Game of Death: Game Over! - New book on GOD by best-selling author Joe Kenney

[Guest mpm74]

a new book about GAME OF DEATH that settles the score!

A very interesting read for Bruce Lee/Game of Death fans.

Thanks in advance for checking it out.

[Linn1]

I think he's a bit too harsh on some fans, but I understand why. I've seen at least one interview where Lazenby talks about his character. If I remember right, he was supposed to play two characters, one that fought on the way into the tower is stayed outside as the others went in, and one that was was a guru (in heavy make-up) at the top of the tower. Now what has never made sense to me is what is at the top of the tower that he would have to save Bruce from?

[Guest Shaolin Dog Paw]

That guy seemed like an arrogant prick. I was going to buy this book but not now.

[Guest Robert Ian Teller]

Is it true that Bruce knew Laura Gemser aka Moira Chen and that they met sometime during or before the filimg of Return of The Dragon?

[Guest Chinatown Kid]

Being that I own the original Game of Death, A Warrior's Journey, and the Japanese Artport version I find this interesting reading. The author does come off as a kind of smart ass in that interview but I do agree that there probably isn't anymore lost footage of Lee or we would have seen it by now. I have great respect for Lee and admire his accomplishments in the Martial Arts and in Film, but I'm also not naive enough to believe he was a saint or perfect, he was human with imperfections just like the rest of us mortals. That doesn't tarnish his impact on the world any less to know he had problems and makes him even more endearing.

[Guest The Running Man]

Very interesting, but there's a lot of errors I noticed.

First, it seems that he never owned the Artport version of the film and just the HKL Platinum Edition release because he claims the speed is in PAL. Well that is the case for the HKL release but not the Artport release because that was NTSC. It also strengthens the fact that he partly refers to it as the "AP/HKL" when any person wouldn't give any credit to HKL since they had nothing to do with the production of the footage itself aside from buying the rights so they can put it on their DVD (which Brian White gave no credit to on the release itself).

Also, he seems totally unaware that there is actually a 2nd Artport edit of the GOD which is the superior edit of all.

Another thing he claims is, "Clouse darkened the film because in his version of GOD, Bruce fights Kareem at night, whereas in Bruce's version of the movie, the pagoda battle is during the day. That's right: Clouse even manipulated Bruce's actual film to fit his whims."

Yes, Clouse might have tinted the colors of the film but the footage during the Kareem fight is still day out when he is fighting him. Anyone would know that from the last fight where Bruce knocks the shades and the sun light is shining right into the room, which is one of many errors that edit commits (in GOD'78, Billy Lo enters the "restaurant" at night).

Another thing, "Since he didn't have dialog notes for one of Bruce's lines, Little chose to leave the audio portion silent, with a "dialog missing" legend appearing on-screen. Dumb move. A good lip-reader would've easily seen that what Bruce seems to say is, "Do you understand? This sword becomes a whip," which is what the AP producers have him say."

He should have checked one more time because that isn't exactly what he said in the AP edit.

In general though, his energy seems to be in the right place. He is a Bruce Lee fan, but not the typical kind that believes Bruce was a god among men and that everything he did was perfect, which is heavily annoying in that fan circle (a big reason why I stopped checking this about Bruce Lee). For that reason alone, he is refreshing and I can read his work without the fear of running into propaganda..

His tone, where he seems harsh with some fans, is understandable because it sounds like this guy has come from a place where he did lots of research for this but kept running into dead ends and leads that proved false that were largely sourced from those fans who were just starting rumors only so that they can get noticed.

Overal, great article and great tibit for the book. I'll grab a copy when it's out. But I checked amazon so that I can maybe preorder it and it isn't listed at all. Neither is his previous book "The American Sound".

[Guest mpm74]

Thanks for checking it out, guys. Running Man, never knew you were a Game of Death fan.

You know, speaking of the 1978 version, that "edit" has to be Robert Clouse's masterwork (IF he had anything to do with it). It's @#%$ pretty solid for the feat he had to do. To take footage, delete two other guys, and make it look like Bruce Lee was alone... GREAT job. Great music. And there's a hard-edged feeling about it that gets lost in othe other edits. In more ways than one, it actuallys "flows" a lot better than any Art Pork or Chicken Little package.

However, it still doesn't make sense why they didn't just build the movie around the three guys, intead of coming up with a bunch of white gangster dorks who walk around in canes, eat toothpicks and feed fish.

