Yellow-and-black jumpsuit
The yellow-and-black jumpsuit which Lee wore in the film has come to be seen as something of a trademark for the actor, and is paid homage to in numerous other media. In the Clouse-directed remake, the filmmakers rationalised its presence by including a scene where Billy Lo disguises himself as one of Dr. Land's motorcycle-riding thugs, who all wear striped jumpsuits.
In the warehouse scene, Billy Lo wears a pair of yellow Adidas, and later, in the Pagoda scene, Bruce Lee wears a pair of Moonstar Jaguar shoes from the ’70s, which are often mistaken for Asics Onitsuka Tiger shoes worn by Uma Thurman in Kill Bill: Volume 1. This is because the real Bruce Lee wore the latter when he was filming the original version, and the double wore the former in the 1978 version to resemble his shoes. The Moonstar Jaguars also closely resemble the Asics Onitsuka Tigers but feature three vertical stripes, like Adidas, crossed by a horizontal stripe similar to Puma models.
In the Lee-directed unfinished version, the jumpsuit should portray personal freedom in the art of combat, without being bounded to a certain fighting style. The cinematic explanation for its presence was the nickname of Hai Tien, Yellow-Faced Tiger, because his fighting outfit and shoes resemble the colours of a Tiger. Over the years, there were many speculations about the colour of the jumpsuit and its meaning. According to Andre Morgan from Golden Harvest, they had a yellow suit with black bars and a black suit with yellow bars. Lee first chose the black suit, but changed it to the yellow because Abdul-Jabbar's footprints were better visible on it.
Robert Clouse heavily featured the usage of his own 1978 Bruce Lee film Game of Death (a spin-off of the unfinished 1972 film Game of Death) in a gory theatre scene during the production of the 1982 film Deadly Eyes (which was also produced by Golden Harvest).
Uma Thurman wears a similar suit in Kill Bill: Volume 1 when she travels to Japan to take on an underworld boss and assassin played by Lucy Liu. In homage to both the film and the remake, Thurman wears a two-piece suit and the Onitsuka Tiger sneakers as part of her motorcycle-riding gear, and keeps the suit on during her battle with Liu and her gang, the Crazy 88.
In Shaolin Soccer, a similar suit is worn by the goalie "Empty Hand" (Danny Chan Kwok-kwan), who resembles Lee.
In the Jet Li film High Risk, Jacky Cheung plays an action film star who is losing his fighting ability due to his cowardice and drunkenness. When he regains his courage at the end of the film, he wears a copy of the yellow tracksuit. The role is generally felt to be a parody of Jackie Chan, but the references to Bruce Lee are also obvious.
The 1985 film The Last Dragon, produced by Motown founder Berry Gordy, centred around a Bruce Lee fan, portrayed by Taimak, in search of reaching martial arts enlightenment who instructed his students wearing the same tracksuit.
In Revenge of the Nerds, Brian Tochi's character, Toshiro Takashi, wears the yellow jumpsuit while riding a tricycle during the inter-Greek competitions.
In the live-action City Hunter film (directed by Wong Jing), the scene in which Jackie Chan dispatches his own taller opponents references Lee's fight with Abdul-Jabbar.
In Police Story 4: First Strike, Jackie Chan wears a similar suit that he gets from a wardrobe of an hotel room, claiming that he is a dry cleaner to the owner, with the same colors and the left and right black line.
In Finishing the Game, Breeze Loo, played by Roger Fan, wears a yellow and black striped jumpsuit.
In the 2011 British comedy film On the Ropes, writer and director Mark Noyce added a scene in homage to his idol Bruce Lee which featured Mick Western (played by Ben Shockley) wearing a yellow tracksuit.
A short promotional video for the virtual band Gorillaz showed the fictional animated guitarist Noodle taking on a pack of thugs while dressed in the tracksuit and imitating Lee's fighting style. Noodle also wore the suit in the Game of Death short clip from Phase One: Celebrity Take Down.
The band Sugar Ray, in their video for the single "When It's Over", included a segment in which one of its band members (Rodney Sheppard, Guitarist) fantasizes about having a kung fu battle similar to the fight scene between Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The band member wears Lee's tracksuit, his opponent wears a beard, clothes and sunglasses similar to Abdul-Jabbar's, and the video duplicates the scene in which a seated Kareem kicks Lee in the chest, knocking him down and leaving a huge footprint on his chest.
Avant-garde guitarist Buckethead released a cover of "Game of Death" in 2006. He also wore a yellow tracksuit while playing live and performed with nunchakus on stage.
American band Far East Movement's song "Satisfaction" featured the yellow jumpsuits in the song's music video; said song was the soundtrack to the 2007 mockumentary Finishing the Game.
Canadian hard rock duo Indian Handcrafts' song "Bruce Lee" uses the film as lyrical inspiration, while the music video features the two band members performing an over-the-top fight scene, with guitarist Daniel Brandon Allen wearing the signature yellow jumpsuit.
