"Original"Game of Death...for International Audiences

[shukocarl]

Did Bruce intend to turn Game of Death into an International film much like Enter the Dragon. From the dialogue we can see that there was a lot of English 'groovy' talk between him and his opponents...with George Lazenby on board too it may have turned out to be a kind of crossover film like Clint Eastwood's Spaghetti trilogy?

[sdog2006]

GOD was for an Asian audience although I think it was the first film Lee intended to be distributed worldwide (ETD aside).

G.O.D had zero Hollywood involvement and the inclusion of George Lazenby is frequently over rated. The ex Bond star couldn't get employed anywhere, and at that time, was bouncing around looking for work wherever he could pick up a dollar.

Regardless GOD would have been dynamite, had it been completed correctly, and would have included more action than any of Lee's prior movies.

[Guest Markgway]

My guess is that GOD would have been bi-lingual if Bruce had his way; but the market at the time would no doubt have ensured that everyone wound up dubbed in Mandarin, Bruce included.

Bruce's on-set English dialogue is a strong indicator of intent, but a Hong Kong production with large chunks of non-Chinese dialogue? Who knows if it would have played out that way?

George Lazenby worked steadily in Europe before his sojourn in HK.

[sdog2006]

My guess is that GOD would have been bi-lingual if Bruce had his way; but the market at the time would no doubt have ensured that everyone wound up dubbed in Mandarin, Bruce included.

Bruce's on-set English dialogue is a strong indicator of intent, but a Hong Kong production with large chunks of non-Chinese dialogue? Who knows if it would have played out that way?

George Lazenby worked steadily in Europe before his sojourn in HK.

Two meaningless films in 3 years mate? Considering he had played the most iconic roll in movie history big George was about as popular as whale shit to a carpet shark.

LOL Don't even ask where that analogy came from

[Killer Meteor]

My guess is that GOD would have been bi-lingual if Bruce had his way; but the market at the time would no doubt have ensured that everyone wound up dubbed in Mandarin, Bruce included.

Bruce's on-set English dialogue is a strong indicator of intent, but a Hong Kong production with large chunks of non-Chinese dialogue? Who knows if it would have played out that way?

George Lazenby worked steadily in Europe before his sojourn in HK.

It'd probably be like Fist of Legend and Hitman where there are large chunks where people speak Japanese.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

Who Saw Her Die is actually an excellent Giallo, and George is great in it. But besides that, no... I don't think the movie offers were pouring in at that time. Though he could have been doing other things, I don't know. Did he continue modelling after Bond?

[Guest Markgway]

Two meaningless films in 3 years mate? Considering he had played the most iconic roll in movie history big George was about as popular as whale shit to a carpet shark.

LOL Don't even ask where that analogy came from

Actually, you're right. For some reason I thought he did a bunch of gialli.

I checked out Who Saw Her Die the other day and it was pretty lame (and Lazenby didn't even dub his own voice).

[The Dragon]

Did Bruce intend to turn Game of Death into an International film much like Enter the Dragon. From the dialogue we can see that there was a lot of English 'groovy' talk between him and his opponents...with George Lazenby on board too it may have turned out to be a kind of crossover film like Clint Eastwood's Spaghetti trilogy?

Believe it or not, truth is Bruce's film career as actor/director, was at a stalemate...

After the production of WAY OF THE DRAGON, he had one-upped The Triads, who were hot & heavily, on his heels, looking for him to sign off on a deal. GH producer Raymond Chow was the buffer, for he had connections. The idea of forming Concord was a means to create TEA MONEY for them, whether Lee acknowledgedly cooperated-or not. The next hurtle was getting contracted studio personel to work with him, which was difficult, for they had been advised against it. This is why Bruce began seeking out friends to appear in his original idea/storyline for GOD. GH standard in-house players: James Tien, Nora Miao, Carter Wong, Li Kuhn, and Sammo Hung were Chow's nucleus, meaning he had stronghold on their careers, and could "loan them out" to Concord.

Lee used GH Studio equipment, so camera, make-up, and set design people, were guns for hire. Lee had story outlines, but no finished scripts to hand out, thus, making it appear like home movies. Initially hoping friends in Hollywood would produce financing, Fred Weintraub and BLOOD AND STEEL came along and bought him a faster avenue out.....

The rest is history.

[KUNG FU BOB]

My guess is that GOD would have been bi-lingual if Bruce had his way; but the market at the time would no doubt have ensured that everyone wound up dubbed in Mandarin, Bruce included.

Bruce's on-set English dialogue is a strong indicator of intent, but a Hong Kong production with large chunks of non-Chinese dialogue? Who knows if it would have played out that way?

