The First Martial Arts Movie Released 55 Years Ago Today

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The martial arts movie genre is celebrating its 55th anniversary! We’ve enjoyed countless amazing films over the years, like Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon, Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Bloodsport, and Jackie Chan’s Drunken Master. But all of these, no matter the style or when they were made, have been influenced by one groundbreaking movie that recently reached a major milestone.

As a huge movie fan, I’ve always been fascinated by the history of martial arts films. Everyone knows Bruce Lee is a legend, and he definitely sparked the “kung fu craze” we all remember. It’s easy to think he started the whole genre, but surprisingly, he wasn’t actually in the very first kung fu movie. His career just happened to take off right when these films were becoming popular, and he really helped bring them to a wider audience.

It’s amazing to think that The Big Boss – the film that really launched Bruce Lee’s career and practically invented the martial arts movie as we know it – first hit theaters in Hong Kong on November 27, 1970. And it all happened just a year before he became a true superstar!

The Chinese Boxer Is The First True Martial Arts Movie

I’ve always been fascinated by martial arts films, and it’s incredible to think about how they started! It all really grew out of these amazing stories called ‘wuxia’ – they’re set in ancient China and usually feature incredible martial artists from different schools, with a touch of fantasy thrown in. Back in the late 60s, Hong Kong’s Shaw Brothers studio was the place for these films, creating classics like Come Drink With Me, The One-Armed Swordsman, The Assassin, and Golden Swallow – movies I still love to watch today!

All of these wuxia adventure films shared a common focus: sword fighting. Because of this, and because wuxia is similar to martial arts films, they’re often called “martial arts” movies, even though they don’t actually showcase a wide range of martial arts techniques.

Jimmy Wang Yu, the biggest male star at Shaw Brothers for their martial arts films, decided to shake things up. In 1970, he wrote, directed, and starred in The Chinese Boxer, a film that broke from the usual sword-fighting focus and instead featured hand-to-hand combat.

Kung fu wasn’t just about the fighting in these films—it was central to the stories too. In The Chinese Boxer, Jimmy Wang Yu plays a martial arts student whose school is defeated by a rival Japanese karate school. After a brutal attack leaves him the sole survivor, his character goes into hiding, masters a new fighting style, and sets out to get revenge.

Instead of seeking revenge with weapons, the hero decides to settle the score by battling the villains using his kung fu skills against their karate. These fights are intense, beautifully choreographed, and lead to a brutal final confrontation in the snow.

While the fight scenes in The Chinese Boxer might not seem revolutionary today, they were completely new for Hong Kong cinema in 1970, when films usually featured sword fighting. It marked the start of a fresh direction for the industry.

The Chinese Boxer’s Influence On Action Movies Explained

The Chinese Boxer was a huge hit and greatly impacted Hong Kong cinema. While sword-fighting movies didn’t disappear, the film sparked a wave of kung fu films produced by various studios, not just Shaw Brothers.

Just a year after the film The Chinese Boxer, Bruce Lee became a major star with The Big Boss. Jimmy Wang Yu’s success had shown studios like Golden Harvest that audiences were eager to see martial arts movies, so they started making more of them.

The impact of The Chinese Boxer went further than just its fighting scenes. Its strong themes of national pride and seeking revenge actually served as a model for many other popular kung fu films, most notably Bruce Lee’s Fist of Fury.

Bruce Lee was reportedly a big fan of the film The Chinese Boxer. Matthew Polly’s biography, Bruce Lee: A Life, explains that the movie motivated Lee to view Jimmy Wang Yu as a competitor, and he was determined to outperform him in ticket sales – which he eventually did.

Even today, Wang Yu’s classic film continues to influence martial arts movies. A great example is Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, where the director himself has said a famous fight scene was taken directly from Wang Yu’s The Chinese Boxer.

Not Only Is It The First, But The Chinese Boxer Is One Of The Best Martial Arts Movies Ever Made

While The Chinese Boxer is historically important, its true strength lies in being a fantastic martial arts film. Jimmy Wang Yu and Shaw Brothers created a classic that holds up today. The fight scenes aren’t overly flashy compared to later films from the same era, but they are powerfully brutal and feel incredibly realistic.

I’m completely captivated by the way The Chinese Boxer looks! The cinematography is just brilliant, especially during that incredible fight in the snow – it’s visually stunning. What really gets me, though, is how the director uses these long, unbroken shots. It builds so much tension and makes you feel every moment leading up to the fights. And it really emphasizes how powerful and capable the main character is – he truly feels like a one-man army!

The story is also a strong point, with Jimmy Wang Yu creating a compelling tale for the main character. His struggles – and the actor’s fantastic performance – make you really want him to succeed as he masters his powerful “iron fist” technique. The film culminates in a hugely entertaining martial arts showdown against a large group of opponents – a battle considered one of the best ever.

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2025-11-27 21:44