Yes, its broader legacy is tied to the title of one of the greatest rap albums of all-time, but it’s not just name recognition that earns this milestone the top spot. It’s truly masterful, with a philosophical soulfulness and sense of visual poetry that sets it apart from so many other films to roll off the Shaw Brothers assembly line. It established director Lau Kar-leung as one of the genre’s masters, and made an icon of star Gordon Liu, portraying San Te, a young student (loosely based on an actual historical figure) on a quest to avenge the slaughter of his people by the oppressive Manchu government. The nearly hour-long training montage, showing Liu advancing through the various stages of Shaolin mastery – filmed at the actual Shaolin Temple in Henan Province’s Songshan mountains – is simply remarkable.
For the uninitiated, martial arts cinema can seem overwhelming. The starting points are well-known: Enter the Dragon; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Kill Bill; a handful of Jackie Chan flicks… or God help us, Steven Seagal. But delving deeper is an intimidating prospect. For decades, beginning in the 1970s, Hong Kong produced thousands of movies full of eye-popping, mind-blowing action scenes. Figuring out which are truly worth seeking out can require some guidance.
Consider this your road map. To help steer the kung-fu curious past the basics, we’ve ignored some of the more obvious choices to focus on the genre’s deeper cuts. Here are 25 of the most kick-ass martial arts movies ever made.
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