Game of Death/The Crow

In 1972 Bruce Lee started filming ‘Game of Death.’
100 minutes of footage was recorded, including a fight scene with NBA All Star Kareem Abdul- Jabbar who was a former student of Lee’s.
Production was halted when Lee received an offer from Warner Brothers to star in ‘Enter the Dragon’, a co-production between Warner Brothers and Golden Harvest which Lee believed would bring him international stardom.
He went off to make ‘Enter the Dragon’ intending to return to ‘Game of Death’ immediately afterwards. However, a few months after completing ‘Enter the Dragon’ and six days before it’s theatrical release Lee died of cerebral edema.
Following Lee’s death Robert Clouse, the director of ‘Enter the Dragon’, was hired to complete ‘Game of Death’ using the previously filmed footage and newly assembled shots. Unfortunately of the 100 minutes of footage that had been shot and printed only 15 minutes worth was deemed useable.
In the original film ‘Game of Death’ was designed as a showcase for Lee’s own martial art form Jeet Kune Do. Lee’s character would be forced to fight his way through a pagoda facing masters of various martial arts on his way through the building. Lee would win each battle with his dialogue outlining the deficiencies in his opponents form.
In Clouse’s 1978 version the plot was adjusted to accommodate the use of other actors to replace Lee in key scenes.
Now, Lee would play a martial arts movie star who refuses to be intimidated by a racketeering syndicate. The syndicate attempted to assassinate Lee’s character by having a henchman sneak onto the set of his new film and shoot him. Lee’s character survives but requires plastic surgery which alters the features on his face and uses the opportunity to fake his own death.
Clouse was criticised for using actual footage of Lee’s funeral in these scenes.
He then goes after the syndicate with the final scene taking place in the upper floors of a restaurant the villains are using as a base and the fight scenes from the original production feature heavily.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar refused to take part in the re-shoot so a stand-in was used for him.
Chuck Norris is also credited as appearing in the film although all the footage that features him was originally shot for ‘Way of the Dragon.’
Generally the film was well received despite scenes such as a shot of a stand-in looking at ‘himself’ in a mirror which has an obvious cardboard cut out of Lee’s face stuck on it.
Clouse went on to make ‘Game of Death II’ which also featured footage from Lee’s early films but his character is killed off early on to allow his character’s brother to complete the story.
In 1993 Brandon Lee, Bruce’s son, was completing production on ‘The Crow.’
Lee was shooting a scene where his character was facing a gang of thugs and is shot in the stomach. The gun was loaded with blank cartridges but a dummy round was lodged in the barrel and fired out when the trigger was pulled.
Lee was shot in the abdomen and the round lodged in his spine. He died 12 hours later.
Again, the decision was made to complete the film using stand-ins and existing footage and
‘The Crow’ was released on May 13th 1994.