As far as finding infromation about that guy's last book, I couldn't either. From what Mike tells me, it's a very small publishing company and they don't even have a website. I was trying to find some information before putting up the feature. Open Hours publishing deals a lot with direct mail and educational books that are only available through backend mass. I guess this Game Over! was sort of a change of direction and mor of a hobby for Mr. Kenney.

Chris let me borrow the media prototype and there is a lot of good stuff. Maybe nothing new or groundbreaking, but it changes some perspective I had on the project. Totally rich and honest. And it helps that he's not a "bruce lee worshipper" -- he's just a fan that's laying it on the table.

Oh, and the book has no photos, except for a few clones (bruce li, le, etc.) and lobby cards they the author probably picked up from Ebay.

Cheers!

[Guest Ninja Sinai]

Id really like a copy of the book and have searched for it everywhere on the net.. but cant find anyone who has it for sale?

Then I started thinking maybe the book didnt exist and it was all a joke.. but then again the info sounds well researched man..

Where can I buy this book?????

[Guest fabhui]

I read on Nick Clarke's forum that the book is a hoax!

[Guest Chinatown Kid]

If it is I guess the joke is on the fans then.

Why would some prick want to pull a hoax though? Nothing better to do? >: No wonder that dude didn't want his face to be shown in that photo!

[Guest Tokenganja Clan]

The Warrior's Journey documentary and the Lee Estate want you to believe that Bruce Lee was a living god, incapable of error, and remained faithful to Linda until his dying day. The other side wants you to believe that Bruce was a hash brownie-eating, pimped-out mac daddy who stole his philosophical quips from ancient Chinese authors, and who slept with any desirable woman he met. To tell the truth, I like the latter version better. So I say if Bruce got to @#%$ the insanely-attractive Nora Miao while also carrying on an affair with Betty Ting Pei, then more power to him! @#%$, I'd shake his hand just for that.

[Guest mpm74]

Joe Kenney is a real person and that interview is real. =)

There will be updates to this whole thing soon.

Where is Nick Clarke's forum?

Thanks, guys!

[Guest The Running Man]

That's something I forgot to express. It is very suspect that he doesn't want his face being shown.

What has he to hide if he already is, supposedly, a published author?

And if he didn't want his face shown, why did he allow himself to be photographed in the first place?

[Guest Shaolin Dog Paw]

AHA!!! he was an arrogant prick!

[Linn1]

that photo wasn't doctored when it was first put up there. When I originally clicked on the link, it was clear.

[Guest mpm74]

You guys are pretty observant.

When Chris showed Joe the link to his interview on cityonfire.com, Joe asked his face to be covered. Chris didn't ask him why. Obviously, he's just a private guy. As vocal as he is in some subjects of the book, who can blame him?

Also, he seems totally unaware that there is actually a 2nd Artport edit of the GOD which is the superior edit of all.

Running Man, here is Joe's answer (updated word file that he just sent me.... he might have just written it.):

ArtPort’s Bruce Lee in GOD 2003 Special Edition:

In 2003, ArtPort released a Japan-only DVD featuring a recut version of their documentary, hosted by erstwhile Hong Kong actor Yuen Biao. The selling point was the promise of a new presentation of the Game of Death footage, with new music, new editing, and 5.1 surround sound. The DVD was released as part of a boxset, with one of three Bruce Lee calling cards and a T-shirt. The boxset was limited and very expensive.

In short, save your money.

The 5.1 sound remix: It sucks. You know how those Hong Kong Legends Bruce Lee releases, which are mostly perfect otherwise, feature the boosted-up 5.1 mix which sounds a bit, well, off? Well, the 2003 GOD Special Edition is even worse. When Bruce kicks someone, it sounds like a machine gun backfiring. Every sound is mixed to the max volume, giving the production a surreal tinge. But beyond that, EVERYTHING now has a sound effect. If James Tien scratches his nose in the background, you’ll hear “scritch scritch scritch†on the soundtrack. It’s ridiculous. Also, every time we have a close-up of someone’s face, ArtPort has added a “woosh†sound effect to the soundtrack. Again, ridiculous.

The soundtrack: It’s worse than the original 2000 ArtPort release. It’s still just keyboards and synthesizers, however this time the producers have resuscitated John Barry’s original theme from the 1978 GOD. This plays at the climax of each floor’s fight, but plays in full during the Bruce/Kareem match. This means that the hard rock version, well-known from the 2000 release, is gone. Instead, we get a middling remake of the Barry score, again done on keyboards, with a synthetic orchestra, electronic drums, etc. It not only lacks the rocking punch of the 2000 soundtrack, but it’s just outright terrible to boot.

