Other Game of Death films After
Bruce Lee 's death, several other films were made based on
The Game of Death (original film), after the first appearance, in 1973, of the trailer in the documentary
Bruce Lee, the Man and the Legend, several studios exploited the situation by making their own versions of
Game of Death based on what they had learned of the story from production stills and magazine articles. Some of these films pre-dated Robert Clouse's official
Game of Death (
1978 film). •
The Game of Death (1974) •
Goodbye Bruce Lee: His Last Game of Death (1975) •
Enter the Game of Death (1978) •
The True Game of Death (1979) •
Game of Death II (
Tower of Death) (1981) : Clouse's film had a sequel in 1981,
Game of Death II, a kung fu action mystery film directed by
Ng See-yuen which used cut footage from Lee's
Enter the Dragon to have him make an appearance in the beginning of the film, only to be killed off midway, allowing his on-screen brother to take on the role of protagonist. Aside from the international English dub giving the "Bruce Lee" character the name
Billy Lo, this movie appears to have no connection with Clouse's film. Wong Jing's film
City Hunter has a similar premise for a scene.
Jackie Chan as Ryu Saeba takes on two tall black men, and the film uses clips of Lee's fight scene against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to get the better of the two.
Influence The original film's concept of ascending a tower while defeating enemies on each level was highly influential, inspiring numerous
action films and
video games.
Film Italian film scholars Simone Bedetti and Lorenzo De Luca identified
Game of Death as an early example of what they call the "arcade movie" genre of
action films. These "arcade movies" have three characteristic elements: the achievement of a
goal, passing a series of
levels, and ascending through a
path (whether physical or symbolic). This is presented in
Game of Death as Lee going up higher floors while facing increasingly dangerous opponents as he ascends the tower. Later examples of action films which Bedetti and De Luca identify as "arcade movies" include Bruce Lee's own
Enter the Dragon, the
Bruce Willis movie
Die Hard (1988),
Steven Spielberg's
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989),
Paul W. S. Anderson's
Mortal Kombat (1995), and the
Jean-Claude Van Damme movie
Sudden Death (1995).
The Raid, a 2011
Indonesian film, was influenced by
Game of Death. It has a similar plot structure, set in a single main location, a grungy high-rise building, with grunts at the bottom and the big boss at the top. This
Game of Death formula was also used in the film
Dredd (2012) and appeared in an episode of
SpongeBob SquarePants. Several films pay homage to the fight scene between Bruce Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The scene is parodied in two
Jackie Chan films,
City Hunter (1993) where Chan fights two tall black men, and
Rush Hour 3 (2007) which reverses it by having a shorter
African-American man
Chris Tucker fight a taller Chinese basketballer
Sun Mingming. The
Keanu Reeves film
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) pays homage in a scene featuring
NBA basketball player
Boban Marjanović. The French film
La Tour Montparnasse Infernale (2001) parodies the scene when
Ramzy Bedia fights with Bô Gaultier de Kermoal, wearing the same costumes as Lee and Abdul-Jabbar.
William Zabka referenced
Game of Death during his audition for the role of
Johnny Lawrence in
The Karate Kid (1984), when the director
John Avildsen asked him "how old are you? You're a little bigger than our karate kid." Zabka responded, "Bruce Lee was smaller than Kareem Abdul Jabbar, but he beat him" in reference to
Game of Death, to which Avildsen responded "Yeah, that's true." That convinced Avildsen to cast Zabka for the role.
Video games The plot structure of
Game of Death, where a series of martial arts opponents each have a weakness that must be discovered and exploited, established the "end-of-level
boss" structure used by
beat 'em up games for decades. This structure first crossed over into video games with the 1984
arcade game Kung-Fu Master, which established the
beat 'em up genre. the
Red Ribbon Army saga (1985–1986) in the
manga and
anime series
Dragon Ball, and the French film
Kung Fu Master (1988).
