nora Miao), Tien's wife (Betty Ting Pei), a fan asking for Tien's autograph (Creator/JackieChan) and a group of thugs (which included Creator/YuenBiao and Corey Yuen). Wall and Biao ended up appearing in the 1978 version, along with Sammo Hung, but none of them reprise their intended roles.
** Other actors that worked together with Bruce Lee, like Creator/ChuckNorris, Creator/KareemAbdulJabbar, and UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli, were offered roles in the 1978 film but turned them down (Jabbar only appeared in the original footage, with additional new scenes played by a double). Only Dan Inosanto reprised his original role. Creator/SteveMcQueenActor and Creator/JamesCoburn, friends and students of Lee, were offered roles, but refused due to finding the film in bad taste and the low pay Golden Harvest was offering.
** From the finalized movie proper, producers initially wanted noted BruceLeeClone "Bruce Li" (real name Ho Chung Tao) to portray Billy Lo in the new footage alongside Kim Tai Chung. Presumably sharing the screen depended on who looked most like Bruce at specific angles. However, Li was three years into his career as a "leading" man and fed up with playing in Brucealike roles (making an exception for numerous biopics where he's obviously an actor playing Bruce and not trying to fool audiences) and turned down the opportunity.

* MissingEpisode: Due to the unfinished nature of the film, there have always been speculations whether more scenes might exist or not. This is a controversial topic, but it's generally agreed upon that at least one scene - the "dance of death" scene (shortly before the fight Bruce Lee vs. Dan Inosanto) - was indeed filmed but is now lost. More scenes might or might not exist in the archives, but there's no proof. Before 2000, about 30 minutes were still catching dust in the archives. A documentary called ''Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey'' managed to find and piece together as much of the footage as they could find (which includes all of the fight footage from the upper three levels of the pagoda) but also reveals for the first time the movie's original plot, based on Lee's outlines and sketches. Currently 42 minutes of footage has been found and made public.

** There are many rumors that the pagoda has more than five floors plus the ground level, and about other fighters Creator/BruceLee meets, like mutants, samurais, dragons, and ninjas. None of these are true.

** Before Lee's death, this would have been a mix between an action movie and a martial arts educational movie. The action side involved a character named Hai Tien (played by Lee) who has to save his sister by giving his captors what they believe to be treasure at the top of a pagoda. The educational side was to showcase the different single styles of martial arts through each pagoda level and how Lee's own concept of Jeet Kune Do irons out many flaws in said styles. The producers changed to whole plot after Lee's death to a generic revenge story with an evil syndicate.
** Lee considered several actors, but their scenes were never filmed. These include Creator/GeorgeLazenby (a friend of Lee in real life whom he had been eager to work with), Nora Miao, Hwang In-shik, Taky Kimura (an apprentice and training partner to Lee), Blo Yeung, Betty Ting Pei, Creator/SammoHung (who had been cast as Yuan, the Third Fighter, but by the time Lee was ready to film with him, Hung had moved on to another project), Creator/YuenBiao, Bob Wall (Lee's usual collaborator), and Creator/JackieChan. The last three of them appear in the 1978 version, but they don't reprise their intended roles.
** The door to the pagoda was meant to be guarded by ten fighters with black belts in UsefulNotes/{{Karate}}, whom Lee would have to fight to get inside. The first and second floors were meant to be guarded respectively by Hwang In-shik, who would utilize a unique kicking style, and Taky Kimura, playing a master of praying mantis kung fu. According to sources, Wong Shun-leung was originally approached to play the role of the 2nd Floor Guardian as a Wing Chun fighter, but he declined and was replaced by Kimura.
** Other actors that worked together with Bruce Lee, Creator/ChuckNorris, Creator/KareemAbdulJabbar, and UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli were offered roles in the 1978 film but turned them down. Only Dan Inosanto reprised his original role. Creator/SteveMcQueenActor and Creator/JamesCoburn, friends and students of Lee, were offered roles, but refused due to finding the film in bad taste and the low pay Golden Harvest was offering.

