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Bruce Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had an iconic fight scene in Game of Death. Here’s the story behind the NBA superstar’s cameo in the 1978 film.
One of Bruce Lee’s most famous cinematic battles is with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in his unfinished film, Game of death. Abdul-Jabbar, who played for the Los Angeles Lakers for over a decade, has a reputation as one of the best basketball players in NBA history. He has also played roles in various movies and TV shows including Plane!
Abdul-Jabbar’s acting career began when he appeared in Game of death, which was the fourth and final film directed by Lee with Hong Kong studio Golden Harvest. Shortly after writing, directing, and starring in Path of the dragon for the studio, Lee switched to Game of death, where he had to have the same level of oversight. The story of the film was to focus on the character of Lee advancing through a tower. At each level he had to fight a martial artist of a different style. One of those battles saw him intersect with the character of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who engaged him in an intense fight that lasted for five minutes.
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NBA superstar’s comments revealed how his cameo was born [via ESPN]. After developing an interest in martial arts while in New York City, Abdul-Jabbar decided to seek a new instructor once he moved to California to attend UCLA and play on the basketball team. ball. At the age of 20, he was directed to Lee, who had created his own style of kung fu, known as Jeet Kune Do. Abdul-Jabbar sought out Lee, who then became both his kung fu teacher and his good friend. Abdul-Jabbar trained often with Lee, who taught him a host of techniques that later became beneficial to his career in the NBA.
A few years later, Lee personally invited Abdul-Jabbar – who was playing for the Milwaukee Bucks at the time – to Hong Kong to film a fight scene for Game of death. The scene took five days to shoot. Shortly after, filming stopped so Lee could do Enter the dragon at Hollywood. And unfortunately, Lee’s sudden death in 1973 prevented filming from being completed. Years later, replacements, a lot of editing, and footage from other Bruce Lee movies got it out anyway.
Since Lee was only able to film part of Game of death, no number of changes could have made this a martial arts masterpiece. That being said, it’s still considered mandatory viewing for Bruce Lee fans, and that’s largely due to the fight between Bruce Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The noticeable height difference between Lee and the seven-foot-two basketball player helped create one of the most striking and unique action sequences of Lee’s career. No one will ever be able to see all of Lee’s vision for Game of death, but audiences can at least marvel at the spectacle of watching the NBA star take on the kung fu legend.
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