Member Killer Meteor Posted June 5, 2021 Member Share Posted June 5, 2021 From memory, HK got the Ji Han-jae fight in the middle as well - the original HK VHS is like this. The version missing the fight was for Malaysia/Singapore with the hero getting arrested. Interestingly, aside from the actual fight, Ji isn't credited or mentioned anywhere in the film, and he's not on any of the original trailers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted June 5, 2021 Member Share Posted June 5, 2021 In his Bruce Lee book, Bey Logan explained why the Hapkido master wasn't brought back for Clouse's version: “The political situation in late 70s Korea was unstable, making it inconvenient for Chi Hon-Tsoi to fly back to Hong Kong to shoot anything further for Game of Death. Chi was later accused of involvement in the assassination of Korean president Park Chung-Hee, and was jailed for a year.” Ji was interviewed for the June `91 issue of Combat, but he was more interested in talking about the history of Hapkido and his martial arts background. The only thing that he had to say about GOD was that it was his wish that neither his name nor the name of his art appear within the film's credits. I sense some damage control because he didn't address his incarceration for his alleged assassination attempt. The only reference to the president is the following paragraph about 1961: "The youthful Ji was appointed bodyguard to the Korean President, Chung-Hee, which meant a further relocation but this time to the Blue House which are the Presidential Quarters. However, the young Ji became more settled as his residency here was to last the best part of 20 years." 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted June 5, 2021 Member Share Posted June 5, 2021 1 hour ago, Cognoscente said: In his Bruce Lee book, Bey Logan explained why the Hapkido master wasn't brought back for Clouse's version: “The political situation in late 70s Korea was unstable, making it inconvenient for Chi Hon-Tsoi to fly back to Hong Kong to shoot anything further for Game of Death. Chi was later accused of involvement in the assassination of Korean president Park Chung-Hee, and was jailed for a year.” Ji was interviewed for the June `91 issue of Combat, but he was more interested in talking about the history of Hapkido and his martial arts background. The only thing that he had to say about GOD was that it was his wish that neither his name nor the name of his art appear within the film's credits. I sense some damage control because he didn't address his incarceration for his alleged assassination attempt. The only reference to the president is the following paragraph about 1961: "The youthful Ji was appointed bodyguard to the Korean President, Chung-Hee, which meant a further relocation but this time to the Blue House which are the Presidential Quarters. However, the young Ji became more settled as his residency here was to last the best part of 20 years." Thanks for clearing up that mystery! Makes me wonder if the reason Ji is missing from the Singapore print is because they were unable to get the clearence to use him and hence the delay from 77 to 78 for the HK release whilst they sorted it out? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member shukocarl1441996347 Posted June 6, 2021 Member Share Posted June 6, 2021 13 hours ago, saltysam said: I saw it at the Scala Cinema in Liverpool, in summer 1978. Me too! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted June 7, 2021 Author Member Share Posted June 7, 2021 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted June 9, 2021 Member Share Posted June 9, 2021 On 6/3/2021 at 4:26 PM, makone said: By Photoshopped I mean the face is superimposed over Danny Lees from Bruce Lee and I. You are on to something. In the 311st issue of Ladies and Home magazine (circa 1976), there is the below photo of Ting Pei. The photo underneath that (of Robert Lee) is from the same issue. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted June 14, 2021 Author Member Share Posted June 14, 2021 On 6/9/2021 at 11:40 AM, Cognoscente said: You are on to something. In the 311st issue of Ladies and Home magazine (circa 1976), there is the below photo of Ting Pei. The photo underneath that (of Robert Lee) is from the same issue. Just noticed this, thanks for clearing this up @makone 7 @Cognoscente. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted June 14, 2021 Member Share Posted June 14, 2021 You're welcome. Here are more pages from that issue of L&H. Golden Harvest could have made the effort in casting Robert Lee in GOD. They could have cast him as Jim Marshall's reporter buddy. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Josh Baker Posted June 14, 2021 Member Share Posted June 14, 2021 1 hour ago, Cognoscente said: You're welcome. Here are more pages from that issue of L&H. Golden Harvest could have made the effort in casting Robert Lee in GOD. They could have cast him as Jim Marshall's reporter buddy. I can see the familial resemblance to Bruce when Robert is smiling at that lady in the bottom left photo. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted June 14, 2021 Member Share Posted June 14, 2021 He looks more charismatic with a beard. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted June 15, 2021 Member Share Posted June 15, 2021 13 hours ago, Cognoscente said: You're welcome. Here are more pages from that issue of L&H. Golden Harvest could have made the effort in casting Robert Lee in GOD. They could have cast him as Jim Marshall's reporter buddy. Could be a story there... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted June 16, 2021 Member Share Posted June 16, 2021 On 6/5/2021 at 8:47 PM, DragonClaws said: What delayed the 1978 screen version of Game of Death from being released around Christmas 1977?. In the July '76 issue of Golden Movie News, it was mentioned that production was supposed to resume in October '76 with a worldwide release happening in early '77. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted June 16, 2021 Author Member Share Posted June 16, 2021 8 hours ago, Cognoscente said: In the July '76 issue of Golden Movie News, it was mentioned that production was supposed to resume in October '76 with a worldwide release happening in early '77. Nice find @Cognoscente, that almost a year before the Christmas 77 release date on the promotional booklets. