Martial Arts Shows

Exploring martial arts shows and showmen. Movies, films, TV shows, performances with martial arts, military arts, war, fighting, violence, etc.

This is not an exhaustive listing, rather I thought it would be fun to list some of note. I'm sure I've missed a lot.

(FYI: Never tap at Fighters.com's latest update on MMA Middleweight Fighters battling out for victory.)

Intro

While I like fun and entertaining martial arts, especially the creative stuff with or without wires and computer, I am more impressed by stuff that is more concerned about realism, whether it is fancy or not. I'm also mildly entertained by violence in the horror genre, but usually it's not very martial. I'm much more concerned about martial violence than malevolence and fear. Dramas sometimes have good martial violence but usually the emphasis is properly on the drama. This list is also more about martial movies than military movies like war movies.

On the other hand, I'll watch almost anything martial, even if it's bad. A show is different from an educational documentary.

Some yet to add:

• Goodfellas (1990)
• Saving Private Ryan (1998)
• Flags of our Fathers (2006)
• Spaceman (1997)
• The Mask Of Zorro (1998) and the old Zorro
• Raging Bull (1980)
• Flirting (1991)
• Le Pacte Des Loups = Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)
• A Clockwork Orange (1971)
• Tom-Yum-Goong = Warrior King = The Protector (2005)
• Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
• The Undefeatable (1994)
• The Sword of Doom (1966). Toshiro Mifune is in it but he's not the main character. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObuvfQKPCsA .
• Equilibrium (2002).
• Taken (2008). Starring Liam Neeson. Very nice CQC: Many blows to the throat and many head slams. Makes you want to put a global tracking device on your girls.
• Sherlock Holmes (2009). Starring Robert Downey, Jr.
• Machete

2011-09-07. I'm not going to add more links to Wikipedia and Amazon because you folks can just go there yourselves and it's less work for me.