Comics The
superhero Shang-Chi was created as a result of the kung-fu craze started by Bruce Lee in 1973, with artist
Paul Gulacy using Lee as a visual inspiration for Shang-Chi. The "Game of Rings" storyline from the comic series
Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings was inspired by
Game of Death.
Yellow-and-black jumpsuit The yellow-and-black
jumpsuit which Lee wore in the film has come to be seen as something of a trademark for the actor, and is paid homage to in numerous other media. In the Clouse-directed remake, the filmmakers rationalised its presence by including a scene where Billy Lo disguises himself as one of Dr. Land's motorcycle-riding thugs, who all wear striped jumpsuits. In the warehouse scene, Billy Lo wears a pair of yellow Adidas, and later, in the Pagoda scene, Bruce Lee wears a pair of Moonstar Jaguar shoes from the ’70s, which are often mistaken for Asics Onitsuka Tiger shoes worn by Uma Thurman in
Kill Bill: Volume 1. This is because the real Bruce Lee wore the latter when he was filming the original version, and the double wore the former in the 1978 version to resemble his shoes. The Moonstar Jaguars also closely resemble the Asics Onitsuka Tigers but feature three vertical stripes, like Adidas, crossed by a horizontal stripe similar to Puma models. In the Lee-directed unfinished version, the jumpsuit should portray personal freedom in the art of combat, without being bounded to a certain fighting style. The cinematic explanation for its presence was the nickname of Hai Tien, Yellow-Faced
Tiger, because his fighting outfit and shoes resemble the colours of a Tiger. Over the years, there were many speculations about the colour of the jumpsuit and its meaning. According to
Andre Morgan from Golden Harvest, they had a yellow suit with black bars and a black suit with yellow bars. Lee first chose the black suit, but changed it to the yellow because Abdul-Jabbar's footprints were better visible on it.
Film • Robert Clouse heavily featured the usage of his own 1978 Bruce Lee film
Game of Death (a spin-off of the unfinished 1972 film
Game of Death) in a gory theatre scene during the production of the 1982 film
Deadly Eyes (which was also produced by
Golden Harvest). •
Uma Thurman wears a similar suit in
Kill Bill: Volume 1 when she travels to Japan to take on an underworld boss and assassin played by
Lucy Liu. In homage to both the film and the remake, Thurman wears a two-piece suit and the Onitsuka Tiger sneakers as part of her motorcycle-riding gear, and keeps the suit on during her battle with Liu and her gang, the Crazy 88. • In
Shaolin Soccer, a similar suit is worn by the goalie "Empty Hand" (
Danny Chan Kwok-kwan), who resembles Lee. • In the
Jet Li film
High Risk,
Jacky Cheung plays an
action film star who is losing his fighting ability due to his cowardice and drunkenness. When he regains his courage at the end of the film, he wears a copy of the yellow tracksuit. The role is generally felt to be a parody of
Jackie Chan, but the references to Bruce Lee are also obvious. • The 1985 film
The Last Dragon, produced by
Motown founder
Berry Gordy, centred around a Bruce Lee fan, portrayed by
Taimak, in search of reaching martial arts enlightenment who instructed his students wearing the same tracksuit. • In
Revenge of the Nerds,
Brian Tochi's character, Toshiro Takashi, wears the yellow jumpsuit while riding a tricycle during the inter-Greek competitions. • In the live-action
City Hunter film (directed by
Wong Jing), the scene in which
Jackie Chan dispatches his own taller opponents references Lee's fight with Abdul-Jabbar. • In
Police Story 4: First Strike,
Jackie Chan wears a similar suit that he gets from a wardrobe of an hotel room, claiming that he is a dry cleaner to the owner, with the same colors and the left and right black line. • In
Finishing the Game, Breeze Loo, played by
Roger Fan, wears a yellow and black striped jumpsuit. • In the 2011
British comedy film
On the Ropes, writer and director
Mark Noyce added a scene in homage to his idol
Bruce Lee which featured Mick Western (played by
Ben Shockley) wearing a yellow tracksuit.
