Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the
Hong Kong film industry
The cinema of Hong Kong ( zh, t=香港電影) is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China and the cinema of Taiwan. As a former British colony, Hong Kong had a greater degree of p ...
's global fame.
Action films
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include lif ...
from
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
have roots in
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
and
Hong Kong cultures including
Chinese opera
Traditional Chinese opera (), or ''Xiqu'', is a form of musical theatre in China with roots going back to the early periods in China. It is an amalgamation of various art forms that existed in ancient China, and evolved gradually over more tha ...
, storytelling and aesthetic traditions, which Hong Kong filmmakers combined with elements from
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
and
Japanese cinema
The has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world; as of 2021, it was the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. In 2011 Japan produced 411 feature films that ea ...
along with new
action choreography
Stage combat, fight craft or fight choreography is a specialised technique in theatre designed to create the illusion of physical combat without causing harm to the performers. It is employed in live stage plays as well as operatic and ballet p ...
and
filmmaking
Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, casti ...
techniques, to create a culturally distinctive form that went on to have wide transcultural appeal. In turn, Hollywood action films have been heavily influenced by Hong Kong
genre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
conventions, from the 1970s onwards.
The first
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
action films favoured the ''
wuxia
( ), which literally means "martial heroes", is a genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although is traditionally a form of historical fiction, its popularity has caused it to be adapted f ...
'' style, emphasizing mysticism and swordplay, but this trend was politically suppressed in the 1930s and replaced by
kung fu film
Kung fu film () is a subgenre of martial arts films and Hong Kong action cinema set in the contemporary period and featuring realistic martial arts. It lacks the fantasy elements seen in ''wuxia'', a related martial arts genre that uses historical ...
s that depicted more down-to-earth unarmed martial arts, often featuring folk heroes such as
Wong Fei Hung
Wong Fei-hung (born Wong Sek-cheung with the courtesy name Tat-wun; 9 July 1847 – 17 April 1925) was a Chinese martial artist, physician, and folk hero. His recent fame was due to becoming the subject of numerous martial arts films and televis ...
. Post-war cultural upheavals led to a second wave of wuxia films with highly acrobatic violence, followed by the emergence of the grittier kung fu films for which the
Shaw Brothers
Shaw Brothers (HK) Ltd. () was the largest film production company in Hong Kong, and operated from 1925 to 2011.
In 1925, three Shaw brothers— Runje, Runme, and Runde—founded Tianyi Film Company (also called "Unique") in Shangh ...
studio became best known.
Hong Kong action cinema peaked from the
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.jpg, Clockwise from top left: U.S. President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office following the Watergate scandal in 1974; The United States was still involved in the Vietnam War i ...
to the
1990s
File:1990s decade montage.png, From top left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth after it was launched in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War ...
. The 1970s saw a resurgence in kung fu films during the rise and sudden death of
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that ...
. He was succeeded in the
1980s
File:1980s replacement montage02.PNG, 420px, From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, ''Columbia'', lifts off in 1981; US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev ease tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the ...
by
Jackie Chan
Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...
—who popularized the use of comedy, dangerous
stunt
A stunt is an unusual and difficult physical feat or an act requiring a special skill, performed for artistic purposes usually on television, theaters, or cinema. Stunts are a feature of many action films. Before computer generated imagery spec ...
s, and modern urban settings in action films—and
Jet Li
Li Lianjie (courtesy name Yangzhong; born 26 April 1963), better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese film actor, film producer, Chinese martial arts, martial artist, and retired wushu (sport), Wushu champion. He is a naturalized Singapo ...
, whose authentic ''
wushu'' skills appealed to both eastern and western audiences. The innovative work of directors and producers like
Tsui Hark
Tsui Hark (, vi, Từ Khắc, born 15 February 1950), born Tsui Man-kong, is a Hong Kong film director, producer and screenwriter. Tsui has directed several influential Hong Kong films such as ''Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain'' (1983), the ...
and
John Woo
John Woo Yu-Sen SBS (; born September 22, 1946) is a Hong Kong filmmaker, known as a highly-influential figure in the action film genre. He was a pioneer of heroic bloodshed films (a crime action film genre involving Chinese triads) and the gun fu ...
introduced further variety, with genres such as
heroic bloodshed
Heroic bloodshed is a genre invented by Hong Kong action cinema revolving around stylized action sequences and dramatic themes such as brotherhood, duty, honour, redemption and violence that has become a popular genre used by different directors w ...
and
gun fu
''Gun fu'', a portmanteau of ''gun'' and ''kung fu'' (also known as gun kata, bullet ballet, and gymnastic gunplay), is a style of sophisticated close-quarters gunfight resembling a martial arts battle that combines firearms with hand-to-hand com ...
films, and themes such as
triads and the supernatural. However, an exodus by many leading figures to Hollywood in the 1990s coincided with a downturn in the industry.
Early martial arts films (early 20th century)
The signature contribution to action cinema from the
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
-speaking world is the
martial arts film
Martial arts films are a subgenre of action films that feature numerous martial arts combat between characters. These combats are usually the films' primary appeal and entertainment value, and often are a method of storytelling and character expres ...
, the most famous of which were developed in Hong Kong. The genre emerged first in
Chinese popular literature. The early 20th century saw an explosion of what were called ''
wuxia
( ), which literally means "martial heroes", is a genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although is traditionally a form of historical fiction, its popularity has caused it to be adapted f ...
'' novels (often translated as "martial chivalry"), generally published in serialized form in newspapers. These were tales of heroic, sword-wielding warriors, often featuring mystical or
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
elements. This genre was quickly seized on by early
Chinese films
The cinema of China is one of three distinct historical threads of Chinese-language cinema together with the cinema of Hong Kong and the cinema of Taiwan.
Cinema was introduced in China in 1896 and the first Chinese film, '' Dingjun Mountain'' ...
, particularly in the movie capital of the time,
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
. Starting in the 1920s, ''wuxia'' titles, often adapted from novels (for example, 1928's ''
The Burning of the Red Lotus Monastery
''The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple'' () is a lost Chinese silent film serial directed by Zhang Shichuan, widely considered to be the founding father of Chinese cinema. The film is adapted from the novel ''The Tale of the Extraordinary Swords ...
'' and its eighteen sequels) were hugely popular and the genre dominated Chinese film for several years.
[(Chute & Lim, 2003, 14–15)]
The boom came to an end in the 1930s, caused by official opposition from cultural and political elites, especially the
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
government, who saw it as promoting superstition and violent anarchy.
''Wuxia'' filmmaking was picked up in Hong Kong, at the time a
British colony
The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remnants of the former Bri ...
with a highly liberal economy and culture and a developing film industry. The first martial arts film in
Cantonese
Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
, the dominant
Chinese spoken language
Chinese, also known as Sinitic, is a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family consisting of hundreds of local varieties, many of which are not mutually intelligible. Variation is particularly strong in the more mountainous southeast of main ...
of Hong Kong, was ''The Adorned Pavilion'' (1938).
