Jackie Chan's 10 Best Old School Kung Fu Movies, Ranked

Jackie Chan is celebrated as one of the greatest kung fu film actors of all time. His classic kung fu movies have their own unique blend of physical comedy, complicated fight choreography, and elaborate stunts. They were not only full of action but were connected to the traditional martial arts – to the skill, discipline, and incredible kung fu techniques. Though he went on to become an action star around the world, in his earlier kung fu movies, Chan captured the best of both worlds: the raw power of bare-knuckle fighting and the elegance of the old school martial arts.

What sets him apart from other martial arts actors is his gift for blending comedy with heart-pounding action. Whether portraying a mischievous, incorrigible student in Drunken Master or a sympathetic, bullied orphan in Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow, Jackie fully embodies the characters he is portraying and his films all have their own brand of slapstick kung fu, memorable dialogue and various fighting techniques. His physicality and effortless ability elevate his roles, and on the screen, Chan’s personality and martial arts skills came together to create a new form of kung fu cinema and make him an incredibly influential actor.

10 To Kill With Intrigue (1977)

Directed By Lo Wei

An enigmatic ride from start to finish, in To Kill With Intrigue, Jackie Chan plays Lei Shao-feng, a young man whose family is massacred by a rival gang (The Killer Bees). Shao-Feng is spared death by the gang’s female leader. Providing further suspense, Shao-Feng drives his pregnant girlfriend away from him to spare her any potential retaliation. The film is much darker than many of Chan’s other early movies, and instead of the light touch, that would become his trademark. The fights are brutal, with multiple torture scenes throughout, with a greater emphasis on swordplay and traditional martial arts.

Though not as popular as his later films, To Kill with Intrigue is still a worthwhile look into the range of Chan’s acting, revealing his serious side as a dramatic actor. While the film doesn’t offer the humor or innovative stunt work that Chan would become known for later, the film more than makes up for it with well-orchestrated sequences that highlight the precision, gruesomeness, and intensity of the action. Fans of Jackie Chan’s more severe side, looking for a low-budget time capsule of what he was like before his persona, will surely enjoy revisiting this gem of his early career.

9 New Fist Of Fury (1976)

Directed By Lo Wei

Starring Jackie Chan as A Lung, a reluctant hero pressed into action by an attack from a Japanese Karate school on a Grandfather’s Jingwu school looking to dominate the martial arts scene on the island. New Fist Of Fury was designed to be a spiritual sequel to Bruce Lee’s Fist of Fury, with Chan set to inherit the title of the next action hero. The 1976 film makes heavy use of traditional kung fu action and tropes, with Chan’s character feeling a sense of duty to his community before eventually protecting his people with his new martial arts skills.

New Fist of Fury
is the first of several films that Lo directed Chan in, and the first using Chan’s stage name of Sing Lung (the literal meaning is “becoming a Dragon.”)

Similar to To Kill With Intrigue, the film isn’t quite as close to nailing Chan’s eventual comedy-action mix, which would become synonymous with his films. Still, it’s a crucial cog in the Chan machine, revealing his rawness and his commitment to martial arts ideals, his natural physicality, and his skill in more traditional Chinese kung fu styles. It also leans into patriotic and honor/shame themes popular in Chinese cinema at the time, making it a culturally heavy but oddly fascinating early entry into some of his best kung fu films.

8 Half A Loaf Of Kung Fu (1978)

Directed By Chen Chi-hwa

A kung fu comedy, Half a Loaf of Kung Fu casts Chan as a bumbling, well-intentioned buffoon who blunders his way through a series of martial arts adventures, looking for opportunities and a master to teach him. The film makes frequent nods to the conventions of the traditional kung fu narrative, but its tone is often one of witty parody, and its fight scenes are just as impressive. Chan’s character ventures through various scrapes and encounters in the service of slapstick comedy while demonstrating his comic timing and genuine fighting skills.

