The Cutting Room Floor: Lost, Censored & Deleted Bruce Lee Movie Scenes (Article)

[DragonClaws]

On 12/22/2019 at 5:11 PM, DragonClaws said:

 

Update: Added the following TxT/images to The Big Boss section of the main article.

 

The two heavily cropped images below, has been made available online for some time now. I'm not sure of the second images exact source?, can anyone reveal more about it?. It appears to have been darkened, in order to try and obscure whats in the background?. If you look to the bottom far left, you can see someones hand. Which I think belongs to Tony Liu?, when he's stood behind Bruce Lee wielding the work saw in The Big Boss?. If you watch the ice factory scene, you will see he's holding a knife in his hand. In the far left of the screen he can be seen standing holding a single knife behind Bruce Lee's character. Is this 2nd image of Cheng-Chao-An just after he's lodged the saw in a thugs head?.

 

Edited 16 hours ago by DragonClaws

 

On 12/22/2019 at 11:50 PM, ShawAngela said:

What is it on his finger ? It looks like a piece of his shirt...

 

It's a plaster @ShawAngela, the star suffered a cut finger, while filming the night party scene with the Ice Factory manager. The glasses they used for the scene were very cheap, and one shattered in Bruce Lee's hand. This scene was filmed at the local hotal in Pak Chong, where the production were some of the production crew and cast were actually staying. You can see the same plaster on the same finger in the first picture too.

Edited December 24, 2019 by DragonClaws

[ShawAngela]

Thanks for the precision.

I'm not sure that the second picture immediately follows the first one.

The sleeve of the shirt on the second one is longer on his arm than on the first one, but I might be mistaken. 

Also, from what I remember, it seems to me that in the night fight scene at the factory, he wore a totally white t-shirt as in the first picture while in the second picture, it looks more like a shirt with flowers or something like that that he wears...

Sherlock Holmes, the return ! 🤣🤣

[DragonClaws]

2 hours ago, ShawAngela said:

I'm not sure that the second picture immediately follows the first one.

The sleeve of the shirt on the second one is longer on his arm than on the first one, but I might be mistaken. 

Also, from what I remember, it seems to me that in the night fight scene at the factory, he wore a totally white t-shirt as in the first picture while in the second picture, it looks more like a shirt with flowers or something like that that he wears...

 

Hi @ShawAngela, it's the exact same plain white work-mans t-shirt, he's just got the sleeves rolled up like he does in the last ice factory fight. The shirt has just worked its way down his arm sightly,  in the second picture. Something that happens when you roll up your sleeves. There are no flowery patterns etc. Bear in mind that many of the picture people put out, are often heavily cropped or altered. It very hard to fully I'D a particular picture, when some of the visual information information has been cropped or darkened out.

 

The 2nd image looks more like a screen capture than an actual production still. He's just raising his left arm away from the saw handle?. I might be wrong, this is just my opinion.

Edited December 23, 2019 by DragonClaws

[ShawAngela]

I just came across the following picture (the second one with James Tien and the otehr actor).

Did anyone ever see this scene in Game of Death ?

 

Edited December 23, 2019 by ShawAngela

[saltysam]

It's in the 40 minute reconstruction of GOD seen in Warriors Journey, or the Artport Bruce Lee In GOD. Also as an extra on most recent DVD/Blu releases.

[DragonClaws]

On 1/4/2018 at 7:21 PM, DragonClaws said:

Before I switch my attention to Bruce Lee's second Martial Arts feature. There is one possible further cut to The Big Boss, which may not have been high-lighted/talked about before?. When Cheng Chiu-On fights Mi's son (Tony Liu), it appears some dialogue and gore may have been removed?. Watch the sequence closely at around 1-Hr 20-Min's & 51-secs into the movie. Bruce Lee's lips begin to mouth some words?, just after he hit delivers the death blow. Then it quickly cuts to the next shot of him with fist still defiantly outstretched, taken from another angle. The Rank VHS tape I had had a clear sound track jump here too. Did they remove some dialogue from Cheng's character?.

 

Here's a still from the seqeunce I'm reffering to.

 

 

Cheng Chiu-On's second visit to the bordello, had little effect on his ability to later fight crime lord Mi and his top Thai fighters. While many fans would love to see an extended release. Would this scene not have a big impact on the overall pacing of the finale?. I personally think this scene would have played out better before the river-side mourning scene.

 



 

 

 

Ok so here's the last Up-date to the main article for 2019, added the above material to the Big Boss section.

 

Edited December 26, 2019 by DragonClaws

[ShawAngela]

On 12/23/2019 at 11:10 AM, DragonClaws said:

  On 12/22/2019 at 6:11 PM, DragonClaws said:

 

Update: Added the following TxT/images to The Big Boss section of the main article.