Post-war martial arts cinema (1940s to early 1960s)
By the late 1940s, upheavals in
mainland China
"Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
—the
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...
, the
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...
, and the victory of the
Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...
—had shifted the centre of
Chinese language
Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the wor ...
filmmaking to Hong Kong. The industry continued the wuxia tradition in Cantonese
B movie
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...
s and serials, although the more prestigious
Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
-language cinema generally ignored the genre. Animation and special effects drawn directly on the film by hand were used to simulate the flying abilities and other
preternatural
The preternatural (or praeternatural) is that which appears outside or beside (Latin: '' præter'') the natural. It is "suspended between the mundane and the miraculous".
In theology, the term is often used to distinguish marvels or deceptive t ...
powers of characters; later titles in the cycle included ''The Six-Fingered Lord of the Lute'' (1965) and ''Sacred Fire, Heroic Wind'' (1966).
[(Chute & Lim, 2003, 2)]
A counter-tradition to the wuxia films emerged in the
kung fu movies that were also produced at this time. These movies emphasized more "authentic", down-to-earth and unarmed combat over the swordplay and mysticism of ''wuxia''. The most famous exemplar was real-life martial artist
Kwan Tak Hing; he became an avuncular hero figure to at least a couple of generations of Hong Kongers by playing historical folk hero
Wong Fei Hung
Wong Fei-hung (born Wong Sek-cheung with the courtesy name Tat-wun; 9 July 1847 – 17 April 1925) was a Chinese martial artist, physician, and folk hero. His recent fame was due to becoming the subject of numerous martial arts films and televis ...
in a series of roughly one hundred movies, from ''The True Story of Wong Fei Hung'' (1949) through to ''Wong Fei Hung Bravely Crushing the Fire Formation'' (1970).
A number of enduring elements were introduced or solidified by these films: the still-popular character of "Master Wong"; the influence of
Chinese opera
Traditional Chinese opera (), or ''Xiqu'', is a form of musical theatre in China with roots going back to the early periods in China. It is an amalgamation of various art forms that existed in ancient China, and evolved gradually over more tha ...
with its stylized martial arts and
acrobatics
Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in acro ...
; and the concept of martial arts heroes as exponents of
Confucian
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...
ethics.
"New School" wuxia (late 1960s to early 1970s)
In the second half of the 1960s, the era's biggest studio,
Shaw Brothers
Shaw Brothers (HK) Ltd. () was the largest film production company in Hong Kong, and operated from 1925 to 2011.
In 1925, three Shaw brothers— Runje, Runme, and Runde—founded Tianyi Film Company (also called "Unique") in Shangh ...
, inaugurated a new generation of wuxia films, starting with Xu Zenghong's ''Temple of the Red Lotus'' (1965), a remake of the 1928 classic. These Mandarin productions were more lavish and in colour; their style was less fantastical and more intense, with stronger and more acrobatic violence. They were influenced by imported
samurai movies from
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
and by the wave of
"New School" wuxia novels by authors like
Jin Yong
Louis Cha Leung-yung (; 10 March 1924 – 30 October 2018), better known by his pen name Jin Yong (), pronounced "Gum Yoong" in Cantonese, was a Chinese wuxia (" martial arts and chivalry") novelist and essayist who co-founded the Hong Kong d ...
and
Liang Yusheng that started in the 1950s.
[(Chute and Lim, 2003, 8 & 15)]
The New School ''wuxia'' wave marked the move of male-oriented action films to the centre of Hong Kong cinema, which had long been dominated by female stars and genres aimed at female audiences, such as
romances and
musicals
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...
. Even so, during the 1960s female action stars like
Cheng Pei-pei
Cheng Pei-pei (born 6 January 1946) is a Chinese actress, who is considered cinema's first female action hero. She is known for her performance in the 1966 King Hu ''wuxia'' film ''Come Drink with Me'', as well as her portrayal of Jade Fox in t ...
and
Connie Chan Po-chu were prominent alongside male stars, such as former swimming champion
Jimmy Wang Yu, and they continued an old tradition of female warriors in ''wuxia'' storyte directors of the period were
Chang Cheh with ''
One-Armed Swordsman
''One-Armed Swordsman'' is a 1967 Hong Kong ''wuxia'' film produced by the Shaw Brothers Studio. Directed by Chang Cheh, it was the first of the new style of ''wuxia'' films emphasizing male anti-heroes, violent swordplay and heavy bloodletting ...
'' (1967) and ''
Golden Swallow
The golden swallow (''Tachycineta euchrysea'') is a swallow endemic to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (split between the Dominican Republic and Haiti) and was once native to Jamaica, but is now extirpated there. It is restricted to isolated ...
'' (1968) and
King Hu
Hu Jinquan (29 April 1932 – 14 January 1997), better known as King Hu, was a Chinese film director and actor based in Hong Kong and Taiwan. He is best known for directing various ''wuxia'' films in the 1960s and 1970s, which brought Hong Kong ...
with ''
Come Drink with Me
''Come Drink with Me'' ( zh, t=大醉俠, l=Great Drunken Hero, p=Dà Zuì Xiá) is a 1966 Hong Kong ''wuxia'' film produced by Shaw Brothers Studio and directed by King Hu. Set during the Ming Dynasty, it stars Cheng Pei-pei, Yueh Hua and Ch ...
'' (1966). Hu soon left Shaw Brothers to pursue his own vision of ''wuxia'' with independent productions in
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
, such as the enormously successful ''
Dragon Inn
''Dragon Inn'' (, also known as ''Dragon Gate Inn'') is a 1967 Taiwanese ''wuxia'' film written and directed by King Hu. The film was remade in 1992, as ''New Dragon Gate Inn'', and again in 2011 as '' The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate''.
Plot
Tsao ...
'' (1967, a.k.a. ''Dragon Gate Inn'') and ''
A Touch of Zen
''A Touch of Zen'' (Chinese: 俠女) is a 1971 ''wuxia'' film co-edited, written, and directed by film maker King Hu. Its screenplay is based on a classic Chinese story " Xianü" in the book ''Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio'' by Pu Songl ...
'' which was nominated for the
Palme d'Or at the
1975 Cannes Film Festival
The 28th Cannes Film Festival was held from 9 to 23 May 1975. The Palme d'Or went to the '' Chronique des Années de Braise'' by Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina. In 1975, a new section, "Les Yeux fertiles", which was non-competitive, was introduced. This ...
.
Chang stayed on and remained the Shaws' prolific star director into the early 1980s.
Kung fu wave (1970s)
The early 1970s saw ''wuxia'' giving way to a new, grittier and more graphic (and
Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
-speaking) iteration of the kung fu movie, which came to dominate through the decade and into the early 1980s. Seriously trained
martial artists such as
Ti Lung and
Gordon Liu
Gordon Liu (Lau Kar-fai ); born Sin Kam-hei () August 22, 1951) is a Chinese martial arts film actor and martial artist. He played the lead role of San Te in ''The 36th Chamber of Shaolin'' (1978) and its sequels, and later played two roles in Qu ...
became some of the top stars as increasing proportions of running times were devoted to combat set-pieces. ''Chinese Boxer'' (1970), starring and directed by Jimmy Wang Yu, is widely credited with launching the kung fu boom. But remaining at the vanguard, at least initially, were
Shaw Brothers
Shaw Brothers (HK) Ltd. () was the largest film production company in Hong Kong, and operated from 1925 to 2011.