Hmmm... good points Markgway. I think the film would have wound up playing as bi-lingual. And that this would have been just one more innovative thing that Bruce would have made into a standard practice in the industry.

Believe it or not, truth is Bruce's film career as actor/director, was at a stalemate...

After the production of WAY OF THE DRAGON, he had one-upped The Triads, who were hot & heavily, on his heels, looking for him to sign off on a deal. GH producer Raymond Chow was the buffer, for he had connections. The idea of forming Concord was a means to create TEA MONEY for them, whether Lee acknowledgedly cooperated-or not. The next hurtle was getting contracted studio personel to work with him, which was difficult, for they had been advised against it. This is why Bruce began seeking out friends to appear in his original idea/storyline for GOD. GH standard in-house players: James Tien, Nora Miao, Carter Wong, Li Kuhn, and Sammo Hung were Chow's nucleus, meaning he had stronghold on their careers, and could "loan them out" to Concord.

Lee used GH Studio equipment, so camera, make-up, and set design people, were guns for hire. Lee had story outlines, but no finished scripts to hand out, thus, making it appear like home movies. Initially hoping friends in Hollywood would produce financing, Fred Weintraub and BLOOD AND STEEL came along and bought him a faster avenue out.....

The rest is history.

Wow.

[mpm74]

Actually, you're right. For some reason I thought he did a bunch of gialli.

I checked out Who Saw Her Die the other day and it was pretty lame (and Lazenby didn't even dub his own voice).

Not a big fan of giallo movies, so I don't know what's good from bad. But Who Saw Her Die was awful. Dug the soundtrack, tho! =D

Has anyone seen Universal Soldier with Lazenby? It's almost an unofficial sequel to OHMSS!

[KUNG FU BOB]

Has anyone seen Universal Soldier with Lazenby? It's almost an unofficial sequel to OHMSS!

No kidding? I'd never heard of this film before. UNIVERSAL SOLDIER (1971) has a 5 star rating on IMDB, which isn't so hot. But I am curious. Have you seen it mpm74?

[sdog2006]

No kidding? I'd never heard of this film before. UNIVERSAL SOLDIER (1971) has a 5 star rating on IMDB, which isn't so hot. But I am curious. Have you seen it mpm74?

Only ever watched Lazenby in two movies. OHMSS which is a good film but not because of him and Stoner, which I watched because it was written for Bruce Lee and featured scores of Hong Kong stars from that time.

I'm not a fan of Lazenby. He's been okay in one or two documentaries but I find him inconsistent and if he's struggling for a story then he makes things up.

Bruce knocking out Japanese guys on TV, tug of war?? Load of crap!

[mpm74]

No kidding? I'd never heard of this film before. UNIVERSAL SOLDIER (1971) has a 5 star rating on IMDB, which isn't so hot. But I am curious. Have you seen it mpm74?

Yes, I have. It's an interesting movie. I kind of see 1971's Universal Soldier as a metaphor of what happened to Lazenby's career after OHMSS. In it, he plays a loaner arms dealer. Honestly, if you change a few details around, it can essentially be the "unofficial" low budget sequel to OHMSS (ie James Bond quits after his wife dies and gives up his clean shaven look for some long hair and a porn stache.) Hardly any dialogue... kinda artsy...

If you watch these clips, it should give you an idea of the movie's tone:

Pretty rare movie. Picked up a "copy" here. (I believe it's the only place you can get it, unless you find a used VHS tape of its first release).

Getting back to this thread...

Game of Death, I'm sure, was going to be an international film with english viewers in mind. It's a trend Bruce Lee started with Game of Death. And this trend should have continued with The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss (which later became Stoner after Lee died), and most-likely, the rest of his career.

Bruce Lee's trend was eventually embedded into Raymond Chow's head, as he started busting out english language/Hollywood co-productions: Man from Hong Kong, Cannonball Run, The Big Brawl, etc.

If you guys get a chance, READ THIS article with Lazenby, dated Oct '73. In it, he talks about Who Saw Her Die (he did it to pay some bills, he hasn't even seen the movie!), his upcoming flicks with Golden Harvest, Bruce Lee, Raymond Chow, Sir Run Run Shaw (who he also met and mistakenly confused him for producing some of Lee's film) , etc. Interesting read... Lazenby even states that he's the one who invited Raymond Chow and Bruce Lee for dinner, due to Bruce's generosity. And remember, this is a few months after Lee's death, so all this is fresh in Lazenby's head.

The article explains that Bruce Lee TOLD Raymond Chow to have Lazenby star in the next film (after Game of Death), which again, ultimately became Stoner, which at the time had an american director attached to it (Robert Clouse perhaps?).