 

The two heavily cropped images below, has been made available online for some time now. I'm not sure of the second images exact source?, can anyone reveal more about it?. It appears to have been darkened, in order to try and obscure whats in the background?. If you look to the bottom far left, you can see someones hand. Which I think belongs to Tony Liu?, when he's stood behind Bruce Lee wielding the work saw in The Big Boss?. If you watch the ice factory scene, you will see he's holding a knife in his hand. In the far left of the screen he can be seen standing holding a single knife behind Bruce Lee's character. Is this 2nd image of Cheng-Chao-An just after he's lodged the saw in a thugs head?.

 

Ok, as I said in another section, I just watched  this movie again and I'm absolutely sure now that during the night fight at the ice factory, Bruce's sleeves aren't rolled. He keeps them unrolled until the fight with Han Ying Chieh, and there, there must be a cut scene or a few seconds cut, because he fights with the sleeves unrolled and the following image, they are rolled the same way as in the above picture with the saw...

I hadn't realized that one of his friends at the factory was Lam Chin Ying, I almost didn't recognized him, and there was also Kam Shan playing one of Bruce's friends.

 

[DragonClaws]

17 minutes ago, ShawAngela said:

Ok, as I said in another section, I just watched  this movie again and I'm absolutely sure now that during the night fight at the ice factory, Bruce's sleeves aren't rolled. He keeps them unrolled until the fight with Han Ying Chieh, and there, there must be a cut scene or a few seconds cut, because he fights with the sleeves unrolled and the following image, they are rolled the same way as in the above picture with the saw...

 

Hi @ShawAngela, I hope my reply might clear some things up in regards to some of very confusing sleeve continuity issues in TBB?.

 

When Bruce Lee's character swings the saw,  he only has one sleeve rolled up on his right arm. Which matches with the stills I posted, there's some really bad continuity involving these sleeves. For most of the fight, both of Cheng Cah-On's shirt sleeves are rolled up. When he fights inside the ice storage facility. He starts the scuffle with his sleeves un-rolled, just like you pointed out. However, at some point during the fight he rolls them(or between filming shots maybe?).

When he swings the saw, he only has one sleeve rolled up on his right arm. Which matches the stills I posted. Then by the next time we see Cheng, he's back to wearing his sleeves un-rolled. A mix of bad continuity and some poorly censored/edited shots. For majority of the fight with Mi's son and his gang, his shirt sleeves are rolled up.

 

Edited January 4, 2020 by DragonClaws

[DragonClaws]

 

During the Kali stick sequence in ETD, there appears to be another possible cut?. Watch the sequence in the video below around 3-mins 19-secs mark. One of Han's guard's is being held against the prison bar's. Then when it cuts quickly to the next set-up, he's suddenly laying on the ground with another guard on the floor. Did Warner Brother cut out the death of Han's guard?, was some of the Kali fight cut to remove this scene?.

See the main article for more content relating to the cavern fight sequence.

 

 

 

The following photo suggests there may have been more to the Kali stick sequence?, than what we see in current prints of the film.

Edited January 14, 2020 by DragonClaws

[DragonClaws]

 

Some awesome work here from Jeff Villalobos Sanchez, regarding cut scenes from ETD.

 

(Link Expired)

 

Edited May 9, 2021 by DragonClaws

[TheKungFuRobber]

Alternative Japanese opening to Bruce Lee's Game of Death II with really cringe worthy Jinglish opening song "Arone in the Night". Taken from a Laserdisc. I think this is the version on the Japanese blu ray, with longer end credits which wrongly credit the singer in Tokyo with the crack whore from later in the movie who tries to seduce Bobby Lo before being attacked by a lion and killed.

Edited January 13, 2020 by TheKungFuRobber

[DragonClaws]

 

Added the following interview excerpt to the main article.

 

Quote

Fiaz Rafiq: Did you film any fight scenes in Rome or were they all done back at Golden Harvest studios in Hong Kong?.

Chaplin Chang: They did have a couple of fight's, a few shots but most of them were shot in the studio. So we did film a few shots in the coliseum but most were done at Golden Harvest studio. 

 

Edited January 14, 2020 by DragonClaws

[DragonClaws]

 

Can anyone shed any light on Tai Chi guy Jimmy Woo?, and his involvment with Enter The Dragon?. He is mentioned by John Saxon in a quote. I've just added to the main article.

 

Thanks to author @Marcos Ocaña for supplying me with the image of John Saxon performing Tai Chi, taken from his personal collection.

Edited February 5, 2020 by DragonClaws

[DragonClaws]

 

I think this might be the man John Saxon was talking about?.

 

Source- https://jameswingwoo.com/

[DragonClaws]

 

John Saxon talking about the fight filmed in the L.A park, taken from a different interview conducted over at The Bruce Lee Live's site.

