‘Movies like water’: 82 of Quentin Tarantino’s favourite kung-fu movies of all time
If you didn’t know that the American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is a fan of kung-fu movies, then you have not been paying attention to his filmography. Indeed, there aren’t many genres that the director of Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained and more would turn down watching, but the world of Asian crime-fighting cinema, he held a particular love for, often taking to podcasts to talk about his all-time favourites, from Bruce Lee to Jackie Chan.
A child of the 1970s, often citing his appreciation for television as a strong influence on how he has made movies in the years that followed, Tarantino is naturally enraptured by kung-fu movies. The fast-paced action, quick cuts, and unspeakably pacy violence have all become motifs that are heavily featured in every Tarantino film.
Working in a video store in his youth, Tarantino watched endless kung-fu classics, among the essential movies of the late 20th century. Not going to school and, instead, learning the craft from the sheer makeup of cinema itself, Tarantino preferred to watch and learn from the masters of the art form, becoming a student of such filmmakers as Martin Scorsese, Akira Kurosawa and Sergio Leone, rather than enrolling in film school.
Speaking to The Talks about his ability to retain such knowledge, he comments: “[My] head is a sponge. I listen to what everyone says, I watch little idiosyncratic behaviour, people tell me a joke and I remember it. People tell me an interesting story in their life and I remember it”.
Taking to the Pure Cinema podcast in 2020, Tarantino discussed some of his all-time favourite kung-fu movies, as well as the most influential of the genre, led by such filmmakers as Chang Cheh, Jimmy Wang Yu, Sun Chung and Lo Wei. Compiling each of the films he mentions on the podcast, we’ve supplied a comprehensive list, below, which includes some of the industry’s biggest names and several underground releases too.
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, Blood of the Dragon and Seven Samurai are all considered classic movies both in and out of the kung-fu sub-genre. The latter is notable as one of the premiere movies of all time.
Tarantino even manages to discuss his own kung-fu/samurai movie Kill Bill in the discussion, with the Uma Thurman action film going on to inspire popular contemporary cinema. With Kill Bill: Vol.3 currently in the pipeline from Tarantino, reportedly set to star Maya Hawke and Zendaya, check out his list of kung-fu movie recommendations below, and see if you can make your way through it before Thurman’s Bride returns for the third time.
82 of Quentin Tarantino’s favourite kung-fu movies
- Five Element Ninjas (Chang Cheh, 1982)
- The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (Lau Kar-leung, 1978)
- The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter (Lau Kar-leung, 1984)
- The Avenging Eagle (Sun Chung, 1978)
- Dirty Ho (Lau Kar-leung, 1979)
- One-Armed Boxer (Jimmy Wang Yu, 1972)
- The Screaming Tiger (Chien Lung, 1973)
- Return of the One-Armed Swordsman (Chang Cheh, 1969)
- The New One-Armed Swordsman (Chang Cheh, 1971)
- Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades (Kenji Misumi, 1972)
- Blood of the Dragon (Kao Pao-shu, 1971)
- Hapkido (Wong Fung, 1972)
- Exit the Dragon, Enter the Tiger (Lee Tso-Nam, 1976)
- Soul Brothers of Kung Fu (Hua Shan, 1977)
- Enter the Dragon (Robert Clouse, 1973)
- Five Fingers of Death (Jeong Chang-Hwa, 1972)
- Snake in the Monkey’s Shadow (Cheung Sum, 1979)
- Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (Yuen Woo-ping, 1978)
- Crystal Fist (Hua Shan, 1979)
- A Fist Full of Talons (Sun Chung, 1983)
- The Mystery of Chess Boxing (Joseph Kuo, 1979)
- The 7 Grandmasters (Joseph Kuo, 1978)
- The Invincible Armour (Lee Doo-yong, 1977)
- The Hot, the Cool and the Vicious (Lee Tso-Nam, 1977)
- Fatal Needles vs. Fatal Fists (Lee Tso-Nam, 1978)
- The Assassin (Chang Cheh, 1967)
- Master of the Flying Guillotine (Jimmy Wang Yu, 1976)
- The Flying Guillotine (Ho Meng-Hua, 1975)
- Clan of the White Lotus (Lo Lieh, 1980)
- Beach of the War Gods (Jimmy Wang Yu, 1973)
- Eagle’s Claws (Lee Tso-Nam, 1977)
- Shaolin vs. Lama (Lee Tso-Nam, 1983)
- The Leg Fighters (Lee Tso-Nam, 1980)
- Fist of Fury (Lo Wei, 1972)
- Fist of Fury 2 (Lee Tso-Nam, Jimmy Shaw, 1977)
- Bruce Lee: A Dragon Story (Ti Shih, 1974)
- Lady Whirlwind (Wong Fung, 1972)
- The Stormy Sun (Wu Min-hsiung, 1973)
- The Victim (Sammo Hung, 1980)
- Four Real Friends (Jimmy Wang Yu, 1974)
- Dragon Lord (Jackie Chan, 1982)
- Storming Attacks (Yang Chuan, 1978)
- The Green Jade Statuette (Lee Tso-Nam, 1977)
- Dynamite Brothers (Al Adamson, 1974)
- Death Promise (Robert Warmflash, 1977)
- Velvet Smooth (Michael Fink, 1976)
- Black Samurai (Al Adamson, 1977)
- Death Dimension (Al Adamson, 1978)
- Killpoint (Frank Harris, 1984)
- Invincible Super Chan (Sun Yang, 1971)
- The Tattoo Connection (Lee Tso-Nam, 1978)
- Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (Quentin Tarantino, 2003)
- Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (Quentin Tarantino, 2004)
- The Fast Sword (Wong Fung, 1971)
- The Five Venoms (Chang Cheh, 1978)
- Deadly China Doll (Wong Fung, 1973)
- When Taekwondo Strikes (Wong Fung, 1973)
- Return of the Tiger (Jimmy Shaw, 1977)
- The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss (Wong Fung, 1974)
- Bandits, Prostitutes and Silver (Kao Pao-shu, 1977)
- Golden Swallow (Chang Cheh, 1968)
- A Man Called Tiger (Lo Wei, 1973)
- God of Gamblers (Wong Jing, 1989)
- The Lady Hermit (Ho Meng-Hua, 1971)
- The Shadow Whip (Lo Wei, 1971)
- Spiritual Kung Fu (Lo Wei, 1978)
- Half a Loaf of Kung Fu (Charlie Chen Chi-Hwa, 1978)
- To Kill with Intrigue (Lo Wei, 1977)
- Dragon Fist (Lo Wei, 1979)
- The Big Boss (Lo Wei, 1971)
- Human Lanterns (Sun Chung, 1982)
- To Kill A Mastermind (Sun Chung, 1979)
- The Kung Fu Instructor (Sun Chung, 1979)
- Lady with a Sword (Kao Pao-shu, 1971)
- The Fatal Flying Guillotines (Raymond Lui, 1977)
- Have Sword, Will Travel (Chang Cheh, 1969)
- Crippled Avengers (Chang Cheh, 1978)
- Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954)
- Ninja III: The Domination (Sam Firstenberg, 1984)
- Kid with the Golden Arm (Chang Cheh, 1979)
- Invincible Shaolin (Chang Cheh, 1978)
- The Chinese Boxer (Jimmy Wang Yu, 1970)
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