Half a Loaf of Kung Fu might not be the polished production that Jackie Chan would become known for later in his career, but it’s a film that allowed Chan to test his comedic chops. The film served as the template for the action-comedy hybrid he would go on to define. Chan’s athleticism and skill in the fight choreography might be a bit less polished, but they’re still apparent. Blending humor and action carved out a creative space for Chan in the martial arts realm, and it’s an important, overlooked film in his career.

7 Spiritual Kung Fu (1978)

Directed By Lo Wei

Spiritual Kung Fu blends martial arts and fantasy expertly as Jackie Chan’s Yi-Lang is taught ancient kung fu by a group of spirits in his Kung Fu School. Taking place in a Shaolin temple, where Chan’s character starts off as a sneaky, work-shy troublemaker before learning the lost fighting style known as “The Five Style Fists”. The supernatural twist, with ghostly masters, adds an element of whimsy to the film, and Chan’s fight sequences are as playful as they are creative, with the paranormal aspects incorporated into the physicality of the fights.

Chan incorporates them into his fight choreography and this really elevates the fight sequences
. Kung fu with ghosts is a unique combination and twist on a genre that makes
Spiritual Kung Fu
a fun film to watch.

It’s that light tone throughout that most distinguishes Spiritual Kung Fu from the rest of Chan’s early filmography, a blend of playful ghost shenanigans and martial arts that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Since the supernatural antagonists are frequently present, Chan incorporates them into his fight choreography, and this really elevates the fight sequences. Kung fu with ghosts is a unique combination and twist on a genre that makes Spiritual Kung Fu a fun film to watch. It’s a delightful combination of martial arts and mysticism from Chan’s early career that makes it feel inventive and fun by itself.

6 Snake And Crane Arts Of Shaolin (1978)

Directed By Chen Chi-hwa

In this 1978 Hong Kong martial arts films directed by Chen Chi-hwa, Jackie Chan plays the wandering martial artist Hsu Yin-fung, who happens to possess the coveted kung fu manual “Eight Steps of the Snake and Crane” that rival clans want desperately to lay their hands on. There are twists throughout the film, with the gangs believing Hsu to have killed the authors of the book, but in reality, he is on a mission to avenge their deaths. Chock-full of classic martial arts choreography, Chan’s precision and skill shine as he makes his way to the epic final face-off.

One of the film’s key attractions is the authenticity of the kung fu on display. Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin is a must-watch for kung fu fans who want a realistic display of martial arts and believable conflict. In this film, Jackie Chan reverts to his more traditional skills with limited comedic elements to both his acting and the martial arts. The action is well-thought-out, intricate, and effective, and the focus on the technical side of Kung Fu is refreshing. Chan’s acting is prominent throughout, and the mystic manual adds another layer of intrigue to the story.

5 The Fearless Hyena (1979)

Directed By Jackie Chan

In The Fearless Hyena, Chan plays Ching Hing-lung, a youth bent on avenging the murder of his grandfather by some goons of a rival clan. At the start of the film, Lung is convinced to work for a local businessman who opens a new school and must defeat all on-comers to raise the school’s reputation, doing so in varying, ridiculous disguises as he promised his grandfather he would not reveal his secret kung fu skills. The film alternates between dramatic moments of loss and vengeance, and the climactic battle features complexity and invention that would become closely identified with Chan’s career.

The Fearless Hyena
was Jackie Chan’s directorial debut, a martial arts film in which he starred, wrote, and directed!

Stylistically, this movie is regarded as one of Chan’s best early comedy martial arts films, balancing his humor with some of the most sophisticated fight choreography of his career. The Fearless Hyena demonstrates Chan’s penchant for integrating his comedic talents into his action sequences, particularly the scene where he dresses up as an alluring woman in a fight with a rival school’s champion. Half flirting, half fighting, Jackie Chan’s natural charisma and physicality are on full display and make this a genuine gem from his early career.

