A towering kung fu master and known basketball star versus the legend in a yellow jump suit. Few action sequences in film have burrowed their way into the cultural consciousness like the final fight between Bruce Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The fights that did get included are the battle with Filipino Kali expert Dan Inosanto, another Korean hapkido fighter named Ji Jan Jae, and of course the final battle with Kareem, the demon-eyed master of the penultimate level. The second fight was slated to feature Taky Kimura, a Wing Chun and Mantis practitioner. The only hints we have are from a very terse outline Bruce Lee wrote in the early 1970s: After whipping them all, the cocky Billy Lo would have presumably made off with the treasure (or returned it to its rightful owners?), defeated the crime lord who kidnapped his family, and strolled off into the sunset. Lo and his band of decent martial artists must take on a posse of kung fu/karate black belts, a Praying Mantis master, a Filipino Kali master (played by Dan Inosanto), and eventually a seven-foot-tall black kung fu demon played by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The pagoda is guarded by bosses of ever-increasing skill level. There is a general agreement about what the story would have been: Korean thugs kidnap Billy Lo's brother and sister, forcing him to join a raid on a pagoda housing a great treasure.
How fitting for a legend to disappear in a puff of smoke, just like that, leaving behind the most iconic jumpsuit known to man and enough bits and pieces for later filmmakers to have a go at what was obviously an ambitious vision. There is an outline, roughly 40 minutes of footage, and a ton of rumors.
TRUE GAME OF DEATH BRUCE LEE ARCHIVE
Norris's appearance in the film is archive footage from Meng long guo jiang (1972). Chuck Norris threatened legal action against Golden Harvest for giving him screen credit for this film.Chuck Norris was considered for the role of Steiner, but turned it down.For other reasons, Lazenby was not involved in the final project as directed by Robert Clouse. George Lazenby was originally meant to be in this film and was due to meet Bruce Lee on June 20 1973, the day Lee died.This footage can be seen in its entirety in Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey (2000) (V).
The rest of the actors (James Tien, Han Jae Ji, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) only feature in archive footage.
Dan Inosanto was the only cast member of the original 1972 footage shot by Bruce Lee to shoot scenes for the 1978 version of the film.Close-ups and stills of Lee's face (including a cardboard cut-out) were also used. Six years later, director Robert Clouse fleshed out a feature around the original footage with a new cast, including two stand-ins for Lee, who faces are hidden by dark sunglasses and shadows. However, Lee died before he could return. Bruce Lee had filmed over 30 minutes of fight scenes for this film when work was suspended to allow Lee to work on Enter The Dragon (1973).
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