In the music video for the Iggy Azalea song "Black Widow" (featuring Rita Ora), based on Kill Bill, Azalea wears a white & black tracksuit and Ora wears a black & red tracksuit. Both suits resemble Uma Thurman's version of the tracksuit.
In the video for Black Label Society's 2009 song "Overlord", frontman Zakk Wylde wears the iconic tracksuit, and the video pays humorous homage to the film.
In the Urusei Yatsura episode "The Mendo Family's Masquerade War", Ataru wears a yellow tracksuit with black stripes while trying to court Mendou's sister, who is sporting nunchakus. Both Ataru's yellow tracksuit and the Mendou sister's nunchakus are a homage to Bruce Lee.
In the anime/manga Tenjho Tenge, there is a short appearance of a character named "Inosato Dan" who is the leader of the "Jun Fan Gung Fu club" (Jun Fan is Bruce Lee's Chinese name). He resembles Bruce Lee very much, and wears the jumpsuit. However, in the anime the colors of the jumpsuit are switched to a black suit with yellow stripes.
Duel No. 25 of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga features some references to Bruce Lee. Yugi's fighting-game character of choice is a Bruce Lee clone called Bruce Ryu. His opponent, the villain of the chapter, wears the yellow jumpsuit and calls his fight with Jonouchi a "Game of Death". The subsequent "Death-T" arc then follows a similar structure to the movie with Yugi fighting his way up to the top stage where he has a one on one bout with Seto Kaiba.
The second episode of the anime series Cowboy Bebop, "Stray Dog Strut", further pays homage with the episode's main antagonist being named Abdul Hakim (after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's character) and bearing a strikingly similar appearance.
The character Mr. Tanaka from Sonic X wears the suit in an episode.
The character Sasshi from the anime Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi also gets a uniform called the Game of Death suit, later imitating Lee in both appearance and mannerisms.
Another reference is found in Great Teacher Onizuka in which the main character, Onizuka Eikichi, wears the same suits when performing feats of strength like breaking a baseball bat with a kick in front of his class.
In episode 18 of the anime Gintama, Kagura wears a suit similar to Bruce's suit in this movie.
The cover for the third volume of the American DVD release of the anime PaniPoni Dash! features the main character Rebecca Miyamoto wearing a track suit similar to Bruce Lee's. The subtitle for the DVD, "Class of Death", also pays homage to Game of Death.
In episode 20 of Hayate the Combat Butler, Hayate asks Maria if she knows "the art of assassination". She denies it, but Hayate does not believe her and Nagi imagines what Maria would look like wearing a yellow jumpsuit and holding nunchucks.
In episode 11 of HeartCatch PreCure!, the guest characters for the episode, brothers Masato Sakai and Yoshito Sakai, both wear the yellow tracksuit. Masato Sakai styles himself as a Kung Fu master and his brother is his pupil.
In episode 23 of Kuromukuro, the character Shenmei Liu wore a yellow tracksuit and does a flying kick similar to Bruce Lee's when her friends were filming a movie.
In episode 8 of Akiba's Trip: The Animation, the character Arisa Ahokainen wore a yellow tracksuit during her training days with her master.
In episode 10 of Seton Academy: Join the Pack!, one of the impala species wore a yellow tracksuit.
In episode 8 of Tonikaku Kawaii, during the sightseeing in Nara, Tsukasa and Nasa were having a conversation that has a reference of Bruce Lee's Game of Death similar to the theatrical poster.
When cosplaying the character Hong Kong from the anime series Hetalia Axis Powers, fans love to portray him wearing the yellow tracksuit.
In "Karate Island", a fourth-season episode of SpongeBob SquarePants (which is itself a take-off of Game of Death), Sandy Cheeks wears a yellow tracksuit similar to Bruce's.
The character Mandy from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy wore a yellow jumpsuit in the episode "Modern Primitives / Giant Billy and Mandy All-Out Attack". The episode also had parodies of Akira (Mandy drives a bike similar to Kaneda's in the series), the Godzilla franchise (there are several giant monsters that parody monsters from the franchise including the name of the episode) and Kill Bill (a check-off list plus a red-screened close-up mimicking the Bride).
A game sprite resembling an Asian man can be seen wearing Bruce Lee's yellow suit during the first and third seasons of ReBoot.
A Gorillabite from the band Gorillaz is titled Game of Death. In the bite, Noodle, the guitarist, dons the yellow tracksuit to take on Russel.
Episode 100 of the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon depicts Master Splinter's former owner, Hamato Yoshi, wearing the yellow tracksuit.
In The Boondocks episode "Let's Nab Oprah", Oprah's bodyguard Bushido Brown is seen as a reference to Jim Kelly's character Williams in Enter the Dragon. Brown also tells the main protagonist Huey Freeman "You come straight out of a comic book", a reference to Enter the Dragon. However, he wears a karate gi version of the yellow and black tracksuit in the episode "Stinkmeaner 3: The Hateocracy".
