The 40 most popular 1970s hong kong movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


Enter the Dragon
1973 · 1h 42m · HK
A martial artist agrees to spy on a reclusive crime lord using his invitation to a tournament there as cover.


Fist of Fury
1972 · 1h 48m · HK
During the Japanese occupation of Shanghai, Chen Zhen, the star pupil of a recently-deceased martial arts teacher battles a Japanese dojo which seeks the demise of his fighting school.


The Way of the Dragon
1972 · 1h 40m · HK
After a Chinese restaurant in Rome is threatened by the mafia, who will stop at nothing to acquire the property, the owner recruits a family friend in Hong Kong, kung fu expert Tang Lung, to help them defend their business.


Drunken Master
1978 · 1h 51m · HK
After getting into trouble, a mischievous young man is sent to train under a brutal, but slovenly old beggar, who teaches him the secret of the Drunken Fist.


Game of Death
1978 · 1h 41m · US
A martial arts movie star must fake his death to find the people who are trying to kill him.


The Big Boss
1971 · 1h 39m · HK
Cheng is a young Chinese mainlander who moves in with his expatriate cousins to work at an ice factory in Thailand. He does this with a family promise never to get involved in any fights. However, when members of his family begin disappearing after meeting the management of the factory, the resulting mystery and pressures force him to break that vow and take on the villainy of the Big Boss.


Kung Fu Brothers in the Wild West
1973 · 1h 23m · IT
A Kung-Fu fighter and his brother run away from a very important fight in China and are trailed to the United States by his opponent, where he finds him and a gang of outlaws in a small western town.


The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
1978 · 1h 56m · HK
During the Qing Dynasty, a fishmonger is killed by the reigning Manchu government for supporting the anti-government movement; his son manages to escape to Shaolin Temple, where he plans to learn its secretive brand of martial arts to seek revenge.


Snake in the Eagle's Shadow
1978 · 1h 38m · HK
Everyone abuses and humiliates a downtrodden orphan until he befriends an old man, who turns out to be the last master of the snake fist fighting style. Jackie becomes the old man's student and finds himself in battle with the master of the eagle's claw style, who has vowed to destroy the snake fist clan.


Fearless Hyena
1979 · 1h 37m · HK
Lung is a talented fighter but prefers to spend his time loafing around and picking fights, despite orders from his grandfather not to fight. Unknown to him, a brutal general has been slaughtering all the people from his grandfather’s clan. When the general recognizes Lung’s style of kung fu during one of his street fights, he hunts down Lung’s grandfather and kills him.


Shaolin Wooden Men
1976 · 1h 37m · HK
Little Mute is an orphan traumatized into silence by the death of his father at the hands of a vicious fighting master. Living at the Shaolin monastery, he befriends a dangerous prisoner who teaches him a secret form of deadly kung fu. Seeing his intense determination, other masters share the wisdom of the Gliding Snake and Drunken Master techniques. In one of the most exciting fight scenes ever filmed, Little Mute must run the gauntlet of the famous 108 wooden men in an extreme test of skill and endurance. But if he becomes a master, will he use his unmatched force for redemption or revenge?


A Touch of Zen
1970 · 3h · HK
Yang Hui-zhen, a mysterious princess on the run from corrupt government officials, is joined in her endeavors by skilled Buddhist monks and an unambitious painter named Gu Sheng-zhai.


New Fist of Fury
1976 · 1h 59m · HK
A brother and sister escape from Japanese-occupied Shanghai to Japanese-occupied Taiwan, to stay with their grandfather who runs a Kung-Fu school there. However, the master of a Japanese Kung- Fu school in Taiwan has plans to bringing all other schools on the island under his domination, and part of his plan involves the murder of the grandfather.


Cannonball
1976 · 1h 33m · US
Coy "Cannonball" Buckman and his blazing red Pontiac enter the Trans-America Grand Prix, an underground road race spanning the continent in which there are no rules, no speed limits and no heed for the law. En route, Buckman jockeys with an international ensemble of racers for a $100,000 purse. But there are none more important than Cade Redman, his direct competition for a guaranteed spot on the elite Modern Motors racing team.


Spiritual Kung Fu
1978 · 1h 39m · HK
Jackie Chan plays the part of the class clown in a shaolin temple whose deadliest secret is stolen. All is lost until Jackie's character discovers dancing blue ghosts with bright red hair who haunt the library.


