The Greatest Old Skool Kung Fu Movies Of ALL Time!

[Guest Violento]

sounds like someone has a hard-on for Shaw Brothers flicks with their big budgets

You bet your ass! I have like a hard-on like everytime I like see the Shaw Brothers like logo :rollin

your not watching for the sets, the actors, the comedy, the budget, the corny special effects, your looking for totally unhibited kung fu acrobatic action

If elaborate sets were the only thing indy KF flix didn't have, then Shaw Brothers would NEVER be the juggernaught it was.

Apart from horrible budgets, shitty/annoying actors, lack of a screenplay, for the most part indies have really amateurish direction. SB had charismatic actors, good screenplays AND REAL directors.

Anyway, this is why The Hot, the Cool and the Vicious is such an outstanding movie. Actors are charismatic, there actually is a plot and the direction is well done.

[Guest justkungfuman]

You are missing a lot of great kung fu movies, if you only watch Independent films or just Shaw Brothers or even major studio releases. I think to get the best of all Kung Fu movies you have to be open minded to all...

To me the greatest Kung Fu movie I ever saw was To Kill a Mastermind and yes it is a Shaw Brothers release... But to say Shaw Brothers is the best would have to be what you yourself like the most.. Different strokes for different folks...

I am a Big Shaw Brothers fan!!! But if I only watched Shaw Brothers movies then look up this post and look at all the great kung fu movies I would be missing!!!!!!!!!

[Guest whamsabi]

I agree with you Justkungfuman, there are lot of good independant movies like The Victim, The Loot,Eagle Fist

and others. Thre are also some sleppers like Blooded Treasury Fight, Deadly Silver Spear and Heroes of Shaolin.I hope To Kill

a Mastermind lives up to the hype like Hell's Windstaff and Knockabout not like The Secret Rivals or Death Duel of Kung Fu , in my opinion.That is just my opinion.

[Guest Violento]

I never said I watch ONLY SB films - "The Loot", "7 Steps of Kung Fu", "The Hot, the Cool and the Vicious", "Secret Rivals" are all my favorites.

I've seen "Blooded Treasury Fight" and while DC is charismatic and cool as always and Dorian Tan's kicks amazing, it didn't really impress me.

Oh and I've recently seen "Descendant of Wing Chun" with Fung Hak-On and Lee Hoi-San as the villains. The fights were good, but like most indies it had 2 problems: leads not charismatic and mediocre direction. Oh and the dubbing was even worse than "7 Steps of Kung Fu" (which was atrocious :\ ).

- Mao Lung, you spit on the name of justice!

- Justice? Shiiiat!

:rollin

I HAVE to finally get Hell's Windstaff...

[Guest TheDrunkenRabbit]

"The Loot" is a great Dim sum and fried Noodles layback. The Dubbing dose kill the quality of the flicks sometimes, but doesn’t stop the enjoyment of action. Did someone mention 18 Bronzemen? I love this flick because we always get a laugh out of the extremist acts in it.

[Guest daninLA]

I would have to put some of Jimmy Wang Yu's early stuff in there, such as the One Armed Boxer, Chinese Professionals, Master of the Flying Guillotine, Beach of the War Gods. His martial arts skills were mediocre, but he had great screen presence and and made entertaining movies.

[Guest godzillakungfu]

Nice pics. You got to get one where DC is in the monkey stance and the other guy is pounding his chest like Tarzan.

[Guest Chen Zhen]

there are lots of great indie films with great direction, charismatic leads, etc. all you have to do is dig a bit deeper. to me, the budget, direction, etc is absolutely irrelevant to me. cuz at the end of the day, it comes down to one thing: is the movie enjoyable to watch or not. ive seen a few shaw/gh movies with huge budgets, but that doesnt make them good. a movie like 7 grandmasters has a nearly non existent budget, however i rank that movie easily in my top 10 from not just the fights, but everything else. indie filmakers were always more willing to take risks in movies, especially someone like Jimmy Wang Yu or Yuen Woo Ping. by all standards, wang yu movies were cheesy, but many of them had great fights, memorable characters, and interesting stories...such as master of the flying guillotine or return of the chinese boxer.

shaw movies are hyped up to the point where ppl overlook the fact that are are some straight sh*tty shaw movies...yes they do exist. in the end it comes down to where u look...indie/gh/shaw all had its fair share of shite movies, while they all had their share of good ones.

anywayz..my list at the moment:

7 Grandmasters

Mystery of Chessboxing

Heroes of the East

Dance of the Drunk Mantis

Drunken Master

Master of the Flying Guillotine

Magnificent Butcher

Prodigal Son

Fist of Fury

Knockabout

Dirty Ho

Shaolin and Wu Tang

Iron Monkey

Drunken Tai Chi

[Guest xrzax]

-warriors two

-legend of the 7 golden vampires (crap kung fu but i love hammer horror flicks)

-shaolin drunkard (for pure weirdness alone)

-fist of the white lotus (pai mei's pin cushion death is the best thing ever)

-drunken master

-the sword

-shaolin prince (a.k.a. iron fingers of death)

-the young master

-encounters of the spooky kind

-5 deadly venoms

-one armed boxer 2 a.k.a. master of the flying guillotine

-a touch of zen

-ninja in the dragon's den

..shaolin vs. lama is definately overrated..

