The History of Kung Fu Movies

In today’s movie world, Kung Fu movies are very popular and well liked, thanks to actors like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li who have helped to popularize Kung Fu with Western film audiences. Besides just being a movie style, Kung Fu movies have also helped to peak western interest in the martial arts as well.

Kung Fu movies have been in existence since the 1920s, but began to achieve mass appeal after World War II. This is when Hong Kong became the center of Kung Fu movie output as refugees with knowledge of this martial art immigrated to Hong Kong from mainland China.

Some of the Kung Fu movies that became huge crowd pleasers during this era in movie history are “Lady Robin Hood” and “Wong Fei-Hung’s Story”.

The Shaw Brothers are credited as being the first major producers of Kung Fu movies. By the 1960s, they were producing one innovative film after the other including “The One Armed Swordsman”. Their output of Kung Fu movies helped this movie genre to become popular not just in Hong Kong but all over Asia.

By the early 1970s, Kung Fu movies had reached the United States and were extremely popular thanks to the legendary Bruce Lee who helped to make Kung Fu a household name in the United States. Lee wasn’t just an actor; he was also an accomplished Kung Fu master who practiced what he preached.

By 1973, Bruce Lee had died tragically at the age of 32, but his impact on Kung Fu movies has never ended. His influence helped pave the way for Kung Fu movie actors like Jackie Chan, Jet Lee and Joan Chen.

Over the last 10 years, Kung Fu movies have become even more of an art form than ever before. Movies like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon feature actors performing beautifully choreographed Kung Fu moves and acrobatics with the help of wires and special effects.