In 1925, three Shaw brothers— Runje, Runme, and Runde—founded Tianyi Film Company (also called "Unique") in Shangh ...
and director Chang Cheh. Chang's ''
Vengeance
Vengeance may refer to:
*Vengeance (concept) or revenge, a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance
Film
* ''Vengeance'' (1930 film), action adventure film directed by Archie Mayo
* ''Vengeance'' (1937 film) or ''W ...
'' (1970) was another of the first trendsetters and his dozens of contributions included ''
The Boxer from Shantung'' (1972), ''
Heroes Two
''Heroes Two'' (方世玉與洪熙官) (also known as ''Kung Fu Invaders'') is a 1974 Hong Kong martial arts film directed by Chang Cheh. The film stars Alexander Fu Sheng and Chen Kuan Tai.
Plot
Heroes Two begins with the burning of the Sha ...
'' (1974), ''
Five Deadly Venoms
''Five Deadly Venoms'' ('五毒' – Cantonese: ''Ng5 Duk6''), also known as ''Five Venoms'', is a cult 1978 Hong Kong martial arts film directed by Chang Cheh, starring the Venom Mob, with martial arts choreography by Leung Ting, and produced ...
'' (1978) and ''
Crippled Avengers'' (1979). Kung fu cinema was particularly influenced by Chang's concern with his vision of masculine values and male friendship;
[(Teo, 2003)] the female warrior figures who had been prominent in late 1960s wuxia work were sidelined, with prominent exceptions such as the popular
Angela Mao
use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) -->
, death_place =
, death_cause =
, body_discovered =
, resting_place =
, resting_place_coordinates ...
.
Chang's only competitor as the genre's most influential filmmaker was his long-time
action choreographer
Action may refer to:
* Action (narrative), a literary mode
* Action fiction, a type of genre fiction
* Action game, a genre of video game
Film
* Action film, a genre of film
* ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford
* ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
,
Lau Kar Leung (a.k.a. Liu Chia Liang in Mandarin). Lau began directing his own movies for the Shaw brothers in 1975 with ''The Spiritual Boxer'', a progenitor of the kung fu comedy. In subsequent titles like ''
Executioners from Shaolin
''Executioners from Shaolin'' or ''Hung Hsi Kuan'' is a 1977 Shaw Brothers kung fu film based on the life of Hung hsi Kuan directed by Lau Kar-leung. It is released as ''Shaolin Executioners'' outside of Hong Kong and as ''Executioners of Dea ...
'' (1977), ''
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
''The 36th Chamber of Shaolin'', also known as ''The Master Killer'', ''Shaolin Master Killer'' and ''Shao Lin San Shi Liu Fang'', is a 1978 Hong Kong kung fu film directed by Lau Kar-leung and produced by Shaw Brothers, starring Gordon Liu. T ...
'' (1978), and ''
Legendary Weapons of China
''Legendary Weapons of China'' (aka ''Legendary Weapons of Kung Fu'') is a 1982 martial arts wuxia film or wuxia pian directed by Lau Kar-Leung. It takes place during the late Qing Dynasty when Empress Dowager Cixi dispatches her agents to var ...
'' (1982), Lau emphasized the traditions and philosophy of the martial arts and strove to give onscreen fighting greater authenticity and ever greater speed and intricacy.
The kung fu boom was partly fueled by enormous international popularity, and not just in East Asia. In the West, kung fu imports,
dubbed and often recut and retitled, shown as "B" films in urban theaters and on television, made Hong Kong film widely noticed, although not widely respected, for the first time. African-Americans particularly embraced the genre (as exemplified by the popular
hip-hop group, the
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop group formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its original members include RZA, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa. Close affili ...
) perhaps as an almost unprecedented source of adventure stories with non-white heroes, who furthermore often displayed a strong streak of racial and/or nationalistic pride.
[African Americans, Kung Fu Theater and Cultural Exchange at the Margins by Amy Abugo Ongiri in the Journal of Asian American Studies]
Project Muse PDF version
. Retrieved 1 April 2006.
The popularity of these movies in North America would continue into the 1980s when ninja movies were introduced. In popular culture, the films of this era were colloquially known as ''Kung Fu Theater'' or ''Black Belt Theater'', names that many independent stations used for their weekly airing slot.
''
The Brothers'' (1979), a Shaw Brothers production, was a significant departure from the kung fu films the studio was known for. ''The Brothers'' was an action crime-drama, about two brothers on opposing sides of the law. It was a remake of the Indian crime drama ''
Deewaar'' (1975), written by
Salim–Javed
Salim–Javed were an Indian screenwriting duo, composed of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar, working in Bollywood. They are noted for being the first Indian screenwriters to achieve star status, becoming the most successful Indian screenwriters o ...
.
In turn, ''The Brothers'' laid the foundations for the
heroic bloodshed
Heroic bloodshed is a genre invented by Hong Kong action cinema revolving around stylized action sequences and dramatic themes such as brotherhood, duty, honour, redemption and violence that has become a popular genre used by different directors w ...
genre of 1980s Hong Kong cinema, inspiring
John Woo
John Woo Yu-Sen SBS (; born September 22, 1946) is a Hong Kong filmmaker, known as a highly-influential figure in the action film genre. He was a pioneer of heroic bloodshed films (a crime action film genre involving Chinese triads) and the gun fu ...
's breakthrough film ''
A Better Tomorrow'' (1986).
Bruce Lee
![Bruce Lee 1973](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Bruce_Lee_1973.jpg)
No single figure was more responsible for this international profile than
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that ...
, an American-born, Hong Kong-raised martial artist and actor. Lee completed just four movies before his death at the age of 32: ''
The Big Boss'' (1971), ''
Fist of Fury'' and ''
Way of the Dragon
''The Way of the Dragon'' (, originally released in the United States as ''Return of the Dragon'') is a 1972 Hong Kong martial arts action comedy film written, co-produced and directed by Bruce Lee, who also stars in the lead role. This is Lee' ...
'' (both 1972), and ''
Enter the Dragon'' (1973). Eastern film historian
Patrick Macias ascribes his success to "(bringing) the warrior spirit of old into the present day... developing his own fighting style... and possessing superhuman charisma".
His first three movies broke local box office records and were successful in much of the world. ''Fist of Fury'' and ''Way of the Dragon'' went on to gross an estimated and worldwide, respectively.
The English-language ''Enter the Dragon'', the first-ever US-Hong Kong co-production, grossed an estimated worldwide,
making it the most internationally successful film from the region. Furthermore, his decision at the outset to work for young, upstart studio
Golden Harvest, rather than accept the Shaws' notoriously tightfisted standard contract, was a factor in Golden Harvest's meteoric rise and Shaw's eventual decline.