Music • A short promotional video for the virtual band
Gorillaz showed the fictional animated guitarist Noodle taking on a pack of thugs while dressed in the tracksuit and imitating Lee's fighting style. Noodle also wore the suit in the
Game of Death short clip from
Phase One: Celebrity Take Down. • The band
Sugar Ray, in their video for the single "
When It's Over", included a segment in which one of its band members (
Rodney Sheppard,
Guitarist) fantasizes about having a kung fu battle similar to the fight scene between Lee and
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The band member wears Lee's tracksuit, his opponent wears a beard, clothes and sunglasses similar to Abdul-Jabbar's, and the video duplicates the scene in which a seated Kareem kicks Lee in the chest, knocking him down and leaving a huge footprint on his chest. • Avant-garde guitarist
Buckethead released a cover of "Game of Death" in 2006. He also wore a yellow tracksuit while playing live and performed with
nunchakus on stage. • American band
Far East Movement's song "Satisfaction" featured the yellow jumpsuits in the song's music video; said song was the soundtrack to the 2007
mockumentary Finishing the Game. • Canadian hard rock duo
Indian Handcrafts' song "Bruce Lee" uses the film as lyrical inspiration, while the music video features the two band members performing an over-the-top fight scene, with guitarist Daniel Brandon Allen wearing the signature yellow jumpsuit. • In the music video for the
Iggy Azalea song "
Black Widow" (featuring
Rita Ora), based on
Kill Bill, Azalea wears a white & black tracksuit and Ora wears a black & red tracksuit. Both suits resemble
Uma Thurman's version of the tracksuit. • In the video for
Black Label Society's 2009 song "Overlord", frontman
Zakk Wylde wears the iconic tracksuit, and the video pays humorous homage to the film.
Manga and anime • In the
Urusei Yatsura episode "The Mendo Family's Masquerade War",
Ataru wears a yellow tracksuit with black stripes while trying to court Mendou's sister, who is sporting nunchakus. Both Ataru's yellow tracksuit and the Mendou sister's nunchakus are a homage to Bruce Lee. • In the anime/manga
Tenjho Tenge, there is a short appearance of a character named "Inosato Dan" who is the leader of the "Jun Fan Gung Fu club" (Jun Fan is Bruce Lee's Chinese name). He resembles Bruce Lee very much, and wears the jumpsuit. However, in the anime the colors of the jumpsuit are switched to a black suit with yellow stripes. • Duel No. 25 of the
Yu-Gi-Oh! manga features some references to Bruce Lee.
Yugi's fighting-game character of choice is a Bruce Lee clone called Bruce Ryu. His opponent, the villain of the chapter, wears the yellow jumpsuit and calls his fight with Jonouchi a "Game of Death". The subsequent "Death-T" arc then follows a similar structure to the movie with Yugi fighting his way up to the top stage where he has a one on one bout with
Seto Kaiba. • The second episode of the anime series
Cowboy Bebop, "Stray Dog Strut", further pays homage with the episode's main antagonist being named Abdul Hakim (after
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's character) and bearing a strikingly similar appearance. • The character Mr. Tanaka from
Sonic X wears the suit in an episode. • The character Sasshi from the anime
Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi also gets a uniform called the Game of Death suit, later imitating Lee in both appearance and mannerisms. • Another reference is found in
Great Teacher Onizuka in which the main character, Onizuka Eikichi, wears the same suits when performing feats of strength like breaking a baseball bat with a kick in front of his class. • In episode 18 of the anime
