Heads Up, Ears Down

This blog accurately identifies depictions of violence and cruelty toward animals in films. The purpose is to provide viewers with a reliable guide so that such depictions do not come as unwelcome surprises. Films will be accurately notated, providing a time cue for each incident along with a concise description of the scene and perhaps relevant context surrounding the incident. In order to serve as a useful reference tool, films having no depictions of violence to animals will be included, with an indication that there are no such scenes. This is confirmation that the films have been watched with the stated purpose in mind.


Note that the word depictions figures prominently in the objective. It is a travesty that discussions about cruelty in film usually are derailed by the largely unrelated assertion that no animals really were hurt (true only in some films, dependent upon many factors), and that all this concern is just over a simulation. Not the point, whether true or false. We do not smugly dismiss depictions of five-year-olds being raped because those scenes are only simulations. No, we are appalled that such images are even staged, and we are appropriately horrified that the notion now has been planted into the minds of the weak and cruel.


Depictions of violence or harm to animals are assessed in keeping with our dominant culture, with physical abuse, harmful neglect, and similar mistreatment serving as a base line. This blog does not address extended issues of animal welfare, and as such does not identify scenes of people eating meat or mules pulling plows. The goal is to itemize images that might cause a disturbance in a compassionate household.


These notes provide a heads-up but do not necessarily discourage watching a film because of depicted cruelty. Consuming a piece of art does not make you a supporter of the ideas presented. Your ethical self is created by your public rhetoric and your private actions, not by your willingness to sit through a filmed act of violence.

Game of Death & Game of Death Redux

Game of Death. Robert Clouse and Bruce Lee, 1972-1978.

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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Blu-ray box set #1036 Bruce Lee: His Greatest Hits, released 2020. Original English dub. Runtime approximately 101 minutes.


Summary: An exotic fish in an aquarium quickly snaps up two small fish put in as feeders, 9:25-9:32.


The distraction of filming Enter the Dragon followed by Lee’s shocking death left the 1972 Game of Death abandoned until 1978, when a new director and leading man were hired to replace Lee. Scant footage of Bruce Lee constitutes only about ten minutes of the completed film. The replacement actor is a perfectly acceptable kickboxer, but the resuscitated film falls flat, lacking Lee’s charm, charisma, and much of the original storyline.


The final scene of the 1978 Game of Death finds Faux Bruce Lee fighting his way up three floors of a pagoda, much like a video game with each Boss tougher than the last. But back in 1972, Lee was so excited about this exciting 34-minute action sequence that he completed it early in production with himself in the starring role of course. That footage was not in the 1978 release and instead was re-shot with the new actor.


 * Game of Death Redux *


In 2019 producer Alan Canvan cleaned up Lee’s original Triple Boss Pagoda Battle finale and released it as the 34-minute Game of Death Redux, both a wonderfully good-humored viewing experience and a poignant reminder of what the original film might have been had Lee not left us. Highlights include the elusive Shave-and-a-Haircut nunchuck technique, Lee’s charming reaction shots while fighting, and an awesome surprise for the third Boss. The Game of Death Redux short is recommended to everyone including those with no interest in martial arts films.


The Criterion set includes the 34-minute Game of Death Redux, starring and directed by Lee himself and salvaged by Canvan. This must not be confused with the unrelated posthumous Game of Death II, also in the Criterion set.

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