Jackie Chan and the kung fu comedy
The only Chinese performer who has ever rivalled Bruce Lee's global fame is
Jackie Chan
Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...
. Like many kung fu performers of the day, Chan came out of training in
Peking opera and started in film as a
stuntman
A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed ...
, notably in some of Lee's vehicles. He was groomed for a while by ''The Big Boss'' and ''Fist of Fury'' director
Lo Wei as another Lee clone, in several movies including ''
New Fist of Fury'' (1976), with little success. But in 1978, Chan teamed up with action choreographer
Yuen Woo Ping on Yuen's directorial debut, ''
Snake in the Eagle's Shadow''. The resulting blend of physical comedy and kung fu action provided Chan with his first hit and the rudiments of what would become his signature style. Chan's follow-up movie with Yuen, ''
Drunken Master'' (also 1978), and his directorial debut, ''
The Fearless Hyena
''The Fearless Hyena'' is a 1979 Hong Kong action comedy kung fu film written, directed by and starring Jackie Chan. It was Chan's directorial debut. The film was a box office success.
The film has been released under several alternative titl ...
'' (1979), were also giant hits and cemented his popularity.
Although these films were not the first kung fu comedies, they launched a vogue that helped reinvigorate the waning kung fu genre. Especially notable in this regard were two of Chan's childhood
Peking Opera School
Professional schools for Chinese opera, known as ''keban'' (), existed in China from the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) to the 20th century. Formerly attached to performing troupes, many ''keban'' became independent boarding schools by the late 19th c ...
classmates,
Sammo Hung
Sammo Hung Kam-bo ( zh, t=洪金寶, j=Hung4 Gam1-bou2; born 7 January 1952) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film producer and Film director, director, known for his work in martial arts films, Hong Kong action cinema, and as a fight choreog ...
and
Yuen Biao
Yuen Biao (born Ha Lingchun; 26 July 1957) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist and stuntman. He specialises in acrobatics and Chinese martial arts and has also worked on over 80 films as actor, stuntman and action choreographer. He was one of t ...
, who also made careers of this specialty, sometimes co-starring with Chan. Hung, noted for the seeming paradox of his overweight physique and physical agility, also made a name for himself as a director and action choreographer from early on, with titles like ''
Enter the Fat Dragon Enter the Fat Dragon may refer to:
* Enter the Fat Dragon (1978 film), a Hong Kong martial arts film
* Enter the Fat Dragon (2020 film)
''Enter the Fat Dragon'' is a 2020 Hong Kong martial arts comedy film directed by Kenji Tanigaki and Aman Cha ...
'' (1978).
Reinventing action cinema (1980s to early 1990s)
Chan's clowning may have helped extend the life of the kung fu wave for several years. Nevertheless, he became a star towards the end of the boom, and would soon help move the colony towards a new type of action. In the 1980s, he and many colleagues would forge a slicker, more spectacular Hong Kong pop cinema that would successfully compete with the post-''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' summer blockbusters from America.
Jackie Chan and the modern martial arts stunt action film
![Jackie Chan 2002](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Jackie_Chan_2002.jpg)
In the early 1980s,
Jackie Chan
Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...
began experimenting with elaborate
stunt
A stunt is an unusual and difficult physical feat or an act requiring a special skill, performed for artistic purposes usually on television, theaters, or cinema. Stunts are a feature of many action films. Before computer generated imagery spec ...
action sequences in films such as ''
The Young Master
''The Young Master'' () is a 1980 Hong Kong martial arts film starring and directed by Jackie Chan, who also wrote the screenplay with Edward Tang, Lau Tin-chi and Tung Lu. The film co-stars Yuen Biao, Fung Fung and Shih Kien. The film was rele ...
'' (1980) and especially ''
Dragon Lord'' (1982), which featured a pyramid fight scene that holds the record for the most
takes required for a single scene, with 2900 takes,
and the final fight scene in which he performs various stunts, including one where he does a back flip off a
loft
A loft is a building's upper storey or elevated area in a room directly under the roof (American usage), or just an attic: a storage space under the roof usually accessed by a ladder (primarily British usage). A loft apartment refers to large ...
and falls to the lower ground. By 1983, Chan branched out into action films which, though they still used martial arts, were less limited in scope, setting and plot, with an emphasis on elaborate yet dangerous stunt sequences. His first film in this vein, ''
Project A'' (1983), saw the official formation of the
Jackie Chan Stunt Team
The Jackie Chan Stunt Team (), also known as Jackie Chan's Stuntmen Association, is a group of stuntmen and martial artists who work alongside Jackie Chan. Founded in the 1970s, it initially included Hong Kong action stuntmen and martial artist ...
and added elaborate, dangerous stunts to the fights and typical slapstick humor (at one point, Chan falls from the top of a clock tower through a series of fabric canopies). The new formula helped ''Project A'' gross over in Hong Kong,
[Internet Movie Databas]
Business Data
. Retrieved 1 April 2006. and significantly more in other Asian countries such as Japan, where it grossed and became one of the
highest-grossing films of 1984.
''
Winners and Sinners'' (1983) also featured an elaborate action sequence that involves Chan skating along a busy high road, including a risky stunt where he slides under a truck.
Chan continued to take the approach – and the budgets – to new heights in hits like ''
Police Story'' (1985), which is considered one of the greatest action films of all time.
Here was Chan dangling from a speeding bus, destroying large parts of a hillside shantytown, fighting in a shopping mall while breaking many glass panes, and sliding down a pole covered with exploding light bulbs. The latter is considered one of the greatest stunts in the history of action cinema.
The 1988 sequel called for explosions on a scale similar to many Hollywood movies and seriously injured leading lady
Maggie Cheung
Maggie Cheung Man-yuk (; born 20 September 1964) is a Hong Kong former actress. Raised in Hong Kong and Britain, she started her career after placing second in 1983's Miss Hong Kong Pageant. She achieved critical success in the late 1980s and in ...
– an occupational risk Chan had already grown used to. Thus Jackie Chan created the template for the contemporary urban action-comedy of the 1980s, combining cops, kung fu and all the body-breaking potential of the modern city with its glass, metal and speeding vehicles.
[Bright Lights Film Journal]
An Evening with Jackie Chan
by Dr. Craig Reid, issue 13, 1994 . Retrieved 1 April 2006.
Tsui Hark and Cinema City
Chan's move towards larger-scale action films was paralleled by work coming out of
Cinema City, the production company established in 1980 by comedians
Raymond Wong,
Karl Maka and
Dean Shek
Dean Shek (17 June 1949 – 20 September 2021), also known as Dean Shek Tin, was a Hong Kong film actor and producer with over 72 film credits to his name. Shek was perhaps best known as Professor Kai-hsien in the 1978 film ''Drunken Master'', ...