Gintama, Kagura wears a suit similar to Bruce's suit in this movie. • The cover for the third volume of the American DVD release of the anime
PaniPoni Dash! features the main character
Rebecca Miyamoto wearing a track suit similar to Bruce Lee's. The subtitle for the DVD, "Class of Death", also pays homage to
Game of Death. • In episode 20 of
Hayate the Combat Butler, Hayate asks Maria if she knows "the art of assassination". She denies it, but Hayate does not believe her and Nagi imagines what Maria would look like wearing a yellow jumpsuit and holding nunchucks. • In episode 11 of
HeartCatch PreCure!, the guest characters for the episode, brothers Masato Sakai and Yoshito Sakai, both wear the yellow tracksuit. Masato Sakai styles himself as a Kung Fu master and his brother is his pupil. • In episode 23 of
Kuromukuro, the character Shenmei Liu wore a yellow tracksuit and does a flying kick similar to Bruce Lee's when her friends were filming a movie. • In episode 8 of ''
Akiba's Trip: The Animation'', the character Arisa Ahokainen wore a yellow tracksuit during her training days with her master. • In episode 10 of
Seton Academy: Join the Pack!, one of the impala species wore a yellow tracksuit. • In episode 8 of
Tonikaku Kawaii, during the sightseeing in Nara, Tsukasa and Nasa were having a conversation that has a reference of Bruce Lee's
Game of Death similar to the theatrical poster. • When cosplaying the character Hong Kong from the anime series
Hetalia Axis Powers, fans love to portray him wearing the yellow tracksuit.
Cartoons • In "Karate Island", a fourth-season episode of
SpongeBob SquarePants (which is itself a take-off of
Game of Death),
Sandy Cheeks wears a yellow tracksuit similar to Bruce's. • The character
Mandy from
The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy wore a yellow jumpsuit in the episode "
Modern Primitives / Giant Billy and Mandy All-Out Attack". The episode also had parodies of
Akira (Mandy drives a bike similar to Kaneda's in the series), the
Godzilla franchise (there are several giant monsters that parody monsters from the franchise including the name of the episode) and
Kill Bill (a check-off list plus a red-screened close-up mimicking the
Bride). • A game sprite resembling an Asian man can be seen wearing Bruce Lee's yellow suit during the first and third seasons of
ReBoot. • A Gorillabite from the band
Gorillaz is titled
Game of Death. In the bite,
Noodle, the guitarist, dons the yellow tracksuit to take on Russel. • Episode 100 of the 2003
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon depicts
Master Splinter's former owner, Hamato Yoshi, wearing the yellow tracksuit. • In
The Boondocks episode "
Let's Nab Oprah",
Oprah's bodyguard Bushido Brown is seen as a reference to
Jim Kelly's character Williams in
Enter the Dragon. Brown also tells the main protagonist
Huey Freeman "You come straight out of a comic book", a reference to
Enter the Dragon. However, he wears a
karate gi version of the yellow and black tracksuit in the episode "Stinkmeaner 3: The Hateocracy". • In episode 18 of
Xiaolin Showdown, the character of Kimiko Tohomiko is seen wearing yellow track pants with a black stripe. The rest of her outfit is yellow with long black gloves. • In "Tofu-Town Showdown", an episode of the second season of the TV show
Chowder, the character Schnitzel wore a yellow tracksuit and a similar Bruce Lee-style haircut; he then turns into a Super Saiyan in a parody of
Dragon Ball. • In the
Jackie Chan Adventures episode "The Chosen One", a man is dressed in a yellow jumpsuit and uses nunchucks.
