Weekly Poll Results: Best Martial Arts Movie

Posted by on December 3rd, 2009   Filed under: Polls

pollresultsmartialarts

Before we get to this week’s poll results, I think it’s worth mentioning that there was some heated discussion over what exactly constitutes a “martial arts movie”. The truth is, I have no idea… I was thinking of just about any action movie in which the majority of the combat uses some form of Asian fighting style. Clearly that’s a pretty broad way to categorize it, but some people felt that a movie like Seven Samurai should not qualify, probably because it has a little more to it than simply fighting for the sake of fighting. Either way, Bruce Lee came out on top, although the number of votes seemed to correspond largely to how well-known a movie was (ie. the more obscure “classics” ended up getting the least number of votes). Do you agree that Enter The Dragon is the greatest martial arts flick of all time? What are some martial arts movies that more people need to see?

1. Enter The Dragon — 32.5%
2. Seven Samurai — 13%
3. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon — 11.7%
4. Kill Bill, Vol. 1 — 11.4%
5. The Legend of Drunken Master — 11%
6. Ong Bak — 6.8%
7. Fist of Legend — 5.2%
8. Iron Monkey — 3.9%
9. The Five Deadly Venoms — 2.6%
10. The Chinese Connection — 1.9%



  • KeithTalent

    I thought any movie with Asian people in it is considered a martial arts film.

    No surprise here, Enter The Dragon is pretty damn awesome.

  • Drunken Master. Easily.

  • Maopheus

    Seven Samurai may be the best artistically and from a serious critical point of view, but ETD is not only the best Bruce Lee movie but is significant in a number of ways. It was the first original American major studio English martial arts film starring an Asian actor to make it big in the West. That set the bar for what Hollywood had to do and to be honest they haven’t gotten close too often. ETD also had a James Bond spy-movie kind of feel and also incorporates a bit of blaxploitation too with Jim Kelly. So really they tried to throw everything they could into it, and it all kind of worked. Hell the movie even had brief appearances from arguably the two biggest successors to Lee’s Hong Kong kung fu film legacy, Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung. Other later movies have had arguably better pure martial arts action, but the influence and importance weren’t there. So I might break it down as 7S being the purely best movie to ever feature Asian martial arts action, but ETD is the greatest in terms of being influential, entertaining, and enduring in its popularity.

  • jaime

    There’s only 10!

  • I tend to downplay the greatness of Enter the Dragon, but I must admit that every time I see it, I get drawn in by Lee’s magnetism. And the Lalo Schifrin musical score is terrific.

    Here are reasons why I do NOT like EtD:
    – Fight with Sammo Hung seems lame; before I knew who Sammo Hung was, I always wondered what the challenge was in fighting a fat guy.
    – Lee jumping up backwards into the tree is an obvious rewinding the film shot; everything else in the film is realistic except for this shot.
    – Caucasian and African-American get laid while Asian guy meditates.
    – Shows John Saxon as a great fighter.
    – Climax has Lee fighting an old man.
    – Not being able to believe that you could lose someone in that mirror room; if the mirrors were set up to be confusing, why would someone have a room like that?
    – Finding out that Bruce Lee didn’t do the somersaults in the air after the Sammo Hung fight. (OK, this is a lame reason. But for me, it’s like finding out that God has assistants to answer your prayers.)

  • Henrik

    “- Caucasian and African-American get laid while Asian guy meditates.”

    Ouch.

    I probably should see Enter the Dragon. I’ve seen 3 Bruce Lee films, Fists of fury(? I think this was the title, Bruce Lee fights corporate enemies mistreating their workers), Game of Death (which advertised on the box that he died during filming), and Game of Death 2. Game of Death 2 mainly features Bruce Lee from behind, and he gets killed off in the beginning (spoiler, but the man was dead before production started, what do you expect?), so I guess I’ve only seen 2½ Bruce Lee films. Game of Death is pretty classic though, the ending is a much better video game adaptation than has been produced since.

  • Henrik, are you actually serious about liking Game of Death? I wouldn’t even consider it to be a Bruce Lee film, and especially not “Game of Death 2.” They’re travesties!

