10 Best Kung Fu Movies of the 1970s, Ranked (2024)

If you want to find genuinely great kung fu movies, there’s probably no better decade to begin your search than the 1970s. Such movies were generally made in Hong Kong, with Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest being the two main studios pumping out films from this genre. Some were more fantastical martial arts movies, but for present purposes, “kung fu movies” are generally more grounded, as opposed to the comparatively heightened wuxia films.

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So, going through the best kung fu movies of the 1970s isn't quite the same as going through the best martial arts movies of the 1970s, but there’s a little overlap. The following movies generally fall within the kung fu sub-genre, and all deliver some amazing hand-to-hand action sequences with stunning fight choreography that still holds up exceptionally well all these decades later.

10 'The Boxer from Shantung' (1972)

Directors: Chang Cheh, Pao Hsueh-Li

10 Best Kung Fu Movies of the 1970s, Ranked (1)

The Boxer from Shantung is a pretty underrated action flick, standing out among other kung fu movies because it combines martial arts action with a rise-and-fall crime movie narrative. The main character is drawn to a life of crime, and falls in with some shady people, inevitably making enemies and finding his world crumbling around him in spectacular fashion as the movie progresses.

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At 134 minutes, The Boxer from Shantung is perhaps a little long at times, but the action is always satisfying, and every set piece is a little bigger and more spectacular than the last. The finale, even by martial arts movie standards, is absolutely stunning and relentless stuff, with an extended, bloody, and death-filled skirmish inside a building that almost gets demolished with all the damage it sustains. It has to be seen to be believed, really.

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9 'The Avenging Eagle' (1978)

Director: Sun Chung

10 Best Kung Fu Movies of the 1970s, Ranked (2)

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For as underrated as The Boxer from Shantung is, there’s an argument to be made that The Avenging Eagle is even more overlooked as far as Shaw Brothers kung fu movies go. This one is a little flashier, but without ever fully disappearing into the realm of fantasy, with its story focusing on a man who raises orphans to be killers, and what happens when one such orphan grows up and realizes he doesn’t want to be involved with such a life.

From there, The Avenging Eagle introduces a revenge element to the whole narrative, which is perhaps the most reliable angle to pursue narratively within a martial arts movie. But hey, it works, providing simple yet understandable motivation for the troubled heroic characters against an unequivocally evil one (plus all his minions; you gotta have them if you want to stage big fight sequences).

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8 'Dirty Ho' (1979)

Director: Lau Kar-leung

10 Best Kung Fu Movies of the 1970s, Ranked (3)

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There’s a good deal of comedy to be found within Dirty Ho, but that doesn’t mean it’s lacking when judged as an action movie. A sense of humor can pair well with extravagant action, and though those after something more serious might find Dirty Ho a little too silly or lightweight, it’s hard to deny the fact that the tone makes it all pretty fun at times.

The story here is once more fairly simple, being about the unlikely partnership that forms between a prince and a thief, the former hiring the latter to protect him from persistent assassins. Dirty Ho is serious when it comes to staging good training/fight sequences, but it’s otherwise a rather humorous affair, with an almost farcical plot and some solid physical comedy. It stands in contrast quite nicely to the more serious and/or grim kung fu classics of its decade.

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7 'Drunken Master' (1978)

Director: Yuen Wo-Ping

10 Best Kung Fu Movies of the 1970s, Ranked (4)

There’s an argument to be made that Jackie Chan reached his true potential in the 1980s, or maybe even as late as the 1990s, but it was the ‘70s when he first made his mark as a martial arts star. Of his early starring vehicles, the best might well be Drunken Master, which features a novel alternative to kung fu: drunken boxing.

Chan stars as a young man who’s trained in such a fighting style, and it leads to a good deal of comedy featured alongside some simple but creative fight scenes. Drunken Master scratches a very similar itch to the aforementioned Dirty Ho, and was an early indicator of just how capable Jackie Chan was when it came to thriving in martial arts movies that blended comedy and action.

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6 'The Way of the Dragon' (1972)

Director: Bruce Lee

10 Best Kung Fu Movies of the 1970s, Ranked (5)

Jackie Chan was all the rage as a lead actor by the end of the 1970s, but the first half of the decade really did belong to Bruce Lee. Though he died tragically young and only starred in five movies (one of which wasn’t completed before he passed), he is undeniably legendary as an action star, with his charisma and physical prowess proving undeniably captivating. He was just effortlessly cool and likable.

And he could be those things even when doing something a little comedic, like The Way of the Dragon, a movie Lee also directed. Bruce Lee’s character tries to help out some family and gets targeted by criminals who send martial artists – including one played by Chuck Norris – to defeat him. It’s a good time, being sometimes silly and sometimes exciting, and could be Lee’s best film if not for one other soon-to-be-mentioned title.