The Magnificent Butcher
1979 · 1h 48m · HK
A plump butcher student of Wong Fei Hung, Lam Sai-Wing gets into trouble with a rival kung-fu school known as Five Dragons. He is accused of raping the Head of that school's goddaughter and killing his son. Now Ko, the Head of Five Dragons, wants revenge.


Dragon Fist
1979 · 1h 37m · HK
After the death of his master, martial arts student Tong Huo-wan travels with his adoptive family to seek redress from the man responsible but finds himself torn between righteousness and filial piety after becoming entangled in a feud between a local clan and gangsters.


The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires
1974 · 1h 29m · HK
Professor Van Helsing had been asked to help against the tyranny of skeletal creatures that are responsible for terror and death amongst the peasants in rural China. He is the only person qualified to deal with the cause of these phenomena, for the undead are controlled by the most diabolical force of all.... Count Dracula. But he is not alone- to aid him comes a mystical brotherhood of seven martial arts warriors.


Enter the Fat Dragon
1978 · 1h 43m · HK
Ah Lung is a pig farmer and a devoted Bruce Lee fan who is anxious to follow in Lee's footsteps, but only ridiculed for his attempts. He is sent to the city to earn a living working at his uncle's restaurant, but when he arrives, he finds a gang of thugs causing trouble in the restaurant. He takes the chance to prove himself and attacks the thugs, defeating them and saving the restaurant. Soon, he becomes a waiter, and discovers a plot by the same thugs to kidnap a woman he works with. Eventually, he defeats the thugs once again and saves the day.


The Golden Lotus
1974 · 1h 51m · HK
Golden Lotus is based, in part, on Jin Ping Mei, a famous erotic novel of ancient China. Li Han-Hsiang adapted part of the story into this film, which starts with Hsi Men Ching, a successful merchant, wooing Pan Chin Lien, the beautiful wife of one of the townspeople.


Killer Meteors
1976 · 1h 44m · HK
Mi Wey is a local hero named after "Killer Meteors", his secret weapon which makes him invincible. However, when "Immortal" Wa Wu Bin, another powerful local character seeks his assistance, Killer Meteor will face the greatest and the deadliest challenge of his life.


Five Fingers of Death
1972 · 1h 46m · HK
A young boxer joins a martial arts school to increase his skill so he can enter a martial arts competition. He leaves the school when he hears that a local gangster is terrorizing the town. He comes to the aid of a young singer and brings on the wrath of the local gang. He eventually enters the martial arts competition after learning iron palm technique and takes out all competition.


Snake & Crane Arts of Shaolin
1978 · 1h 36m · HK
Jackie Chan stars as the young warrior Hsu Yiu Fong. Hsu has been entrusted with the book of the "Art of the Snake and Crane," after the mysterious disappearance of the eight Shaolin Masters who had written it. He must fight off numerous clans who are all attempting to steal the book from him, to find out the true reason for the disappearance of the Shaolin Masters.


The Heroine
1973 · 1h 24m · HK
Incriminating evidence against a gang is left in a cab when a gang member dies in it. The gang chases the innocent cab driver, who receives help from the dead gangster's sister - a tough police woman.


Magnificent Bodyguards
1978 · 1h 41m · HK
Chan is asked by a young, wealthy lady to take her sick brother to a particular doctor in order to be cured. To reach this doctor, Chan and a handful of travelling companions must pass through bandit-infested wild country. They meet and kung-fu-fight several gangs of thugs along the way.


The Cub Tiger from Kwang Tung
1973 · 1h 20m · HK
Hsiao Hu has been secretly training in martial arts, as his father (Tien Feng) has forbidden him. Later, some local store owners ask Ah to help protect them from a greedy Chinese extortion ring. Ah discovers that the crime lord behind the extortion had killed his father years before and is determined for revenge.


The Man from Hong Kong
1975 · 1h 46m · AU
Australian authorities arrest a man believed to be connected to the Sydney criminal underworld and send for Inspector Fang Sing Leng from Hong Kong to question him. After the alleged criminal is assassinated, Inspector Leng and the Sydney police try to hunt down those responsible and hope to solve their case along the way.