    The Bruce Lee film titles get complicated between the American and international versions, at least for his first three martial arts films. Note that Fists of Fury is not the same movie as Fist of Fury. Here are the Bruce Lee films worth watching:

    American Titles
    1. Fists of Fury
    2. The Chinese Connection
    3. Return of the Dragon
    4. Enter the Dragon

    International Titles
    1. The Big Boss
    2. Fist of Fury
    3. Way of the Dragon
    4. Enter the Dragon

    Man, I need a fix of Bruce Lee right now!

  • Henrik

    Well, it has been like 10 years since I saw it, so I was quite young, but I still remember fondly the last part. Where Bruce Lee goes through stages, like in Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter, untill he reaches the final boss. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar jumping up and pulling Bruce Lee down the stairs I have never forgotten, nor the extreme forward-sped shot of him kicking somebody.

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067824/

    This is the one I saw, Fists of Fury. I can hardly remember anything from it, except for the plot, which I think is a bad thing. I would say it’s worse than Game of Death, based on my memories from when I was 10 or so.

  • Henrik

    But yeah, Game of Death 2 is pretty bad. It stars Bruce Lees brother (in the story), and the title on the VHS from back then was like “Tower of the dragon” or something like that. All I remember is an obstacle course at the end, and an early fight with the old man who doesnt spill his tea while kung fu-ing a youngster.

  • swarez

    Wasn’t the fat guy in ETD Bolo Yeung and not Samo?

  • swarez, Sammo is the fat guy at the beginning of the film before Lee goes to the island. Bolo appears later on the island. I wouldn’t say Bolo was fat.

    Henrik, it’s interesting as a kid that a few clips of the real Bruce Lee in Game of Death could colour your perception of the entire movie. Or maybe it’s my adult viewing of a cut-out of Bruce Lee’s face on a mirror to simulate his appearance in a scene that has given me my negative impression of the movie.

    Not sure if this is common knowledge, but the complete footage of what Bruce Lee actually shot for the Game of Death is available on a DVD called “Bruce Lee: A Warrior’s Journey.” (You can also watch it on YouTube.)

  • Bolo’s a fucking monster.

    Warrior’s Journey is probably my favourite Bruce Lee film.

    The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is my favourite martial arts film, though from the list I’d probably rank Drunken Master 2.

  • TheAllKnowingGod

    All of Bruce Lee’s HK movies are better than ENTER THE DRAGON. Robert Clouse cannot direct action.

    Check out the 40 minute Bruce Lee version of GAME OF DEATH. It’s amazing. The GAME OF DEATH released in theatres was butchered. Only 15 minutes of the footage Bruce Lee shot made it in to the film.

    GAME OF DEATH 2 is actually pretty good if you don’t look at it as a Bruce Lee film. The choreography by Yuen Woo-Ping in the climax is excellent.

  • hungSolo

    Have to agree with Wintle that Drunken Master 2 is the best balls-out fighting film on the list, though Fist of Legend is a close second for me. Jet Li doesn’t get a lot of love these days, but when he’s on, he’s on. Also, Billy Chow is pretty bad ass as the heavy.

  • Grandmaster #7

    It shows how little people know about martial arts movies when they place Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Kill Bill over Fist of Legend and The Legend of the Drunken Master (maybe if they saw the uncut Chinese version known as Drunken Master 2, they’d change their mind). Although Enter the Dragon is arguably Bruce’s best, I recommend everyone stop what they’re doing and watch “The Prodigal Son” starring Yuen Biao and Lam Ching Ying. Of the ten on that list the only ones that belong in the top 10 are the two I mentioned above, possibly Ong Bak and Five Deadly Venoms for launching the Shaw Brothers into the stratosphere. Bruce Lee was great but he was just coming into his own as a director and actor.

  • @Grandmaster #7: I prefer the newer stylized martial arts films over the older films. I recently watched The Prodigal Son and thought it was ordinary. I think the aspect that bothers me the most is the flat cinematography of the older films. I also think “real” martial arts is boring to watch.