The recut footage: It isn’t really recut at all. The main difference is, ArtPort has neutered the footage. As stated above, the 2000 ArtPort production had a lot of material not featured in Warrior’s Journey. Well, the Special Edition has lost all of it. It’s like ArtPort went edit crazy, cutting out all kinds of material. The Special Edition no longer features any of the little quirks so apparent in the 2000 release; it’s like the producers realized Warriors Journey was a bit more fluid, and so cut out all of the extraneous material in their own production to match. But the problem is, they did a poor job; the recut footage in the Special Edition comes off awkward and ill-paced. Also, ArtPort has tried to “spice†the footage up by employing slow-motion. It doesn’t work. For example, in the climax of the Bruce/Kareem fight, the jumping kick Bruce delivers to Kareem (which knocks off Kareem’s sunglasses) is here rendered in slow motion. It doesn’t look right. Also, they have now screwed up the first moments of Ji Han Jae’s floor. In this Special Edition, the quick close-up of Bruce and Ji’s eyes are shown BEFORE Bruce steps forward, after James and Chieh have fought, and raises his right hand in challenge to Ji. In the Special Edition, the “eyes†close-up between Bruce and Ji occurs as soon as Bruce, James, and Chieh come up the stairs. This effectively ruins what had been an otherwise perfectly-directed scene by Bruce; one of my favorite moments in the Game of Death footage. But one positive thing – at least in the Special Edition, ArtPort manages to edit the scene correctly in which Bruce breaks out the windows, and THEN we see Kareem cowering in pain. This was a glaring error in the 2000 version, which they have now thankfully fixed. But that’s the only thing; ArtPort got everything else wrong in the Special Edition.

Picture quality: Brace yourself for this. The picture quality is WORSE in the 2003 Special Edition. The film is grainy and spotty, whereas the 2000 ArtPort release looked like it was filmed last week. Why? Did ArtPort fail to properly store the film they’d so lovingly remastered three years before?

All told, the 2003 Special Edition release of Bruce Lee in GOD is a waste of your time and money.

----

[Guest Ninja Sinai]

I got an email from Joe today.. here is the part where he explains why no one can get hold of his book just yet:

The book will be out as soon as I can fight the right

publisher and work out a good deal. We had to change

publishers because Open Door (the company I work for)

will not publish it because it's not their "line" and

they don't see a financial gain from it (which you

can't blame them); I am currently talking with indie

publishing companies and as soon as we make a deal,

the book can be printed pretty fast. I'm shooting for

2-3 months..

To me.. the guy seems like a pretty cool guy man.. I repect him for not being shy to speak the truth and his mind.

[Guest tigerstyles]

GOD 2003 is not at all as bad a he states.. the sound fx are not over the top and the 5.1 mix is great i would'nt compare it to a messedup HK new DTS edited film.. the picture is not as good though as the 2000 edition. editing is spot on. get a rip cuz you aint gonna get an original and make your own mindup

[Guest killer meteor]

Mind you, Cityonfire does enjoy April Fool's pranks. I remember the time they claimed they were being sued by Miriamaxe for using the City On Fire name

[Guest The Running Man]

All told, the 2003 Special Edition release of Bruce Lee in GOD is a waste of your time and money.

No, it isn't.

This "Joe" doesn't know what he's talking about. :b

[Guest tigerstyles]

thanks rm

[Guest Markgway]

When Chris showed Joe the link to his interview on cityonfire.com, Joe asked his face to be covered. Chris didn't ask him why.

Maybe he's afraid Shannon will come over and kick his ass?

[Guest mpm74]

Not sure if any of you have seen this. Stupid, but it has its funny moments. Especially when Dean Jagger and gang get into the picture! LOL

Check it out.

[Guest Shaolin Dog Paw]

2 things:

it was mildly insulting and barely laughable.

Game of Death, no. Way of the Dragon, yes.

[Guest Atomic Mystery Monster]

Sorry, I just had to get that out of my system.

Am I the only one out there who thinks that the reason Kareem Abduhl-Jabbar was given lizard eyes was to emphasize the "unknown" nature of his style? Kinda like how the others in the temple wore clothing/costumes associated with their style of martial arts, or how Bruce Lee's character wore a tracksuit to show that he wasn't limited to any particular style.