Weekly Witch Hunt: Johnny Yuma & Game of Death

We decide what artistic endeavour passed approval to earn the Scorcher label from the past seven days & what also had the dishonour of being that week's Torture...

I continued my sojourn into both the spaghetti western and martial arts worlds this past week and so we have an entry from each genre.

The Scorcher

I had the displeasure the other week of watching a really bad spaghetti western; this week I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Johnny Yuma.  A lot of spaghetti's follow similar themes without much difference so it is nice to occasionally come across one that plays with the formula a little bit.  While not rewriting the rulebook this film does have enough of a departure from the regular format to make it more appealing than many others from this genre.
The story is a simple one about someone profiteering from committing a murder so they can gain a goldmine.  The difference is the antagonist is a western femme fatale played with much gusto by the beautiful Rosalba Neri who is no stranger to the spaghetti western, having appeared in plenty during her career; as well as Jess Franco's infamous 99 Women.
Our hero of the piece is played with tongue in cheek relish by Mark Damon who looks like he is having a ball.  I certainly enjoyed his portrayal and he had good chemistry with Lawrence Dobkin whose Linus Carradine is hired by Neri's scheming Samantha Felton to kill Yuma.
There is double crossing, bar fighting, cheating at cards and high noon shoot outs; all the things you come to expect from this sort of fare.  But they are done with a smile and a slight nod and a wink at how ridiculous all this macho bravado actually is.  They are definitely trying to capture the feel of For A Few Dollars More and surprisingly I think they more or less achieve it.
It is none more evident than the final set piece where Yuma and Carradine have a running battle with the Felton gang members.  The Felton gang must have gone to the Stormtrooper school of shooting as none of them can hit a target but you don't expect them too.  Some might consider this scene a complete rip off of For A Few Dollars More, but it was a common occurrence for spaghetti westerns to lift whole chunks from a previous film and rework parts into their own story.
While it is not amongst the best from the era; this one certainly captured my attention and contained enough surprises to keep me amused and entertained.

The Torture
 

I feel it is almost sacrilege to include the great Bruce Lee amongst the Torture category; but Game of Death warrants inclusion.  It was only last week that I was wailing on a martial arts icon after abusing Jackie Chan's Skiptrace.  This week I am going to pick on probably the most iconic of all; albeit the one person who is not responsible for the final outcome of his last work.
For those who do not know the history of the events surrounding this picture, let me give you a concise version.  Lee had started work on this production and stopped to appear in his biggest hit, the Warner Bros. produced Enter the Dragon.  This was the first big budget martial arts film from a major studio.  Tragically Lee died not long after filming wrapped and so was unable to come back and complete work on Game of Death.
That wasn't the end of the film though, as Lee's director from Enter the Dragon was drafted in to complete Game of Death using two stand-in actors for scenes that should have had Lee appear.  Whilst there was plenty of footage originally filmed by Lee, most of it was lost by Golden Harvest; the production company responsible for all of Lee's Asian filmed movies.  The finished product only has just over eleven minutes of the original footage; everything else was filmed after Lee's death!
As you can imagine the final film leaves a lot to be desired.  The stand-in actors may resemble Lee physically but facially are nothing like him.  They try to copy his fighting stance and moves and also throw in the distinctive noises he would make during his fights.  Even using different camera angles to disguise that it isn't Lee doesn't help.
The film stock is completely different and very noticeable when it switches from the earlier filmed footage to the later material.  This is especially true during some of the fight sequences; which forms the bulk of Lee's actual appearances.
There is the sense of Deja vu in what seems to be foreshadowing what will become of Lee's son Brandon Lee.  Bruce's character is shot by a prop gun during the making of a film within the film.  The prop gun contains a real bullet which mimics what caused the death of Brandon while filming The Crow.
What was most disturbing of all though was the inclusion of recordings taken from Lee's funeral; which tied back in to the story taking place during the film.  To say this was in poor taste does not really do justice to just how disturbing this actually is.  How did they ever get permission from the family to include this?
It is both uncomfortable and inappropriate to watch.  It makes you feel like a voyeur looking at something that you shouldn't be witness too; this should have been left as a deeply personal thing for the family.  As soon as this came on screen my opinion of the film soured dramatically.
The story itself is a solid one and if it was filmed on its own without the Lee factor it would have made a decent entry for the Golden Harvest archives.  But because of the baggage involved with Lee's death and the sickening inclusion of the film from his funeral; it just left me feeling cold.
It has to be said the fight scenes in the pagoda; which forms the big set piece finale; and does include the majority of Lee's eleven minutes are probably the strongest part of the film.  It is just such a shame that this martial arts legend was tragically not able to come back to conclude what would have been a fine addition to his legacy.