4 Dragon Fist (1979)

Directed By Lo Wei

In this film directed by Lo Wei, Chan’s character, Tang How-yuen, plays a much more serious role than in some of his other films. The classic story follow’s Chan’s character as he seeks revenge for the death of his master. After finally finding the evil master, it turns out he felt such remorse for his actions he cut off his own leg as penance for his crime. The film then pivots to Tang having to work for a gang in order to take care of his old master’s family and exacting his revenge on a new, more deserving target.

Most notable in this film is its taut narrative and fully developed characters, which provide a more adult role for Chan.

With his foray into more comedic roles, it’s always interesting to see Chan fall back into more serious stories. Most notable in this film is its taut narrative and fully developed characters, which provide a more adult role for Chan. He excels at the straight kung fu movie as well, and Dragon Fist showcases nimble and clean choreography, not relying on slapstick moments. While it lacks the humor that would later dominate his work, Dragon Fist is satisfying. Chan and provides evidence of his ability as both an actor and a martial artist rather than just a comic star.

3 The Young Master (1980)

Directed By Jackie Chan

Jackie Chan is Dragon (Sheng Lung), an orphan who, alongside his brother, Tiger, grew up in a martial arts school. The two have a fallout after Tiger betrays his brother and school for a rival academy. Later, Dragon is mistaken for a criminal, and Tiger is framed for a bank robbery after helping free a dangerous criminal called Kam, so Dragon must go on the run to clear his brother’s name and apprehend Kam to stop his brother from going to jail. The narrative throughout is endlessly entertaining and Chan continues to show his love for Charlie Chaplin-style comedic sequences.

The Young Master is a key work in Chan’s early filmography, as it continues to signify the beginning of his distinctive brand of action comedy. The fight scenes are meticulously choreographed and filmed in long takes that emphasize his hand-to-hand skills and stunt work (The climatic confrontation is an astounding 12-minutes long). He was one of the few filmmakers of the time who actually performed his own stunts. The balance of action and comedy makes this one of his most entertaining and rewatchable titles of the period, and the final scene in the body cast caps the entire film flawlessly.

2 Snake In The Eagle’s Shadow (1978)

Directed By Yuen Woo-Ping

This directorial debut of Yuen Woo-ping, is the film that really helped propel Jackie Chan to stardom. Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow tells the story of a 200-year-old clan called The Eagle Claw Society who have found and eliminated every other style of martial arts except for one, the Snake Fist style. Jackie Chan’s character, Chien Fu, is an orphan at a martial arts school and accidentally befriends one of the last masters of the snake style of kung fu, who teaches him everything he knows, and an epic confrontation is destined to be fought between the two rival factions.

This is a crucial film in Chan’s career, the first in a succession of solo efforts that would set the genre’s gold standard. Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow is loaded with cleverly conceived, inventively choreographed fight scenes that are amusing as well as exciting to watch. The movie benefits greatly from a carefully written plot in which there are many twists and turns, and the final fight sequence ends in an exciting and unexpected revelation. It’s easy to admire Jackie Chan’s modern films that perfectly balance comedy and martial arts, but films like this need respect for paving the way.

1 Drunken Master (1978)

Directed By Yuen Woo-Ping

Drunken Master is widely noted as Jackie Chan’s early magnum opus in the kung fu genre. He plays Wong Fei-hung, the folk hero said to be a real-life Chinese Robin Hood who becomes a master of the Drunken Fist to defeat a deadly assassin. It is full of exciting fight sequences, especially those that use the unpredictable, circling Drunken Boxing style that would become so popular after this film. Chan’s physical agility is extraordinary and perfectly timed with his comedic skill throughout the entire movie.

This movie became the blueprint for the kung fu comedy genre, mixing rapid-fire action with humor in a way never seen before. Jackie Chan is in peak form in Drunken Master, demonstrating his skill in martial arts feats while still managing to elicit belly laughs from the audience. It’s no wonder that it is still considered a high-water mark for both his career and the kung fu genre as a whole: the choreography and fight scenes, especially the final battle, are inventive and unique. Drunken Master is endlessly rewatchable and one of the best martial arts films of all time.