 

Source- http://bruceleelives.co.uk/saxon.html

 

Quote

The only fighting scene of mine not choreographed by Bruce Lee was the scene in which I mightily dispatched three or was it four 'toughs' on the Golf Course who were demanding I pay my gambling debt; the reason 'Roper' flees to Hong Kong. That scene was developed in the Producer's offices at Warner Bros. by my Tai Chi Instructor James Wing Woo, and myself. I'd gone there the day before the scene was to be filmed in Griffith Park to ask Robert Clouse just how he saw doing the scene? I discovered Clouse didn't have a clue. As a result he turned the question to me. I conferred with Jimmy Wing Woo who made suggestions, which I demonstrated to Clouse and Fred Weintraub for more than an hour with foolish exhuberance: high scissor type kicks and spinning slap type kicks until I left satisfied that I knew what I was going to do in the scene the next day. But leaving the Office I found I was limping to get to my car. By the time I got home and in the shower, I discovered the back of my right leg was turning reddish-blue and I must've torn my 'ham-string'. After finishing the filming of the scene the following day, with different angles and innumerable takes, I was 'out of commission' for a month. Luckily filming in Hong Kong didn't begin until after that.

 

[TheFlyingPanda]

I wish they found the the deleted scenes were Elvis played the part of Roper... oh wait that happens on Earth-982, not this reality.  

[DragonClaws]

On 10/25/2018 at 7:48 PM, DragonClaws said:

Getting back to the topic of missing scenes, earlier in the thread I talked about the possibility of the cart sequence. Being filmed at Golden Harvest studios in Hong Kong?. We know some pick-up shots for the finale were also filmed in Hong Kong. There's a big difference in the film stock used for the Thai location, and the shots in H.K. Did they not have time to shoot these brief inserts in Thailand?. Or did they view the footage in H.K, and decide some scenes needed to be filmed again?.

 

 

I'm not sure how truthful the following source is?, but it appears that the missing cart/alley sequence was indeed filmed at Hong Kong's Wader Studio's?. With some other scenes filmed at the Royal Hong Kong golf course.

 

Quote

The Big Boss film crew finally returned to Hong Kong on 3 September, where there would be a further day of filming for insert shots including close-ups of Bruce avoiding the dogs and the “leg-grappling” scene during the fight with the boss (these were filmed at the Royal Hong Kong Golf Club). The final scene filmed was the now deleted “pushcart attack” in the alleyway, at Wader Studio in Hong Kong, as Golden Harvest had not as yet moved into their famous studios on Hammer Hill Road. Bruce viewed the raw, unedited three-hour footage on 5 September, before flying to the US the next day to film further episodes of Longstreet; he would return to Hong Kong on 16 October to promote the release of The Big Boss and begin pre-production work on his second film for Golden Harvest, Fist of Fury.

Source- https://www.wingchunnews.ca/bruce-lee-vs-muay-thai-fighter-in-1971-the-fight-last-18-secs/

Edited February 21, 2020 by DragonClaws

[TheKungFuRobber]

Does anyone have a copy of the Artport DVD of Bruce Lee in GOD? The later one which was anamorphic widescreen and had more footage? I'm asking because I need it for a really big groundbreaking project I want to undertake as a fan, one which should have been done a long time ago. I want to make a true finished copy of Game of Death in the form of a more polished and updated version of Bruce Lee A Warriors Journey which plays like a semi biographical movie of sorts rather than a cheesy TV edit documentary, as a passion project of sorts. Kind of a project similar to The Theif and the Cobbler. I'd gladly pay for it. I'm going to use it along with the new 4K scan of the Game of Death footage. It's a massive project, and I'm getting some friends involved with it to work on the score and I'm going to set up a forum dedicated to the project. It's going to be similar to how Orson Welles film Other Side of the Wind was done, but a complete fan project with no real budget. Doing it for Bruce. Since I'm upgrading to a newer machine with more backup storage and having access to modern technology to work with it, this is going to be totally out there really.

[DragonClaws]

7 hours ago, TheKungFuRobber said:

I want to make a true finished copy of Game of Death in the form of a more polished and updated version of Bruce Lee A Warriors Journey which plays like a semi biographical movie of sorts rather than a cheesy TV edit documentary, as a passion project of sorts. Kind of a project similar to The Theif and the Cobbler.

 

HI @TheKungFuRobber, sorry I cant help with the longer print of the Art-Port footage, these threads might be of interest to you.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 21, 2020 by DragonClaws

[TheKungFuRobber]

12 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

 

HI @TheKungFuRobber, sorry I cant help with the longer print of the Art-Port footage, these threads might be of interest to you.