Video games •
Marshall Law and
Forest Law from the
Tekken series of fighting games resemble Bruce Lee with their move set, whoops and yells and wear a sleeveless version of the tracksuit. • In
Dead or Alive 4, Jann Lee's third costume is none other than the tracksuit, and his ending movie includes him watching Bruce Lee films to help him practice Jeet Kune Do. • In the
Playmore fighting game
Rage of the Dragons, Mr. Jones (who already bears a striking resemblance to Kareem Abdul Jabbar) wears a suit very similar to the famous yellow jump suit. • The suit is present in the
MMORPG Anarchy Online as a piece of equipment for powerful martial artist characters. • In
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, one equippable item is the "kung fu suit", whose icon is a yellow tracksuit with black vertical stripes along the sides. • Although the suit does not appear in any
Street Fighter games,
Fei Long wears it in several issues of the
UDON Street Fighter comic book and in Masahiko Nakahira's
Cammy manga. • In
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, the main character can wear an identical outfit called the "Dragon Jumpsuit". • In
Shadow Hearts, Wugui's signature move is called "Game of Death". • In
Shadow Hearts: From the New World, talking cat and drunken master Mao confronts the master of cat martial arts, the tracksuit-clad "Bruce Meow". • In
WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008, the tracksuit is available in the "Create a WWE Superstar" mode. • In
Persona 4, the character
Chie Satonaka's Persona is dressed in the same yellow jumpsuit, and fights with a combination of spears and Jeet Kun Do. • In
Street Fighter IV, the character
Rufus wears a yellow and black tracksuit. The suit matches his personality of having a great love for martial arts movies, leading to his style being adopted from imitating martial arts movies and mail order courses. • In the online game
Dragon Fist 3: Age of the Warrior, one of the characters from martial arts films is
Billy Lo (with Lee being animated out) from this film, dressed in the yellow-and-black jumpsuit, fighting with
Jeet Kune Do, using a yellow
nunchaku (which is not found in the Character Editor) as a weapon, and the
one inch punch as a special move. • In most servers of the
Dragonica online game, the gladiator class can summon a
Bruce Lee-styled character named Bro Lee who wears the jumpsuit to perform some Kung Fu moves. The players can also buy the suit from the cash shop to equip on their characters. • The yellow-and-black tracksuit can be bought in
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon for use in the Kreate-A-Fighter mode. • In
Rumble Fighter, Billy's jumpsuit is available in yellow, blue and green under the name "Billy Lo". Jeet Kune Do is also available as a fighting style. • A similar tracksuit can be found and worn in the Capcom game
Dead Rising 2. • In
Sleeping Dogs, Wei Shen can wear the "Hai Tien Vintage Jumpsuit". • In
The Last of Us, one of
Ellie's unlockable costumes is the yellow jumpsuit that can obtained after beating the game on survivor difficulty. • In
Animal Crossing: New Leaf, there are several pieces of clothing that resemble this iconic outfit. They are referred to as the "Dragon Suit". • In
My Talking Tom, your Tom can unlock the "Jumpsuit Fur" when he reaches level 30. • In
EA Sports UFC and
EA Sports UFC 2, the unlockable Bruce Lee character wears yellow-and black-compression shorts modeled after the yellow track suit. • In
Anarchy Reigns,
Bayonetta (from the
titular franchise) appears as a downloadable character and features a yellow-and-black costume resembling the tracksuit. Bayonetta's later appearances in
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U and
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate also features a similar yellow-and-black costume.
TV • In
Taskmaster seventh series,
Phil Wang wore a costume inspired by the yellow and black jumpsuit from Game of Death. However, this jumpsuit was very revealing of his genitals, leading to jokes at his expense throughout the series from the rest of the cast.
Comics •
Shang-Chi wore two different suits that were inspired by the yellow and black jumpsuit. The first one, which had a one time appearance in
Secret Avengers #18 (2011), was a black tracksuit with red bars. Shang-Chi's second suit, that he wore starting with
Avengers vol. 5 #1 (2012), was a modernized version of Lee's tracksuit that was a red jumpsuit with a black pattern on the sides and chest. • In
Iron Fist: The Living Weapon #8 (2014),
Iron Fist gained an updated suit that was modeled off Lee's yellow and black tracksuit. The new suit was a black (green in some artwork) tracksuit with yellow bars, sported yellow Onitsuka Tiger shoes and included a yellow
collar, mask and Iron Fist's signature dragon insignia on the chest. ==Home media==