. With movies like the spy spoof ''
Aces Go Places'' (1982) and its sequels, Cinema City helped make modern special effects,
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
-type gadgets and big vehicular stunts part of the industry vernacular.
[(Bordwell 2000)] Director/producer
Tsui Hark
Tsui Hark (, vi, Từ Khắc, born 15 February 1950), born Tsui Man-kong, is a Hong Kong film director, producer and screenwriter. Tsui has directed several influential Hong Kong films such as ''Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain'' (1983), the ...
had a hand in shaping the Cinema City style while employed there from 1981–1983
[(Teo, 1997)] but went on to make an even bigger impact after leaving. In such movies as ''
Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain'' (1983) and ''
A Chinese Ghost Story'' (1987, directed by
Ching Siu-tung), he kept pushing back the boundaries of Hong Kong special effects. He led the way in replacing the rough and ready camera style of 1970s kung fu with glossier and more sophisticated visuals and ever more furious editing.
John Woo and the "heroic bloodshed" and "gun fu" triad films
![John Woo Cannes 2005](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/John_Woo_Cannes_2005.jpg)
As a producer, Tsui Hark facilitated the creation of
John Woo
John Woo Yu-Sen SBS (; born September 22, 1946) is a Hong Kong filmmaker, known as a highly-influential figure in the action film genre. He was a pioneer of heroic bloodshed films (a crime action film genre involving Chinese triads) and the gun fu ...
's epoch-making
heroic bloodshed
Heroic bloodshed is a genre invented by Hong Kong action cinema revolving around stylized action sequences and dramatic themes such as brotherhood, duty, honour, redemption and violence that has become a popular genre used by different directors w ...
movie ''
A Better Tomorrow'' (1986). Woo's saga of cops and the
triads (Chinese gangsters) combined fancifully choreographed (and extremely violent) gunplay (called ''
gun fu
''Gun fu'', a portmanteau of ''gun'' and ''kung fu'' (also known as gun kata, bullet ballet, and gymnastic gunplay), is a style of sophisticated close-quarters gunfight resembling a martial arts battle that combines firearms with hand-to-hand com ...
'') with heightened emotional melodrama, sometimes resembling a modern-dress version of 1970s
kung fu film
Kung fu film () is a subgenre of martial arts films and Hong Kong action cinema set in the contemporary period and featuring realistic martial arts. It lacks the fantasy elements seen in ''wuxia'', a related martial arts genre that uses historical ...
s by Woo's mentor
Chang Cheh. The formula broke another all-time box office record. It also jump-started the faltering career of co-star
Chow Yun-fat, who overnight became one of the colony's most popular idols and Woo's favorite leading man.
[(Logan, 1995)]
For the remainder of the 1980s and into the early 1990s, a deluge of films by Woo and others explored similar territory, often with a similar visual style and thematic bent. They were usually marked by an emphasis on the fraternal bonds of duty and affection among the criminal protagonists. The most notable other ''
auteur'' of these themes was
Ringo Lam
Ringo Lam Ling-Tung (, Cantonese: Lam Ling-tung, 8 December 1955 – 29 December 2018) was a Hong Kong film director, producer, and screenwriter. Born in Hong Kong in 1955, Lam initially went to acting school. After finding he preferred making f ...
, who offered a less romanticized take in such films as ''
City on Fire'', ''
Prison on Fire
''Prison on Fire'' is a 1987 Hong Kong prison film directed by Ringo Lam and starring Chow Yun-fat and Tony Leung Ka-fai. Yiu (Tony Leung Ka Fai) is a young advertising executive in Hong Kong. One night, defending his father from attack, he acci ...
'' (both 1987), and ''
Full Contact
''Full Contact'' () is a 1992 Hong Kong action film produced and directed by Ringo Lam, and starring Chow Yun-fat, Simon Yam, and Anthony Wong.
Plot
The first part of the movie takes place in Bangkok, Thailand. Gou Fei's (Chow Yun-fat) frie ...
'' (1992), all starring Chow Yun-Fat. The genre and its creators were accused in some quarters of cravenly glorifying real-life triads, whose involvement in the film business was notorious.
[(Dannen, Long, 1997)]
The wire-work wave
As the triad films petered out in the early 1990s, period martial arts returned as the favored action genre. But this was a new martial arts cinema that took full advantage of technical strides as well the higher budgets that came with Hong Kong's dominance of the region's screens. These lavish productions were often adapted from the more fantastical
wuxia
( ), which literally means "martial heroes", is a genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although is traditionally a form of historical fiction, its popularity has caused it to be adapted f ...
novels, which featured flying warriors in mid-air combat. Performers were trussed up on ultrathin wires to allow them to conduct gravity-defying action sequences, a technique known by Western fans, sometimes disparagingly, as
wire fu
Wire fu is an element or style of Hong Kong action cinema used in fight scenes. It is a combination of two terms: "wire work" and "kung fu".
Wire fu is used to describe a subgenre of kung fu movies where the stuntmen's or actor's skill is augmen ...
.
[GreenCine primer]
Hong Kong Action
by Patrick Macias . Retrieved 1 April 2006.
As so often, Tsui Hark led the way. He produced ''
Swordsman'' (1990), which reestablished the wuxia novels of
Jin Yong
Louis Cha Leung-yung (; 10 March 1924 – 30 October 2018), better known by his pen name Jin Yong (), pronounced "Gum Yoong" in Cantonese, was a Chinese wuxia (" martial arts and chivalry") novelist and essayist who co-founded the Hong Kong d ...
as favorite big-screen sources (television adaptations had long been ubiquitous). He directed ''
Once Upon a Time in China'' (1991), which resurrected oft-filmed folk hero
Wong Fei Hung
Wong Fei-hung (born Wong Sek-cheung with the courtesy name Tat-wun; 9 July 1847 – 17 April 1925) was a Chinese martial artist, physician, and folk hero. His recent fame was due to becoming the subject of numerous martial arts films and televis ...
. Both films were followed by sequels and a raft of imitations, often starring Mainland
wushu
Wushu may refer to:
Martial arts
* Chinese martial arts, the various martial arts of China
* Wushu (sport), a modern exhibition of traditional Chinese martial arts
* Wushu stances, five key stances utilized in both contemporary wushu and traditio ...
champion
Jet Li
Li Lianjie (courtesy name Yangzhong; born 26 April 1963), better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese film actor, film producer, Chinese martial arts, martial artist, and retired wushu (sport), Wushu champion. He is a naturalized Singapo ...
. He went on to receive a special award for a
mainland China
"Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
person at the 1995 Taipei
Golden Horse Film Festival. The other signature star of the subgenre was Taiwanese-born actress
Brigitte Lin
Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia (; born 3 November 1954) is a Taiwanese actress. She is regarded as an icon of Chinese language cinema for her extensive and varied roles in both Taiwanese and Hong Kong films.
Biography
Lin was born in Chiayi, Taiwan. S ...
. She made an unlikely specialty of androgynous woman-warrior types, such as the villainous, sex-changing
eunuch
A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function.