[Guest Centorpedo]

So far, from what I've seen, it would go something like:

01.) Dirty Ho

02.) Young Master

03.) Ninja in the Dragon's Den

04.) Knockabout

05.) Heroes of the East

06.) 36th Chamber of Shaolin

07.) Treasure Hunters

08.) Odd Couple

09.) Master of the Flying Guillotine

10.) 7 Grand Masters

[Guest tino]

Shaolin Traitorous

Invincible Armor

Secret Rivals (both movies)

Blood Brothers

3 Evil Masters

Big Boss

Fist of Fury

Shaolin Mantis

Rebellious Reign

10 Brothers of Shaolin

[Guest JAZZYMONKEY]

WELL HERE ARE MY FAVORITES -THOUGH IT IS HARD TO PUT DOWN A FEW WHEN I HAVE ALOT THAT I LIKE:D .

1.7 GRANDMASTERS

2.MYSTERY OF CHESS BOXING

3.DRUNKEN MASTER 1 AND 2

4.BUDDHA ASSASINATOR

5.CRIPPLED AVENGERS

6.INVINCIBLE SHAOLIN

7.FEARLESS HYENA

8.SNAKE IN THE EAGLE'S SHADOW

9.SUPERPOWER

10.DIRTY HO

11.HEROES OF THE EAST

12.5 DEADLY VENOMS

13.PRODIGAL SON

14.MAGNIFICENT BUTCHER

15.MAD MONKEY KUNG FU

16. LEGENDARY WEAPONS OF CHINA

17.5 SUPERFIGHTERS

18.3 EVIL MASTERS.

19.EXECUTIONER OF SHAOLIN

20.CLAN OF THE WHITE LOTUS

21.SHAOLIN RESCUERS/AVENGING WARRIORS OF SHAOLIN

22. MONKEY KUNG FU/STROKE OF DEATH

23.THE LEG FIGHTERS

24.DISCIPLES OF THE 36TH CHAMBER

25.DAGGERS 8

26.WOMAN AVENGER

27.THE LOOT

28.THE YOUNG MASTER

29.HELLS WIND STAFF

30.DANCE OF THE DRUNKEN MANTIS

31. SHANGHAI 13

32. KNOCKABOUT

33.THE TREASURE HUNTERS

34.THE MARTIAL CLUB

35.SHAOLIN VS WU-TANG

36. LION VS LION

37.LEGEND OF A FIGHTER

38.THE BUDDHIST FIST

39.KILLER ARMY

40.MY YOUNG AUNTIE.

THESE ARE IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER- THERE AE MORE BUT THESE WILL DO FOR NOW-LOL

[Guest glidedrxlr22]

My top 20.

1. Master of the Flying Guillotine                

2. Invincible Armour                

3. Chinese Super Ninjas                        

4. Death Duel of Kung Fu                       

5. Iron Monkey                        

6. 7 Grandmasters                       

7. 3 Evil Masters                

8. The Secret Rivals                       

9. Hell's Windstaff                       

10. Shaolin vs Lama

11. The Hot, the Cool, and the Vicious               

12. Green Jade Statuette                       

13. The Secret Rivals 2                       

14. Knockabout                       

15. Heroes of the Wild                       

16. Born Invincible                       

17. Secret Rivals 3                       

18. Return of the Chinese Boxer                       

19. Seven Steps of Kung Fu                       

20. Snuff Bottle Connection       

[Guest drunkencrane082]

hey ninja,

as bad as "invincible kung fu trio" may be {i have yet to see it, and will buy it as soon as i find it}, i think the absolute worst martial arts movie i've ever come across was a $1.00 treasure i spotted at walmart called "ninja vs. ninja". this one is so bad that they had to take footage from four different movies to make one film, there's almost no fighting in it, and they use music from "close encounters of the third kind" and "blade runner" in it. truly a monstrosity to behold....in fact, i have to go as far as to say it's the worst film i've ever seen.....even more so than "manos: the hands of fate" or "soul of chiba".

[Guest TheManInWhite]

Hey now, I liked "manos: the hands of fate" (well, at least when MST3k spoofed it). :lol

[Guest drunkencrane082]

i enjoyed "manos" on MST3K as well, but that doesn't change the fact that it is a travesty on celluloid....proof positive that texas fertilizer tycoons should never, ever be allowed to produce films.

[Guest TheManInWhite]

"proof positive that texas fertilizer tycoons should never, ever be allowed to produce films."