In episode 18 of Xiaolin Showdown, the character of Kimiko Tohomiko is seen wearing yellow track pants with a black stripe. The rest of her outfit is yellow with long black gloves.
In "Tofu-Town Showdown", an episode of the second season of the TV show Chowder, the character Schnitzel wore a yellow tracksuit and a similar Bruce Lee-style haircut; he then turns into a Super Saiyan in a parody of Dragon Ball.
In the Jackie Chan Adventures episode "The Chosen One", a man is dressed in a yellow jumpsuit and uses nunchucks.
Marshall Law and Forest Law from the Tekken series of fighting games resemble Bruce Lee with their move set, whoops and yells and wear a sleeveless version of the tracksuit.
In Dead or Alive 4, Jann Lee's third costume is none other than the tracksuit, and his ending movie includes him watching Bruce Lee films to help him practice Jeet Kune Do.
In the Playmore fighting game Rage of the Dragons, Mr. Jones (who already bears a striking resemblance to Kareem Abdul Jabbar) wears a suit very similar to the famous yellow jump suit.
The suit is present in the MMORPG Anarchy Online as a piece of equipment for powerful martial artist characters.
In Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, one equippable item is the "kung fu suit", whose icon is a yellow tracksuit with black vertical stripes along the sides.
Although the suit does not appear in any Street Fighter games, Fei Long wears it in several issues of the UDON Street Fighter comic book and in Masahiko Nakahira's Cammy manga.
In Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, the main character can wear an identical outfit called the "Dragon Jumpsuit".
In Shadow Hearts, Wugui's signature move is called "Game of Death".
In Shadow Hearts: From the New World, talking cat and drunken master Mao confronts the master of cat martial arts, the tracksuit-clad "Bruce Meow".
In WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008, the tracksuit is available in the "Create a WWE Superstar" mode.
In Persona 4, the character Chie Satonaka's Persona is dressed in the same yellow jumpsuit, and fights with a combination of spears and Jeet Kun Do.
In Street Fighter IV, the character Rufus wears a yellow and black tracksuit. The suit matches his personality of having a great love for martial arts movies, leading to his style being adopted from imitating martial arts movies and mail order courses.
In the online game Dragon Fist 3: Age of the Warrior, one of the characters from martial arts films is Billy Lo (with Lee being animated out) from this film, dressed in the yellow-and-black jumpsuit, fighting with Jeet Kune Do, using a yellow nunchaku (which is not found in the Character Editor) as a weapon, and the one inch punch as a special move.
In most servers of the Dragonica online game, the gladiator class can summon a Bruce Lee-styled character named Bro Lee who wears the jumpsuit to perform some Kung Fu moves. The players can also buy the suit from the cash shop to equip on their characters.
The yellow-and-black tracksuit can be bought in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon for use in the Kreate-A-Fighter mode.
In Rumble Fighter, Billy's jumpsuit is available in yellow, blue and green under the name "Billy Lo". Jeet Kune Do is also available as a fighting style.
A similar tracksuit can be found and worn in the Capcom game Dead Rising 2.
In Sleeping Dogs, Wei Shen can wear the "Hai Tien Vintage Jumpsuit".
In The Last of Us, one of Ellie's unlockable costumes is the yellow jumpsuit that can obtained after beating the game on survivor difficulty.
In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, there are several pieces of clothing that resemble this iconic outfit. They are referred to as the "Dragon Suit".
In My Talking Tom, your Tom can unlock the "Jumpsuit Fur" when he reaches level 30.
In EA Sports UFC and EA Sports UFC 2, the unlockable Bruce Lee character wears yellow-and black-compression shorts modeled after the yellow track suit.
In Anarchy Reigns, Bayonetta (from the titular franchise) appears as a downloadable character and features a yellow-and-black costume resembling the tracksuit. Bayonetta's later appearances in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate also features a similar yellow-and-black costume.
In Taskmaster's seventh series, Phil Wang wore a costume inspired by the yellow and black jumpsuit from Game of Death. However, this jumpsuit was very revealing of his genitals, leading to jokes at his expense throughout the series from the rest of the cast.
Shang-Chi wore two different suits that were inspired by the yellow and black jumpsuit. The first one, which had a one time appearance in Secret Avengers #18 (2011), was a black tracksuit with red bars. Shang-Chi's second suit, that he wore starting with Avengers vol. 5 #1 (2012), was a modernized version of Lee's tracksuit that was a red jumpsuit with a black pattern on the sides and chest.
In Iron Fist: The Living Weapon #8 (2014), Iron Fist gained an updated suit that was modeled off Lee's yellow and black tracksuit. The new suit was a black (green in some artwork) tracksuit with yellow bars and included a yellow collar and Iron Fist's signature dragon insignia on the chest.