The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...
in ''
The Swordsman 2'' (1992), epitomizing martial arts fantasy's often-noted fascination with gender instability.
[Unsung Heroes: Reading Transgender Subjectivities in Hong Kong Action Cinema by Helen Hok-Sze Leung]
Web version 2004–05
. Retrieved 1 April 2006.
International impact
First wave: kung fu craze (1970s–1980s)
Hong Kong's international impact initially came in the form of
martial arts films, especially 1970s
kung fu films and most notably those of
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that ...
.
His earliest attempts at introducing his brand of Hong Kong martial arts cinema to the West came in the form of American
television shows, such as ''
The Green Hornet
The Green Hornet is a superhero created in 1936 by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker, with input from radio director James Jewell. Since his 1930s radio debut, the character has appeared in numerous serialized dramas in a wide variety of media ...
'' (1966 debut) and ''
Kung Fu'' (1972 debut).
The "kung fu craze" began in 1973, with the unprecedented success of Hong Kong martial arts films at the North American box office. ''
King Boxer'' (''Five Fingers of Death'') starring
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
n-born actor
Lo Lieh was the first Hong Kong film to top the US box office, paving the way for Bruce Lee's breakthrough with ''
The Big Boss'' (''Fists of Fury'') topping the US box office. In May 1973, Hong Kong action cinema made US box office history, with three foreign films holding the top three spots for the first time: ''Fists of Fury'', ''
Lady Whirlwind
''Lady Whirlwind'' a.k.a. ''Deep Thrust'' () is a 1972 Hong Kong martial arts film written and directed by Huang Feng, starring Angela Mao.
Plot
A young man Ling Shih-hua (Chang Yi) is severely beaten by Japanese mobsters and left for dead on ...
'' (''Deep Thrust''), and ''Five Fingers of Death''. Lee continued his success with ''
Fist of Fury'' (''The Chinese Connection''), which also topped the US box office the following month.
Kung fu film releases in the United States initially targeted
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...
audiences, before becoming a breakout success among larger
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
and
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
audiences, and then among white
working-class Americans
In the United States, the concept of a working class remains vaguely defined, and classifying people or jobs into this class can be contentious. Economists and pollsters in the United States generally define "working class" adults as those lacking ...
.
Kung fu films also became a global success, across
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
,
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
and the
third world
The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " First ...
.
This eventually paved the way for Lee's posthumous
Hollywood film
The cinema of the United States, consisting mainly of major film studios (also known as Hollywood) along with some independent film, has had a large effect on the global film industry since the early 20th century. The dominant style of Ame ...
breakthrough with the Hong Kong and US co-production ''
Enter the Dragon'' (1973). Hong Kong martial arts cinema subsequently inspired a wave of Western martial arts films and television shows throughout the 1970s–1990s (launching the careers of Western martial arts stars such as
Jean-Claude Van Damme,
Steven Seagal and
Chuck Norris
Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris (born March 10, 1940) is an American martial artist and actor. He is a black belt in Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu jitsu and judo. After serving in the United States Air Force, Norris won many martial arts championshi ...
), as well as the more general integration of
Asian martial arts into Western
action films
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include lif ...
and television shows by the 1990s.
Sascha Matuszak of ''
Vice
A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...
'' said ''Enter the Dragon'' "is referenced in all manner of media, the plot line and characters continue to influence storytellers today, and the impact was particularly felt in the revolutionizing way the film portrayed
African-Americans,
Asians
Asian people (or Asians, sometimes referred to as Asiatic people)United States National Library of Medicine. Medical Subject Headings. 2004. November 17, 200Nlm.nih.gov: ''Asian Continental Ancestry Group'' is also used for categorical purpos ...
and traditional martial arts." Kuan-Hsing Chen and Beng Huat Chua cited
fight scenes
Stage combat, fight craft or fight choreography is a specialised technique in theatre designed to create the illusion of physical combat without causing harm to the performers. It is employed in live stage plays as well as operatic and ballet pr ...
in Hong Kong films such as ''Enter the Dragon'' as being influential for the way they pitched "an elemental story of good against evil in such a spectacle-saturated way".
In Japan, the
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
and
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
franchises ''
Fist of the North Star'' (1983–1988) and ''
Dragon Ball
is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The Dragon Ball (manga), initial manga, written and illustrated by Toriyama, was serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 individual chapters colle ...
'' (1984–1995) were influenced by Hong Kong martial arts films, particularly 1970s kung fu films such as Bruce Lee's ''Enter the Dragon'' and Jackie Chan's ''
Drunken Master'' (1978).
In turn, ''Fist of the North Star'' and especially ''Dragon Ball'' are credited with setting the trends for popular
shōnen manga
is an editorial category of Japanese comics targeting an audience of adolescent boys. It is, along with manga (targeting adolescent girls and young women), manga (targeting young adult and adult men), and manga (targeting adult women), ...
and anime from the 1980s onwards.
Similarly in India, Hong Kong martial arts films had an influence on
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
masala films.
After the success of Bruce Lee films (such as ''Enter the Dragon'') in India, ''
Deewaar'' (1975) and later Bollywood films incorporated fight scenes inspired by 1970s Hong Kong martial arts films up until the 1990s.
Bollywood action scenes emulated Hong Kong rather than Hollywood, emphasising acrobatics and
stunts
A stunt is an unusual and difficult physical feat or an act requiring a special skill, performed for artistic purposes usually on television, theaters, or cinema. Stunts are a feature of many action films. Before computer generated imagery spec ...
and combining
kung fu (as perceived by Indians) with
Indian martial arts
Indian martial arts refers to the fighting systems of the Indian subcontinent. A variety of terms are used for the English phrases “Indian martial arts”, deriving from ancient sources. While they may seem to imply specific disciplines (e.g. ...
such as
pehlwani
Pehlwani, (पहलवानी) also known as Kushti, is a form of wrestling contested in South Asia. It was developed in the Mughal Empire by combining Persian Koshti pahlevani with influences from native Indian Malla-yuddha. The words ''pe ...
.
Hong Kong martial arts films such as ''Enter the Dragon'' were the foundation for
fighting games. The ''
Street Fighter'' video game franchise (1987 debut) was inspired by ''Enter the Dragon'', with the gameplay centered around an international fighting tournament, and each character having a unique combination of ethnicity, nationality and fighting style. ''Street Fighter'' went on to set the template for all fighting games that followed. The early
beat 'em up
The beat 'em up (also known as brawler and, in some markets, beat 'em all) is a video game genre featuring hand-to-hand combat against a large number of opponents. Traditional beat 'em ups take place in scrolling, two-dimensional (2D) levels, ...
game ''
Kung-Fu Master'' (1984) was also based on Bruce Lee's ''
Game of Death
''The Game of Death'' (Chinese: 死亡的遊戲) is an incomplete Hong Kong martial arts film, filmed between August and October 1972, directed, written, produced by and starring Bruce Lee, in his final film project. Lee died during the making ...
'' (1972) and Jackie Chan's ''
Wheels on Meals'' (1984).