** Lee considered several actors, but their scenes were never filmed. These include Creator/GeorgeLazenby (a friend of Lee in real life whom he had been eager to work), Nora Miao, Hwang In-shik, Taky Kimura (another training partner to Lee), Blo Yeung, Betty Ting Pei, Creator/SammoHung (who had been cast as Yuan, the Third Fighter, but by the time Lee was ready to film with him, Hung had moved on to another project), Creator/YuenBiao, Bob Wall (Lee's usual collaborator), and Creator/JackieChan. The last three of them appear in the 1978 version, but they don't reprise their intended roles.

* FollowTheLeader: The original's concept was widely copied: even before the 1978 version came out, two films were made to capitalize on the legend of Game Of Death: "Goodbye Bruce Lee: His Last Game Of Death" (1975, starring Bruce Li) and "Enter the Game of Death" (1977, starring Bruce Le). After 1978, "The True Game Of Death" (1981, starring "Bruce Lee Siao-Long") was made, which ripped off the general plot, and sometimes whole segments of the film were redone almost shot for shot. Also "Tower of Death" took it's inspiration from the 1978 version, shooting a movie around some footage of Bruce Lee.
* MissingEpisode: Due to the unfinished nature of the film there have always been speculations whether more scenes might exist or not. This is a controversial topic, but it's generally agreed upon that at least one scene - the "dance of death" scene (shortly before the fight Bruce Lee vs. Dan Inosanto) was indeed filmed but is now lost. More scenes might or might not exist in the archives, but there's no proof. Before 2000, about 30 minutes were still catching dust in the archives. A documentary called ''Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey'' managed to find and piece together as much of the footage as they could find (which includes all of the fight footage from the upper three levels of the pagoda) but also reveals for the first time the movie's original plot, based on Lee's outlines and sketches. Currently 42 minutes of footage has been found and made public.

** There are many rumors that the pagoda has more than five floors plus the ground level, and about other fighters Creator/BruceLee meets, like mutants, samurais, dragons, ninjas... None of these are true.

** Lee considered several actors, but their scenes were never filmed. These include: Creator/GeorgeLazenby, Nora Miao, Hwang In-shik, Taky Kimura, Blo Yeung, Betty Ting Pei, Creator/SammoHung (who had been cast as Yuan, the Third Fighter, but by the time Lee was ready to film with him, Hung had moved on to another project), Creator/YuenBiao, Bob Wall, and Creator/JackieChan. The last three of them appear in the 1978 version, but they don't reprise their intended roles.
** The door to the pagoda was meant to be guarded by ten fighters with black belts in Karate, whom Lee would have to fight to get inside. The first and second floors were meant to be guarded respectively by Hwang In-shik, who would utilize a unique kicking style, and Taky Kimura, a master of praying mantis kung fu. According to sources, Wong Shun-leung was originally approached to play the role of the 2nd Floor Guardian as a Wing Chun fighter, but he declined, and was replaced by Taky Kimura.

** From the finalized movie proper, producers initially wanted noted BruceLeeClone "Bruce Li" (real name Ho Chung Tao) to portray Billy Lo in the new footage alongside Kim Tai Chung. Presumably sharing the screen depending on who looked most like Bruce at specific angles. However, Li was three years into his career as a "leading" man and fed up with playing in Brucealike roles (making an exception for numerous biopics where he's obviously an actor playing Bruce and not trying to fool audiences) and turned down the opportunity.

* MissingEpisode: Before 2000, about 30 minutes were still catching dust in the archives. A documentary called ''Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey'' managed to find and piece together as much of the footage as they could find (which includes all of the fight footage from the upper three levels of the pagoda) but also reveals for the first time the movie's original plot, based on Lee's outlines and sketches. Currently 42 minutes of footage has been found and made public. More scenes might or might not exist in the archives.

** There are many rumors about more scenes that were filmed (like alleged fights in the car park or at the airport) that are supposedly either destroyed or in the hands of private collectors.

* ReferencedBy: ''War: What is it Good For?'' by Ian Morris is a non-fiction book about the role of conflict in history. It uses "the game of death" to describe calculating the differing payoffs of combat and cooperation.

* MissingEpisode: Currently 42 minutes of footage has been found and made public. More scenes might exist in the archives that will probably never be found. A documentary called ''Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey'' made in the early 2000's managed to find and piece together as much of the footage as they could find (which includes all of the fight footage from the upper three levels of the pagoda) but also reveals for the first time the movie's original plot, based on Lee's outlines and sketches.