Game of Death

1979

LP: Tam YX-7037
CD: Silva Film CD 123

1. Main Title / Set Fight with Chuck Norris
2. Will This Be the Song I'll be Singing Tomorrow
3. Three Motorcycles / Stick Fight with Santo
4. Billy's Funeral Dirge
5. Garden Fight
6. Billy and Ann's Love Theme
7. The Big Motorcycle Fight
8. Goodbye Dr. Land
9. Will This Be the Song I'll be Singing Tomorrow [vocal by Colleen Camp]
10. End Title
11. Stick Fight (with sound effects) / Main Titl

The Movie

This was Bruce Lee's last film. I never got into the Kung Fu mania that was big in the late 70's, and the few bits and pieces I've seen of Bruce Lee's films just left me cold.

The Music

When Kung Fu movies began appealing to a wider audience in the late 70's, producers tried to increase their appeal by hiring Hollywood composers to write the scores (such as Lalo Schifrin's Enter the Dragon), and they wanted a John Barry score for Game of Death. Barry didn't want to do it, so he quoted an outrageous fee and figured they'd refuse. Instead, they called his bluff.

I'm at a loss as to how to describe it. The score is bright and energetic, with a stocatto sound that gives it a very unusual--I suppose oriental--flavor. But it's also repetative and as with most Barry scores, if you don't like the main theme then you're stuck, because you'll hear it a lot.

Release Notes

The LP came out along with the movie and disappeared. When Silva game it a CD release, they paired it up with Night Games, for reasons I never understood: they also released a double soundtrack, Starcrash and Until September. Night Games is a very quiet, moody score, and it sounds like a train wreck when matched with Game of Death. Starcrash would have made a far better match.