The success of Bruce Lee's films helped popularize the concept of
mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...
(MMA) in the West via his
Jeet Kune Do system. In 2004,
Ultimate Fighting Championship
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...
(UFC) founder
Dana White
Dana Frederick White Jr. (born July 28, 1969) is an American businessman who serves as president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a global mixed martial arts organization. In August 2019, White's net worth was estimated at $500 milli ...
called Lee the "father of mixed martial arts".
Parkour
Parkour () is an athletic training discipline or sport in which practitioners (called ''traceurs'') attempt to get from point A to point B in the fastest and most efficient way possible, without assisting equipment and often while performing a ...
was also influenced by the acrobatic antics of Jackie Chan in his Hong Kong action films, as well as the philosophy of Bruce Lee.
Second wave: modern action films (1990s–2000s)
Hong Kong action cinema's innovative developments in the 1980s had not only established Hong Kong as the dominant cinema in
East Asia
East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...
, but reawakened
Western interest. By the 1990s, there was a second "Asian invasion" from Hong Kong action cinema, heavily influencing and revitalizing
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
action cinema. There was a significant crossover of Hong Kong stars, filmmakers and action choreographers from Hong Kong to Hollywood, in addition to the wide adoption of Hong Kong action filmmaking techniques in Hollywood.
The wide adoption of Hong Kong action film conventions was referred to as the "Hong Kongification" of Hollywood.
Building on the reduced but enduring kung fu movie subculture, Jackie Chan and films like Tsui Hark's ''
Peking Opera Blues'' (1986) were already building a cult following when Woo's ''
The Killer'' (1989) had a limited but successful release in the U.S. and opened the floodgates. In the 1990s, Westerners with an eye on "alternative" culture became common sights in
Chinatown
A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...
video shops and theaters, and gradually the films became more available in the mainstream video market and even occasionally in mainstream theaters. Western critics and film scholars also began to take Hong Kong action cinema seriously and made many key figures and films part of their canon of world cinema.
From here, Hong Kong came to define a new vocabulary for worldwide action cinema, with the aid of a new generation of North American filmmakers.
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...
's ''
Reservoir Dogs'' (1992) drew inspiration from ''
City on Fire'' and his two-part ''
Kill Bill
''Kill Bill: Volume 1'' is a 2003 American martial arts film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Uma Thurman as the Bride, who swears revenge on a team of assassins (Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, and Vivica A. Fox) an ...
'' (2003–04) was in large part a martial arts homage, borrowing
Yuen Woo-Ping as fight choreographer and actor.
Robert Rodriguez's ''
Desperado
Desperado may refer to:
* Outlaw, particularly in the American Old West
Books
* ''Desperadoes'' (comics), a comic book series
* ''Desperadoes'' (novel), a 1979 novel by Ron Hansen
* Desperado Publishing, an American independent comic book publ ...
'' (1995) and its 2003 sequel ''
Once Upon a Time in Mexico'' aped Woo's visual mannerisms. The
Wachowski sisters' ''
The Matrix'' trilogy (1999–2003) of science-fiction-action blockbusters borrowed from Woo and wire fu movies, and also employed Yuen behind the scenes. A number of Hollywood action stars also adopted the Hong Kong practice of training in martial arts and performing their own stunts, such as
Keanu Reeves
Keanu Charles Reeves ( ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor. Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, Reeves began acting in theatre productions and in television films before making his feature film debut in '' Youngblood'' (1986). ...
,
Uma Thurman and
Jason Statham
Jason Statham (; born 26 July 1967) is an English actor. He is known for portraying characters in various action-thriller films who are typically tough, hardboiled, gritty, or violent.
Statham began practising Chinese martial arts, kickboxing ...
.
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...
's crime film ''
The Departed
''The Departed'' is a 2006 American epic crime thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan. It is both a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film ''Infernal Affairs'' and also loosely based on the real-life Boston Winter ...
'' (2006) was a remake of the ''
Infernal Affairs'' trilogy (2002–2003) by
Andrew Lau
Andrew Lau Wai-keung ( zh, t=劉偉強, born 4 April 1960) is a Hong Kong film director, producer, and cinematographer. Lau began his career in the 1980s and 1990s, serving as a cinematographer to filmmakers such as Ringo Lam, Wong Jing and Wong ...
and
Alan Mak.
Influence of heroic bloodshed and gun fu films
The
heroic bloodshed
Heroic bloodshed is a genre invented by Hong Kong action cinema revolving around stylized action sequences and dramatic themes such as brotherhood, duty, honour, redemption and violence that has become a popular genre used by different directors w ...
genre had a considerable impact on
world cinema, especially
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
.
The action, style, tropes and mannerisms established in 1980s Hong Kong heroic bloodshed films were later widely adopted by Hollywood in the 1990s, reshaping the way Hollywood action films were made.
Lam's ''
City on Fire'' (1987) inspired
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...
's ''
Reservoir Dogs'' (1992); Tarantino was an admirer of the heroic bloodshed genre. ''The Killer'' also heavily influenced
Luc Besson's ''
Léon: The Professional'' (1994).
Eventually, John Woo himself introduced his brand of heroic bloodshed to Hollywood in the 1990s. By the late 1990s, Woo's style of cinema had become firmly established in Hollywood.
Exit of many leading figures (late 1990s to early 2000s)
Due to the new-found international awareness of Hong Kong films during the 1980s and early 1990s and a downturn in the industry as the 1990s progressed, many of the leading lights of Hong Kong cinema left for
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
, which offered budgets and pay which could not be equalled by Hong Kong production companies.
John Woo
John Woo Yu-Sen SBS (; born September 22, 1946) is a Hong Kong filmmaker, known as a highly-influential figure in the action film genre. He was a pioneer of heroic bloodshed films (a crime action film genre involving Chinese triads) and the gun fu ...
left for Hollywood after his 1992 film ''
Hard Boiled''. His 1997 film ''
Face/Off'' was the breakthrough that established his unique style in Hollywood. This effort was immensely popular with both critics and public alike (it grossed over US$240 million worldwide). ''
Mission: Impossible 2'' (2000) grossed over US$560 million worldwide. Since these two films, Woo has struggled to revisit his successes of the 1980s and early 1990s.
[Asia Week]
The Next Mission
by Winnie Chung, 30 June 2000, Vol. 29 no 5 . Retrieved 1 April 2006.
After over fifteen years of success in Hong Kong cinema and a couple of attempts to crack the U.S. market,
Jackie Chan
Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...
's 1995 film ''
Rumble in the Bronx
''Rumble in the Bronx'' (Chinese title: 紅番區, ''Hong Faan Kui'' (transl. ''Red Turn District'') is a 1995 American-Hong Kong martial arts film starring Jackie Chan, Anita Mui and Françoise Yip. It was directed by Stanley Tong, with action ...
