Hall of the Unknown - The Game Of Death Appreciation Thread

[Cognoscente]

It's sad that Sammo didn't take over as director because this could have been the springboard for not only Golden Harvest making their name with international movies but also as a way for Sammo to make a calling card for his Hollywood film career. When he moved to the states in the late nineties, he never got the chance to direct his own Hollywood movie. He could have been the martial arts version of John Woo, but his lack of English really went against him.

Pan Yung-Sheng would have been an even better replacement for Chieh Yuan since not only did he look like him but he was already a member of Sammo's team. Perhaps Chieh didn't want to return because of his friendship with Michael Chan Wai-Man, who Sammo fought in a nightclub around this time.

[Josh Baker]

31 minutes ago, Cognoscente said:

It's sad that Sammo didn't take over as director because this could have been the springboard for not only Golden Harvest making their name with international movies but also as a way for Sammo to make a calling card for his Hollywood film career. When he moved to the states in the late nineties, he never got the chance to direct his own Hollywood movie. He could have been the martial arts version of John Woo, but his lack of English really went against him.

Pan Yung-Sheng would have been an even better replacement for Chieh Yuan since not only did he look like him but he was already a member of Sammo's team. Perhaps Chieh didn't want to return because of his friendship with Michael Chan Wai-Man, who Sammo fought in a nightclub around this time.

Yep hes also a good option, Fung Hak On was the one who immediately came to mind.

To be honest it wouldve been nice for Sammo to have had a bigger career in Hollywood but he wouldve come across the same bullshit John Woo had to put up with for his Hollywood projects; studio/producer interference, insurance limitations. 

In HK Sammo was king of the heap and can do whatever he wanted with almost no interference from executives (as far as I know) and if GOD had been a springboard for his Hollywood career, we may never have gotten classics like Eastern Condors Dragons Forever or Millionaires Express. I'm sure Sammo enjoyed being the prince of a smaller kingdom rather than a serf in a larger one.

I think Chieh didnt return because he wasnt included in Clouses version, although you could be bringing up a salient point in that maybe the limited amount of pagoda footage in GOD could be because of Yuan and Tien refusing to return?

[Cognoscente]

It depends on who the producer would have been. Oliver Stone, a major fan of HK movies who loved Eastern Condors, could have done for him what Sam Raimi did for Woo. Don't forget that Sammo's film career declined because, unlike Jackie, he couldn't get away with making expensive movies with just the Asian audience as the only source of income. Jackie got away with the 15 million budget for Operation Condor because he had a strong international following.

Even someone like Andre Morgan would have been enough to be Sammo's champion. Martial Law was a good example of what could be done on a TV budget, so who knows what Sammo could have done with a feature film budget. When Sony looked at The Medallion, they were surprised that the budget was a lot smaller than the way that it looked. Sammo's cost-saving methods as a second unit director are overlooked.

It goes both ways. Maybe we would have been spared from seeing Sammo's not-so-best movies like Owl vs. Dumbo and the Lucky Stars movies, especially the latter seeing as how they were Sammo's response to the star-studded Cannonball Run.

[DragonClaws]

 

 

[Cognoscente]

With Corey being one of the directors, I wonder if that counts as a cameo.

[DragonClaws]

On 5/14/2021 at 7:57 AM, Josh Baker said:

Tbh I wouldnt have been against GOD2 essentially trying GOD again, but more faithfully attempting to complete Lee's original vision. Ng See Yuen had been promised more pagoda footage for the directing job on GOD,and James Tien still looked more or less how he did in 1979/80 how he did in 1972, so it wouldnt be that hard to just try again with GOD with Ng See Yuen and Sammo Hung as the directors.

 

While I've read about Ng See-Yuen being originally offered more unseen Bruce Lee footage to work with.. I didnt know it was specifically pogoda related footage?. It seems the reverse pogoda idea, was later switched with the underground drugs lair idea.

Edited May 15, 2021 by DragonClaws

[Cognoscente]

They should have called it Descent to Hell or Satan's Fortress since there's not much of a pagoda.

[Josh Baker]

44 minutes ago, DragonClaws said:

 

 

Yeah this probably the most enlightening clip of any version of GOD2 pointing to what the original idea was for the film. Did GH truly have unseen footage of Lee from ETD to play with?

[Josh Baker]

28 minutes ago, DragonClaws said:

 

While I've read about Ng See-Yuen being originally offered more unseen Bruce Lee footage to work with.. I didnt know it was specifically pogoda related footage?. It seems the reverse pogoda idea, was later switched with the underground drugs lair idea.

Yeah Bey Logan said in the commentary that it was more GOD footage- or at least that's what Ng see Yuen thought he was getting- whether he thought there was nothing to do with this unseen ETD footage I dont know

[sym8]

4 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

 

 

Does he get to twirl the nunchucks himself or was that cut,it seem to jump slightly?