The Mighty Peking Man
1977 · 1h 30m · HK
Word of a monster ape ten stories tall living in the Himalayas reaches fortune hunters in Hong Kong. They travel to India to capture it, but wild animals and quicksand dissuade all but Johnny, an adventurer with a broken heart. He finds the monster and discovers it's been raising a scantily-clad woman, Samantha, since she survived a plane crash years before that killed her parents. In the idyllic jungle, Johnny and Samantha fall in love. Then Johnny asks her to convince "Utam" to go to Hong Kong. Lu Tien, an unscrupulous promoter, takes over: Utam is in chains for freak show exhibitions. When Lu Tien assaults Samantha, Utam's protective instincts take over: havoc in Hong Kong.


The Five Venoms
1978 · 1h 41m · HK
A dying master sends his last student to check up on five former pupils, who each know a special style of kung-fu.


Shaolin Iron Claws
1978 · 1h 26m · HK
A corrupt Shaolin assassin, a master in Iron Claws, is hired to threaten members of the Ching Dynasty into resigning a secret letter for the restoration of the monarchy. The plot is unravelled when a police chief captures one of the assailants. The Shaolin Iron Master must be destroyed...


Heroes of the East
1978 · 1h 41m · HK
When a series of martial misunderstandings spirals into an international incident, a Chinese martial arts student struggling to relate to his new Japanese wife is forced to take on seven of Japan's most powerful martial arts masters, each an expert in a different discipline, ranging from karate to samurai to ninjitsu.


Hand of Death
1976 · 1h 37m · HK
A young monk must face the Extended Iron Claw technique of a powerful warlord seeking to destroy Shaolin.


Black Magic
1975 · 1h 35m · HK
A magician makes money by charging people to cast love spells on the objects of their affection. Complications arise when he decides that he wants a customer's bride for himself.


The New Shaolin Boxers
1976 · 1h 41m · HK
An honourable carriage driver finds love and death when he battles particularly homicidal street punks


Warriors Two
1978 · 1h 35m · HK
In an attempt to save his village from being taken over by brutes, Wah is beaten to a pulp and his mother brutally murdered. Determined to take revenge, Wah learns the art of Wing Chun and enters into a showdown with the nasty villains.


The 14 Amazons
1972 · 2h 3m · HK
The Yang family, men and women, have served their country loyally for generations. During the war General Yang is ambushed and killed. His widow and the entire family set out to avenge his death and defend the country.


Half a Loaf of Kung Fu
1978 · 1h 37m · HK
A young daydreamer assumes the identity of a dead martial arts hero and quickly finds himself caught up in a plot by several clans to steal famous martial arts artifacts being transported by an escort company.


Return of Bruce
1977 · 1h 19m · PH
Bruce takes on the evil kung fu masters! In this action packed adventure, Bruce Lee takes a desperate journey leading to a fortune in gold bullion. On the way, he comes face to face with the evil Vice Lord and the brutal gang members of the dreaded Black Dragon Society. The fists move fast and furious as Bruce challenges these deadly kung fu masters and proves that he is a super hero.


Five Shaolin Masters
1974 · 1h 50m · HK
Hu Te et al. escape the burning Shaolin temple after the Qing soldiers destroyed it in Shaolin Temple. The group of 5 decide to develop secret codes to identify fellow patriots, enlist those patriots and eventually meet up again to escape to the south away from the Qings, and also identify the traitor who sold out Shaolin temple. Ma Fu Yi, joins the Qing top fighters to eliminate the rebels but is exposed by Ma Chao-Tsing who gets captured by Ma Fu Yi. Hu meets up with a group of Shaolin men secretly posing as bandits to rescue Ma as their leader is killed in the process, thus the bandits join the rest of the Shaolin patriots.


Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman
1971 · 1h 34m · HK
Zatoichi is a blind massage therapist and swordsman who finds out that something troubling is taking place on the outskirts of town. After discovering who the guilty parties are -- an accomplished Chinese martial artist named Wang Kang and his youthful attendant -- Zatoichi finds them and discovers that the pair's mixed up with a dangerous bunch of terrorist samurai who murdered the boy's parents. Now, Zatoichi must step in to save the day.
The 1970s are widely considered American cinema's strongest decade, when the studio system's collapse handed a generation of young directors unusual freedom. It ended with Jaws and Star Wars inventing the modern blockbuster.
Hong Kong cinema's 1980s and 90s peak produced the most influential action filmmaking of the era — John Woo's gunplay ballets, Jackie Chan's stunt comedy, and the wire-work that Hollywood promptly absorbed. Wong Kar-wai's films run on a completely different and equally exported register.