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Josh Baker Posted June 16, 2021 Member Share Posted June 16, 2021 2 hours ago, Cognoscente said: In the July '76 issue of Golden Movie News, it was mentioned that production was supposed to resume in October '76 with a worldwide release happening in early '77. Oh nice! I wonder what delayed the plans? Were they lining up another filmmaker to complete it and then someone came up with the bright idea to have Robert Clouse come in and finish the film? The delay entailing I guess they waited for Clouse to finish The Amsterdam Kill and then start production on Game of Death immediately after. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted June 16, 2021 Member Share Posted June 16, 2021 It's weird that it was due to begin filming at the same time as The Amsterdam Kill, whose production lasted from October 6, 1976 to March 16, 1977. In Hong Kong, you can direct two films at once but Clouse wasn't that kind of director. It's unfortunate because they could have directed the fight scenes for GOD while he directed TAK. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Josh Baker Posted June 16, 2021 Member Share Posted June 16, 2021 1 minute ago, Cognoscente said: It's weird that it was due to begin filming at the same time as The Amsterdam Kill, whose production lasted from October 6, 1976 to March 16, 1977. In Hong Kong, you can direct two films at once but Clouse wasn't that kind of director. It's unfortunate because they could have directed the fight scenes for GOD while he directed TAK. I guess Kim Tai Chung never wouldve been chosen as the main fight double in that timeline as he wouldve been too young, he was 19 in 1976, and I guess the GH location scout to find him never wouldve happened either. Who would've been the main double? Yuen Wah? (which probably wouldve made more sense as an option) as Yuen Biao also wouldve been too young in 1976 as well. Maybe Robert Mitchum was only available for a certain period of time so they decided to postpone GOD to film TAK, but WHY IN THE WORLD would GH take Robert Mitchum over priority for their USP, Bruce Lee, and make fans wait another year for the 'completion' of Game of Death? Makes no sense to me. This also explains why in the article the script had already been finished and written (the Jan Spears script) so I guess if the Clouse GOD had been shot a year earlier, it still wouldn't have turned out that differently from what we originally got, which is an interesting proposition. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted June 16, 2021 Member Share Posted June 16, 2021 Perhaps they were hoping that they could use Robert Mitchum's affiliation with Golden Harvest to entice other Hollywood stars to be in GOD. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Josh Baker Posted June 16, 2021 Member Share Posted June 16, 2021 Just now, Cognoscente said: Perhaps they were hoping that they could use Robert Mitchum's affiliation with Golden Harvest to entice other Hollywood stars to be in GOD. Its a conceit that failed miserably haha 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Josh Baker Posted June 16, 2021 Member Share Posted June 16, 2021 Tbh Bruce Lee was a star on the same level as his movie star friends McQueen and Coburn by 1976, I dont think you really need a face like theirs in the movie to 'legitimise' one of his films; people like Hugh O Brian and Colleen Camp were enough to fill in as the 'gwailo' faces to qualify as an international production. I wouldve loved George Lazenby to be in this film in some capacity but he was probably off the GH payroll at this point which made it unlikely. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted June 16, 2021 Member Share Posted June 16, 2021 The problem is that GH backed themselves into a corner where they had to find Hollywood stars to flesh out the running time instead of making the most of the Bruce Lee footage that they had. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Josh Baker Posted June 16, 2021 Member Share Posted June 16, 2021 54 minutes ago, Cognoscente said: The problem is that GH backed themselves into a corner where they had to find Hollywood stars to flesh out the running time instead of making the most of the Bruce Lee footage that they had. Which is what they shouldve done in the first place...the amount of backwards thinking by the heads of GH in this matter never ceases to astound me...plus what I never understood is, if they had used the 35 mins of footage Bruce had shot, they could've credited him as a DIRECTOR along with the director who finished the film along with a SCREENPLAY credit! Do you know how much clout that wouldve given the movie amongst film buyers around the world?? They could've plastered that all over the marketing and it wouldve given the film far more credibility than any Hollywood star they wouldve managed to cram into the film. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted June 16, 2021 Member Share Posted June 16, 2021 It's almost as if Raymond Chow was trying to bury Bruce's contributions. Concord isn't even credited as a production company. Besides Clouse possibly being jealous of Bruce's directorial ingenuity, Enter the Dragon was more professionally filmed and edited than The Way of the Dragon (which wasn't exactly a critic's darling). Maybe GH thought that ETD's polish and prestige would rub off on how critics looked at GOD. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted June 16, 2021 Member Share Posted June 16, 2021 1 hour ago, Josh Baker said: Which is what they shouldve done in the first place...the amount of backwards thinking by the heads of GH in this matter never ceases to astound me...plus what I never understood is, if they had used the 35 mins of footage Bruce had shot, they could've credited him as a DIRECTOR along with the director who finished the film along with a SCREENPLAY credit! Do you know how much clout that wouldve given the movie amongst film buyers around the world?? They could've plastered that all over the marketing and it wouldve given the film far more credibility than any Hollywood star they wouldve managed to cram into the film. Funnily enough, the HK print of GOD'78 credits Bruce Lee as the writer, not Jan Spears (AKA Rober Clouse). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted June 16, 2021 Member Share Posted June 16, 2021 It's the story of his life. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted June 16, 2021 Member Share Posted June 16, 2021 It would have been difficult to resume filming with James Tien in 1976. Here he is in the September '76 issue of Golden Movie News (#54). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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