 

 

 

 

 

That's alright. I appreciate you linking the threads though. I did watch the Game of Death 2.5 fan edit, and I can say it was very entertaining. I have no idea why it wasn't possible to finish the movie using what was there including Bruce's script. Bruce Lee had actually filmed most of the movie. There was no need to even use a double. The script could have been written so that he didn't have to be in the entire movie and have him come in later on. They could have made it an anthology horror film set in the pagoda, with the tower containing a curse. It could have been one of the best Hong Kong films ever made even with Bruce's absence. I fucking hate Robert Clouse, he absolutely butchered the movie just so he could make a boring and backwards pseudo-Westernized joke of a film with a bunch of white low rent actors whose careers fell out ages ago (apart from Gig Young, his story was quite sad and you can see the pain even in the filmed footage of Game of Death). And for all his genius, John Barry's soundtrack can fuck off. I'm sure I'm one of the few who didn't like the Game of Death soundtrack even if it is more polished than the soundtracks for his other movies, but it's so out of place. It's like it was made for another movie and only used so that the studio could have an American name on the poster. Joseph Koo's Fist of Fury soundtrack on the other hand, excellent. It flows along with the fight scenes perfectly.

Having heard the commentary from Roy Horan from Tower of Death, I get the impression that Ng See Yuen wanted to do another version of Game of Death in Korea because audiences in Southeast Asia didn't like Game of Death for understandable reasons, but couldn't secure the rights to the Bruce Lee footage from his movie because the sleazy cocksuckers had the rights to it that made the 1978 movie, so instead it ended up being made with the footage from Enter the Dragon that wasn't used and was used as a vehicle for Korean star Kim Tai Jung, who sadly never really did any more movies in Hong Kong with any real success (which is surprising when Tower of Death sold very well in Japan and has one of the most amazing duels I have seen filmed between Kim Tai Jung and Hwang Jang Lee) apart from No Retreat, No Surrender for Seasonal, which is now a cult classic and introduced JCVD to the scene.

At this point, a remastered and more complete version of A Warriors Journey would be a better movie. The producers should have just done that, that way you get to see a good double feature of sorts, part documentary part movie, but of course Hollywood wouldn't allow that because it might be too intelligent for people who don't have the IQ of a gorilla and wouldn't sell tickets to them as such even though the logical truth is that the fans only really want to see his footage, so instead lets just show his corpse on the screen. Game of Death was almost a documentary anyway in it's original premise. I can't watch Game of Death, I can only watch the Japanese movie Bruce Lee in G.O.D, out of pure principle. It's not perfect but at least it shows everything that is still around the way it was meant to be seen. Maybe one day Bruce Lee in G.O.D will come out on blu ray and we can burn every copy of the 1978 version and pretend it was never made.

Edited March 21, 2020 by TheKungFuRobber

[ShawAngela]

47 minutes ago, TheKungFuRobber said:

I can only watch the Japanese movie Bruce Lee in G.O.D

What is it, precisely, please ?

[saltysam]

I have both the Artport DVDs, the original 2000 release and the 2003 special edition

[TheKungFuRobber]

1 hour ago, ShawAngela said:

What is it, precisely, please ?

It's more or less a docu-biopic-action movie of sorts based on the making of Game of Death, which shows the entire edit of the footage thats left of Game of Death at the end of the film. It was screened theatrically in Japan and is the only way to see the original Game of Death in decent quality. A Warriors Journey was edited from a non anamorphic tape master of the footage, whereas the people who did A Warriors Journey had access to the original negatives. It's excellent actually if you can get over the crappy acting in the biopic part, the Game of Death part is amazing and shows what could've been and was butchered up so badly by Clouse.

[DragonClaws]

10 hours ago, TheKungFuRobber said:

It's more or less a docu-biopic-action movie of sorts based on the making of Game of Death, which shows the entire edit of the footage thats left of Game of Death at the end of the film. It was screened theatrically in Japan and is the only way to see the original Game of Death in decent quality. A Warriors Journey was edited from a non anamorphic tape master of the footage, whereas the people who did A Warriors Journey had access to the original negatives. It's excellent actually if you can get over the crappy acting in the biopic part, the Game of Death part is amazing and shows what could've been and was butchered up so badly by Clouse.

 

I recall how the two versions of the same footage, got fan's agitated during the orignal releases. You seemed to have three different camps, the John Little edit fans, The Bey Logan edit fans, and the one's who enjoyed or disiked both version's. Back then there were many lengthy thread's about which version was better and why. The Art-Port version looked all washed out to me/faded, and this was the version I choose to buy at the time. In England you had Warriors Journeyy being put out by Warner, and then the Art-Port edit of the pogoda sequence being put out by Hong Kong Legend's.

[saltysam]

The 2000 Artport footage looked far better than the 2003 footage . If i get time,i'll post a couple of comparision shots later.