People

• Chan, Jackie (1954-04-07/) [W]. Aka Yuen, Lou; Sing Lung ("becoming a dragon"). Jackie Chan did very entertaining kung fu and stunt work, especially in the days without wires. Everyone in the Seven Little Fortunes is worthy.
  • Drunken Master (1979). His breaking film. He plays the role of the famous Wong, Fei Hung.
  • Wheels on Meals (1984). Includes famous fight scenes against Benny Urquidez.
  • Dragons Forever (1988). Includes more famous fight scenes against Benny Urquidez.
  • Police Story (1985) series including Police Story 3 = Supercop (1992). The first is one of his best.
  • Drunken Master II (1994) = The Legend of Drunken Master (U.S.). One of his best, still no wires.
• Chen, Zhen. Zhen Chen is a fictional Chinese kung fu character. Ties together by Bruce Lee, Jacki Chan, Jet Li, and Donnie Yen.
  • Fist of Fury (1972). Starring Bruce Lee.
  • New Fist of Fury (1976). Starring Jackie Chan as Zhen Chen's successor.
  • Fist of Legend (1994). Starring Jet Li.
  • Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen (2010). Starring Donnie Yen.
• Eastwood, Clint (1930-05-31/). I like this tough bird.
  • A Fistful of Dollars (1964). He get's shot.
  • For a Few Dollars More (1965). Two bounty hunters.
  • The Good the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
  • Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)
  • Dirty Harry (1971)
  • The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
  • Unforgiven (1992)
• Gibson, Mel (1956-01-03/). Mel Gibson has done some movies of martial interest.
  • Mad Max (1979). The best and darkest of the series.
  • Braveheart (1995). Some very nice battle scenes.
  • The Patriot (2000)
• Hung, Sammo (1952-01-07/). Aka Yuen, Lung; Yuen, Chu. Sammo Hung is creative and remarkably agile for his large frame.
• Kurosawa, Akira (1910-03-23/1998-09-06). Akira Kurosawa was a phenomenal director and master especially of samurai movies. All of these have Toshiro Mifune in them except for the last.
  • The Seven Samurai (1954). Probably his most famous. Remade into the western, The Magnificent Seven.
  • Throne of Blood (1957) = Spider Castle. Based on Shakespeare's Macbeth. One of his best. The final scene was done with real arrows.
  • The Hidden Fortress (1958). Famous for influencing the film, Star Wars IV.
  • Yojimbo (1961) = The Bodyguard. Remade into the western, A Fistful of Dollars.
  • Sanjuro (1962). A companion movie to Yojimbo.
  • Ran (1985). Kurosawa's last great epic. Based on Shakespeare's King Lear.
• Lee, Bruce (1940-11-27/1973-07-20). Bruce Lee brought realism, creativity, and popularity to martial arts movies.
  • The Big Boss (1971) = Fists of Fury (U.S.). His first major film.
  • Fists of Fury (1972) = The Chinese Connection (U.S.). Nunchaku!
  • Way of the Dragon (1972) = Return of the Dragon (U.S.). The one in Rome, Italy with Chuck Norris.
  • Enter the Dragon (1973). Probably his most famous.
  • Game of Death (1979). Lee only did the last third of this movie --the rest was put together after he died. With the yellow tracksuit and Kareem Abdul-Jabar.
• Li, Jet (1963-04-26/). Born Li, Lianjie. Jet Li dominated the wushu forms for the All China Games 1974/1979. Went on to a great kung fu movie career including:
  • Shaolin Temple (1979). His breaking film.
  • Once Upon a Time in China (1991). He plays the role of the famous Wong, Fei Hung. The first of a trilogy.
  • Fist of Legend (1994). A remake of Bruce Lee's Fists of Fury.
  • Black Mask (1996). With a tribute to Bruce Lee's Green Hornet.
  • Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)
  • Romeo Must Die (2000). I like where he takes on a whole dojo.
  • Hero (2002, 2004 U.S.). Beautiful.
  • Unleashed (2005) = Danny the Dog.
  • Fearless (2006)
• Miller, Frank (1957-01-27/). Comic book writer and artist who translates well to movies.
  • Sin City (2005). Based on stuff he did starting 1991. Cop Hartigan, Marv, and Dwight.
  • 300 (2007). Based on the 1998 comic book mini series. This is Sparta!
• Mortensen, Viggo (1958-10-20/).
  • G.I. Jane (1997)
  • The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Aragorn!
  • A History of Violence (2005). Beautifully raw.
  • Eastern Promises (2007). The raw shower fight. Nominated for Best Actor.
• Norris, Chuck (1940-03-10/). Chuck Norris is so straight that it hurts.
• Scott, Ridley (1937-11-30/). An English director and producer with nice vision.
  • The Duelists (1977). His breaking film. A brilliant adaptation of the short story The Duel by Joseph Conrad.
  • Alien (1979). One of the scariest aliens ever. One of the greatest female heroines ever played by Sigourney Weaver. Brilliant.
  • Blade Runner (1982). Consistently one of the best sci-fi movies ever. As far as martial goes, who can forget Daryl Hannah's attack with her thighs?
  • Black Rain (1989). I love how the villain did the Yakuza thing of cutting off his own finger.
  • G.I. Jane (1997). Demi Moore's a fictitious woman trying to be the first U.S. Navy SEAL.
  • Gladiator (2000). Glorious. Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix as a dark little emperor.
  • Blackhawk Down (2001). This movie received full cooperation from the U.S. military even though it shows the ill-fated U.S. mission in Somalia in 1993.
  • Kingdom of Heaven (2005). Orlando Bloom plays a crusader and gracefully faces the great Islamic leader Saladin.
• Seagal, Steven (1951-04-10/). Steven Seagal is an aikidoka and an activist but unfortunately he has only made one half way decent movie: Above the Law (1988).
• Shaw Brothers Studios. Probably the largest and most famous movie production company for Hong Kong kung fu flicks.
• Snipes, Wesley. Wesley Snipes is has nice, clean physical lines.
  • Blade (1998)
  • Blade II (2002)
  • Blade: Trinity (2004)
• Statham, Jason (1967-09-12/). Edgy, quality work. Does his stunts and fight scenes.
  • The Transporter (2002). Plus #2 and #3.
  • Crank (2006). FU Chelios! Plus #2.
  • The Expendables (2010). Plus #2.
  • Killer Elite (2011).
• Tarantino, Quentin (1963-03-27/). Quentin Tarantino make very enjoyable, stylized violent movies with a lot of tributes.
  • Reservoir Dogs (1992). His breaking film.
  • Pulp Fiction (1994)
  • Kill Bill. Vol 1 (2003). Vol. 2 (2004).
• The Wachowski Brothers. Larry (1965-06-21/) and Andy (1967-12-29). These two basket cases were born and raised in Chicago. Heavily influenced by comic books, science fiction, and Tolkien. Promising and fun, but it has a feeling of all fantasy/virtual. Relies too much on special effects.
  • The Matrix (1999). The best of the series.
  • The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
  • The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
  • V for Vendetta (2006). The character V is a mask-wearing, violent freedom fighter in an imaginary dystopian Britain. A fair amount of knife work. Based on the comic graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Lloyd.
• van Damme, Jean-Claude. Jean-Claude Van Damme is cheesy, flexible, and almost watchable. Bloodsport (1988) was probably his best movie and it was only fair.
• Woo, John. A Chinese director known for his heroic bloodshed movies that often have "balletic violence". These moves star Chow, Yun-Fat. A lot of fun very close gun fight scenes.
  • A Better Tomorrow (1986) = True Colors of a Hero.
  • The Killer (1989) = Die xue shuang xiong.
• Yen, Donnie (1963-07-27/). Wide range from old-school Kung Fu to MMA. Very clean, good energy.
  • Iron Monkey (1993)
  • Wing Chun (1994)
  • Flash Point (2007)
  • Ip Pan (2008). Choreography by Sammo Hung. I love the fight between Ip and the 10 karateka.
  • Ip Pan 2 (2010). Choreography by Sammo Hung.
  • Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen (2010)
• Zatoichi (1962/2003). Zatoichi a fictional character, a blind masseuse swordsman, and the center of one of the longest running series of films and movies in Japan. He's sort of like the James Bond of Japan. In all the works were played by Katsu, Shintaro (1931-11-29/1997-06-21. Aka Shintaro Katsu; Okumura, Toshio), except for the 2003 movie where Kitano, Takeshi played an older Zatoichi.