[Cognoscente]

It seems like it was going to be an opportunity to insert some alternate takes of Lee's original scene, which also seemed truncated.

[Josh Baker]

2 minutes ago, sym8 said:

Does he get to twirl the nunchucks himself or was that cut,it seem to jump slightly?

Refer to a video I just uploaded that simulates what it might've looked like if they had integrated ETD footage as planned: 

 

[Josh Baker]

Just now, Cognoscente said:

It seems like it was going to be an opportunity to insert some alternate takes of Lee's original scene, which also seemed truncated.

God I wouldve LOVED to have seen those alternate takes- I wonder how different it wouldve looked- or MAYBE it was literally just another take of the same thing.

I hope there are actual deleted moments from the sequence, which set photos seem to indicate MIGHT exist- but they could just be rehearsal footage captured in photos like the New Territories stuff shot for GOD

[Cognoscente]

I can only imagine what Bruce would have done with a chain whip.

 

 

[Josh Baker]

15 minutes ago, Cognoscente said:

I can only imagine what Bruce would have done with a chain whip.

 

 

Yeah it's interesting if he wouldve stayed down the path of utilising Japanese/Filipino weaponry (that legions of fans mistook for Chinese ones for years) or took the opportunity to use his newfound American fame to show off traditional Chinese weapons.

If hed gone down that path, I think that weapon or the triple-ended-staff wouldve been the next step.

Edited May 15, 2021 by Josh Baker

[DragonClaws]

On 5/15/2021 at 3:17 PM, sym8 said:

Does he get to twirl the nunchucks himself or was that cut,it seem to jump slightly?

 

On 5/15/2021 at 3:22 PM, Cognoscente said:

It seems like it was going to be an opportunity to insert some alternate takes of Lee's original scene, which also seemed truncated.

 

If they hand't killed off the Billy Lo character, they might have inserted some more nunchaku footage there?.

 

On 5/15/2021 at 12:02 PM, Josh Baker said:

Did GH truly have unseen footage of Lee from ETD to play with?

 

Yes, they had deleted scenes from ETD as we have discussed in the Deleted Bruce Lee Movie Scenes thread.

 

 

Edited May 16, 2021 by DragonClaws

[Cognoscente]

The December '77 issue of Golden Movie News contained some production photos of the Clouse version.

[Josh Baker]

54 minutes ago, Cognoscente said:

The December '77 issue of Golden Movie News contained some production photos of the Clouse version.

Great find! Thank you, do you know who owns this?

[Cognoscente]

An eBay seller named songdokwan1.

[DragonClaws]

 

The last still in the following video, has been discussed a lot over the years by fans. Posted a copy of it in this thread a few years back. Was it a still from footage filmed?, or just a rare rehearsal/behind the scenes image?. It's cool to see it in a different context, with the other pictures/stills.

 

 

[Cognoscente]

Let's put it this way - Wu Ngan disclosed in an issue of Kung Fu Monthly that Bruce filmed all the fights in the pagoda with the exception of the battle at the entrance.

[DragonClaws]

8 hours ago, Cognoscente said:

Let's put it this way - Wu Ngan disclosed in an issue of Kung Fu Monthly that Bruce filmed all the fights in the pagoda with the exception of the battle at the entrance.

 

Did he plan to shoot the battle at the entrance in Korea?, rather than Hong Kong?.

[Cognoscente]

Korea. The only way that they could fake it in HK would be if they used Shaw's pagoda.

[Josh Baker]

4 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

 

The last still in the following video, has been discussed a lot over the years by fans. Posted a copy of it in this thread a few years back. Was it a still from footage filmed?, or just a rare rehearsal/behind the scenes image?. It's cool to see it in a different context, with the other pictures/stills.

 

 

The pic of the businessman is the Ji Han Jae floor, the pic of Bruce resting his head on the staircase is also the Ji Han Jae floor.

[Josh Baker]

3 hours ago, Cognoscente said:

Let's put it this way - Wu Ngan disclosed in an issue of Kung Fu Monthly that Bruce filmed all the fights in the pagoda with the exception of the battle at the entrance.

Are you sure hes not mistaken, because the Taky Kimura fight was never filmed, we pretty much know that for fact. Did Bruce re cast the role and it hasnt been found out yet who the recasting was? 

I think Whang In Sik was supposed to be the leader of the Karatekas outside the pagoda rather than have a floor of his own, because the pagoda Bruce intended to use only  had four floors, meaning Taky Kimura was to be on the ground floor.

It is entirely possible Bruce filmed the ground floor fight with another actor we just have no real corroborated evidence that that footage exists at this time (unless there is some I'm not aware of?)