Neither should Texas oil tycoons... :lol

[Guest gripandlift1968]

All excellent mevies, curious why no one mentioned...

5 fingers of death...not 5 venoms, this is the one (i am doing this from memory), there the last seen the fighter shoves both his fingers up inside under the guys ribcage and tears out his guts....

Gripandlift

[Guest Northern B]

The list is based on the criteria of films I can easily watch again or show ppl who are new to the genre

In no particular order and I may have missed some…

The Victim

Showdown at the cotton mill

Last Hurrah For Chivalry

The Loot

Legend of a Fighter

The Challenger

Drunken Master 1 AND 2

Buddha Assassinator

Hellz Windstaff

Master Killers

Ring of Death

Fearless Hyena

Woman Avenger

Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow

Snake Crane Secret

Magnificent Butcher

5 Superfighters

3 Evil Masters

Seven Steps of kung Fu

Fearless Young Boxer (aka Method)

Executioners From Shaolin

Buddhist Fist

South Shaolin Master

Shaolin Temple 1 & 3

Crazy Horse Intelligent Monkey

Encounter of the spooky Kind

Rebellious Reign

8- Diagram Pole Fighter

Shaolin vs Tai Chi

[Guest theportlykicker]

Mine are:

The Magnificent Butcher

The Victim

The Prodigal Son

Drunken Master

Young Master

Kung fu master (Sammo and Tung wei)

Iron Monkey (old skool of course)

Fearless Dragons

Encounters of the Spooky Kind

Born Invincible

(not in any particular order)

I think Warriors Two is hugely overrated, SO THERE!

[Guest theportlykicker]

Almost forgot, Ninja in the Dragons Den rocks too and is hugely underrated!

[Guest Centorpedo]

Dirty Ho

36th Chamber of Shaolin

8 Diagram Pole Fighter

Young Master

Ninja in the Dragon's Den

Knockabout

Heroes of the East

Treasure Hunters

Legend of A Fighter

Woman Avenger

Five Fingers of Death

The Loot

Odd Couple

Way of the Dragon

Snake in the Eagle's Shadow

Drunken Master 2

Master of the Flying Guillotine

7 Grand Masters

Drunken Master

Warriors Two

[Guest Shaking Mantis]

in no particular order

1 Dance of the Drunken Mantis

2 Brave Archer Saga(counting them all as one)

3 The Loot

4 Clan of the White Lotus

5 Avenging Eagle

6 Human Lanterns

7 Kid With The Golden Arms

8 Legendary Weapons of China

9 Drunekn Arts Crippled Fist

10 Deadly Secret

11 Jade Tiger

12 Bat Without Wings

13 Master Killer

14 Return of the Drtagon

15 5 Venoms

That being said I still have not seen a lot of the titles listed on this thread. Im not saying it is one of the best of all time, but I really liked the cavalier and havent seen it mentioned. Also I didnt think that Monkey kung Fu aka Monkey Fist Floating Snake was that bad for a low budget cantonese flick

[Guest condamned]

Mine are:

- Iron money(77)

- 5 masters of death

- Born Invincible

- Magnificent butcher

- Prodigal son

[Guest FEEL D BASS]

LISTEN UP LISTEN UP... WATS UP 2 ALL U KUNG FU FILM LOVERS OUT THER. IVE SEEN SOME WACK AZZ LISTS BUT I AGREE WIT SOME OF THE FILMS.. BUT..

"THE" BEST MOST CLASSIC KUNG FU MOVIES GO LIKE THIS:-

*DRUNKEN MASTER

*SHOALIN & WUTANG

*MYSTERY OF CHESS BOXING

*DUEL TO THE DEATH

*THE EVIL CULT

*BORN INVINCIBLE

*SHOALIN VS LAMA

*FATAL FLYING GUILLITINE

*36TH CHAMBER

*RETURN OF THE DEADLY BLADE

*SLEEPING FIST

*(MOST OF) THUNDERING MANTIS

*DRAGONS CLAW

*FIST OF THE WHITE LOTUS

*BLOOD OF THE DRAGON

*EAGLE FIST

*18 BRONZEMEN

IF U WANNA COUNT THESE (CLASSIC) MOVIES TOO-

*SHOGUN ASSASIN

*SAMURAI REINCARNATION/RESURECTION (SONNY CHIBBA)

*ENTER THE DRAGON

*CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON

*HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS

*HERO

CANT TOUCH THESE MOVIES!

IL LET U KNO IF I REMEMBER ANY MORE!

I NEED 2 SEE:

8 DIAGRAM POLE FIGHTER

SPIRITUAL BOXER

7 BLOWS OF THE DRAGON

IVE GOT TO GIVE A SHOUT OUT TO "OLDBOY," "BATTLE ROYALE" & "ICHI THE KILLER" EVEN THO THEY AINT KUNG FU FLIX THEY ARE PLATNUM NO DIRT CLASSIC MOVIES!!