'' finally brought him recognition in the U.S. Since then, he has made several highly successful films for U.S. studios including ''Rush Hour (1998 film), Rush Hour'' (1998), ''Shanghai Noon'' (2000), and their respective sequels ''Rush Hour 2'' (2001), ''Shanghai Knights'' (2003), and ''Rush Hour 3'' (2007). Between his films for U.S. studios, he still makes films for Hong Kong studios, sometimes in English (''Mr. Nice Guy (1997 film), Mr. Nice Guy'' and ''Who Am I? (1998 film), Who Am I?''), often set in western countries like Australia or the Netherlands, and sometimes in Cantonese (2004's ''New Police Story'' and 2006's ''Rob-B-Hood''). Because of his enormous U.S. popularity, these films are usually released in the U.S., a rarity for Hong Kong films, and generally attract respectable audience numbers.
Jet Li
Li Lianjie (courtesy name Yangzhong; born 26 April 1963), better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese film actor, film producer, Chinese martial arts, martial artist, and retired wushu (sport), Wushu champion. He is a naturalized Singapo ...
has reduced his Hong Kong output since 1998's ''Hitman (1998 film), Hitman'' concentrating on Hollywood instead. After a minor role in ''Lethal Weapon 4'' (1998), he has gone on to star in several Hollywood films which have performed respectably and made a name for him with American audiences. So far, he has returned to Chinese cinema for only two films: ''Hero (2002 film), Hero'' (2002) and ''Fearless (2006 film), Fearless'' (2006). He claimed ''Fearless'' would be his last traditional kung fu film.
Chow Yun-fat has also moved to Hollywood. After his 1995 film ''Peace Hotel'', he has made a handful of films in Hollywood which have not seen as much success as Jet Li's: these include ''The Replacement Killers'' (1998), ''The Corruptor'' (1999), ''Anna and the King'' (1999) and ''Bulletproof Monk'' (2003). He returned to China for 2000's ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'' and 2006's ''Curse of the Golden Flower''.
Recent trends (late 1990s to present)
The Hong Kong film industry has been in a severe Cinema of Hong Kong#The industry in crisis, slump since the mid-1990s. The number of local films produced, and their box office takings, are dramatically reduced; American imports now dominate in a way they had not for decades, or perhaps ever. This crisis and increased contact with Western cinema have probably been the biggest recent influences on Hong Kong action cinema.
[MovieMaker Magazine issue 49]
The New Orient Express Hong Kong to Hollywood
by Patrick J Gorman . Retrieved 1 April 2006.
Luring local and regional youth audiences away from Hollywood is a constant concern. Action movies are now generally headlined by babyfaced Cantopop, Cantonese pop music idols, such as Ekin Cheng and Nicholas Tse, enhanced with wires and digital effects – a trend also driven by the waning of a previous generation of martial arts-trained stars. The late 1990s witnessed a fad for Cantopop stars in high-tech, more American-styled action pictures such as ''Downtown Torpedoes'' (1997), ''Gen-X Cops'' and ''Purple Storm (film), Purple Storm'' (both 1999).
Andrew Lau
Andrew Lau Wai-keung ( zh, t=劉偉強, born 4 April 1960) is a Hong Kong film director, producer, and cinematographer. Lau began his career in the 1980s and 1990s, serving as a cinematographer to filmmakers such as Ringo Lam, Wong Jing and Wong ...
's wuxia comic-book adaptation ''The Storm Riders'' (1998) earned a record-breaking gross and ushered in an era of computer-generated imagery, previously little used in Hong Kong film.
Tsui Hark
Tsui Hark (, vi, Từ Khắc, born 15 February 1950), born Tsui Man-kong, is a Hong Kong film director, producer and screenwriter. Tsui has directed several influential Hong Kong films such as ''Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain'' (1983), the ...
's lavish CGI-enhanced efforts ''Time and Tide (2000 film), Time and Tide'' (2000) and ''The Legend of Zu'' (2001), however, were surprisingly unsuccessful. Comedy megastar and director Stephen Chow used digital effects to push his typical affectionate parody of martial arts conventions to cartoonish levels in ''Shaolin Soccer'' (2001) and ''Kung Fu Hustle'' (2004), each of which also set a new box office record.
Striking a different note were a series of crime films more restrained and actor-driven than the earlier, John Woo-inspired examples. The Milkyway Image production company was at the vanguard with examples like Patrick Yau's ''Expect the Unexpected (film), Expect the Unexpected'' (1998), Johnnie To's ''The Mission (1999 film), The Mission'' (1999) and ''Running Out of Time (1999 film), Running Out of Time'' (1999). Andrew Lau and
Alan Mak's blockbuster ''
Infernal Affairs'' trilogy (2002–2003) has set off a mini-trend of brooding police thrillers.
Collaboration with other industries, particularly that of Cinema of China, Mainland China, is another increasingly common survival and recovery strategy. Hong Kong stars and other personnel have been involved in international wuxia successes like ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'' (2000), ''Hero (2002 film), Hero'' (2002) and ''House of Flying Daggers'' (2004).
Influence of Music Videos
* Khalil Fong's
Dangerous World (2014) and MC $oHo & KidNey's
Black Mirror (2021) are inspired by The Grandmaster (film). Lo Mang appeared in 'Black Mirror' music video with fight scene. Keung To and FatBoy (Error (Hong Kong group), ERROR) 's
Agent Fat Keung 2.0 (2021) has fight scene with martial art actor German Cheung Man Kit. Keung To's
Spiegel im Spiegel (2022) has fight scene.
Teen comedy Movi
Showbiz Spy(2021) starred by Anson Lo has som
fight scenes
See also
* Cinema of the world
* hkmdb.com
Notes
References
* Brady, Terrence J. ''Alexander Fu Sheng: Biography of the Chinatown Kid''. Charleston, SC: CreateSpace, 2018. .
* David Bordwell, Bordwell, David. ''Planet Hong Kong: Popular Cinema and the Art of Entertainment''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000. .
* Jackie Chan, Chan, Jackie, with Jeff Yang. ''I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action''. New York: Ballantine, 1998. .
* Chute, David, and Cheng-Sim Lim, eds. ''Heroic Grace: The Chinese Martial Arts Film''. Los Angeles: UCLA Film and Television Archive, 2003. (Film series catalog; no ISBN.)
*
* Logan, Bey. ''Hong Kong Action Cinema''. Woodstock, NY: The Overlook Press, 1995. .
* Teo, Stephen. ''Hong Kong Cinema: The Extra Dimensions''. London: British Film Institute, 1997. .
* Teo, Stephen. "Shaw's Wuxia Films" in Ain-Ling, W. (2003) ''The Shaw Screen'', Hong Kong Film Archive.
* Jeff Yang, Yang, Jeff. ''Once Upon a Time in China: A Guide to Hong Kong, Taiwanese, and Mainland Chinese Cinema''. New York: Atria, 2003. .
External links
The Rise and Fall of the House of Shaw– Essay charting the history of Shaw Brothers Studios.
{{Film genres
Cinema of Hong Kong, Action cinema
Hong Kong action films,
Kung fu films,
Theatrical combat