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The Way of the Dragon

R

Action

Adventure

Comedy

Martial Arts

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Release Date
August 14, 1972
Director
Bruce Lee
Cast
Bruce Lee , Chuck Norris , Nora Miao , Tony Liu

Runtime
100

5 'The Return of the 5 Deadly Venoms' (1978)

Director: Chang Cheh

10 Best Kung Fu Movies of the 1970s, Ranked (10)

The Return of the 5 Deadly Venoms is a great starting point for anyone unfamiliar with classic martial arts movies, so long as one doesn’t mind some fairly graphic/over-the-top violence. The premise of this one is simple and kind of clever in a blunt way, focusing on five people who are all maimed/injured in different ways by the same antagonist before banding together to get revenge as a group.

As each one is disadvantaged in a different manner, they have to learn to be a unit, turning their supposed weaknesses into strengths and becoming more efficient as a collective. The Return of the 5 Deadly Venoms is so matter-of-fact and straightforward in its story, adhering to a formula but being immensely satisfying (and sometimes even surprising) nonetheless.

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4 'Vengeance!' (1970)

Director: Chang Cheh

10 Best Kung Fu Movies of the 1970s, Ranked (11)

Speaking of matter-of-fact kung fu movies, Vengeance! is as bluntly about getting revenge as one could expect, approaching the subject in a similarly bloody fashion to later films like Lady Snowblood and Kill Bill. One man is killed by several villainous characters, and then the man’s brother decides to avenge him without holding back at all, going on a rampage throughout the final two acts of the movie.

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Once Vengeance! takes off, it just never slows down, and there’s a savagery to the action that still feels impactful to this day, even though the movie is well over half a century old at this point. With it being released in 1970, it sort of feels like it was rewriting the book, so to speak, and foreshadowing what kung fu/martial arts movies would be capable of doing in the years of the decade to come.

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3 'Last Hurrah for Chivalry' (1979)

Director: John Woo

10 Best Kung Fu Movies of the 1970s, Ranked (12)

Last Hurrah for Chivalry stands out against other John Woo movies, because the filmmaker is best known for a different kind of action movie, beyond anything martial arts related. Typically, Woo specializes in action films that involve a ton of gunfights, but Last Hurrah for Chivalry is more about hand-to-hand combat and has a period setting, as opposed to Woo’s more modern-day and oftentimes explosive action movies.

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The premise here is a bit convoluted, centering around a feud that pulls in numerous people who often resolve their differences through violent and emotionally charged combat. There’s an element of melodrama here that pairs well with the expressive and bombastic action scenes… and there are so many sequences of such a nature, too, with them thankfully never becoming boring to watch.

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2 'The 36th Chamber of Shaolin' (1978)

Director: Lau Kar-leung

A testament to how a good kung fu movie doesn’t necessarily need non-stop action, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin still delivers some exciting fight scenes, but they're not always the focus. Much of the film is instead centered around the protagonist undergoing extensive training, as he begins the film entirely unequipped mentally and physically to obtain the vengeance he so desperately seeks.

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The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is satisfyingly structured, as the final act becomes something of a cakewalk for a capable and well-trained hero. He earns it, though, with most of the entertainment value here coming from all the wild things he has to do as part of his training. It’s fun and wonderfully simple stuff, easily emerging as one of the greatest martial arts movies ever made.

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin

The anti-Ching patriots, under the guidance of Ho Kuang-han, have secretly set up their base in Canton, disguised as school masters. During a brutal Manchu attack, Lui manages to escape, and devotes himself to learning the martial arts in order to seek revenge.

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1 'Enter the Dragon' (1973)

Director: Robert Clouse

10 Best Kung Fu Movies of the 1970s, Ranked (18)

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When picking the best kung fu movie of the 1970s, it’s pretty hard to argue for it being anything other than Enter the Dragon. This is the best of the best as far as Bruce Lee movies go, and also feels like it might well be the closest to perfect a martial arts film has ever got, with excellent and varied action sequences featured throughout.

It’s also got one hell of a premise, feeling something like a spy movie and a sports film all at once, with Enter the Dragon largely taking place in and around a strange martial arts tournament hosted by a dangerous crime lord. It’s as pure as kung fu flicks can get, with Bruce Lee at his very best here, perfectly illustrating why he was – and always will be – considered one of the all-time greats.

Enter the Dragon (1973)

R

Action

Crime

Thriller

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Release Date
August 19, 1973

Director
Robert Clouse
Cast
Bruce Lee , John Saxon , Jim Kelly , Ahna Capri

Runtime
102 minutes

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NEXT: This '80s Kung Fu Classic Has a Climax That Needs To Be Seen To Be Believed

10 Best Kung Fu Movies of the 1970s, Ranked (2024)

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