Themes

Archery related. There are many shows with archers in them, but these have a particular emphasis. Of course there are a slew of Robin Hood shows.

• 300 (2007). The quote about the arrows blocking out the sun is historical.
• Avatar (2009). The blue Na'vi in this movie shoot spear-sized arrows!
• Bleach. In this manga/anime, the character Ishida, Uryu is an archer.
• Brave (2012). The character Merida is a great archer.
• Braveheart (1995).
• Deliverance (1972).
• Emma (1996). Gwynneth Paltrow as the character Emmay by Jane Austen. Not terribly martial, but love it anyway.
• Immortals (2011). The Epirus bow.
• Lord of the Ring trilogy. The character Legola is a great archer. He even does a hand stab.
• Rambo series. Sylvester Stallone's character John Rambo is not only an archer but can make his own bows and arrows.
• The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Who can not love this Errol Flynn movie? Padded stuntmen were shot at with by professional archer Howard Hill, who also played Owen the Welshman whose arrow was split by Robin.
• The Hunger Games (2012). The character Katniss Everdeen is a great archer.
• Thor and The Avengers have the character Hawkeye.
• War of the Arrows (2011). A Koream movie with a historical basis. Hand made overdraw!

Works

These are work generally not already mentioned. In chronological order.

• Cyrano de Bergerac (1950). The best movie rendition of Edmund Rostand's work. Screw the martial arts, I love this movie.
• Pat and Mike (1952). A comedy starring Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. It some delightful moments where Katherine does self-defense moves against a very young Charles Bronson. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75645ccO-VE.
• Scaramouche (1952). Including one of the longest duels on film. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2r7hq5Wkrs
• Moonfleet (1955). Rapier v glaive! http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6091866070718522685
• Spartacus (1960). Kirk Douglas as the gladiator leader of the slave uprising in Ancient Rome.
• The Naked Prey (1966). "Stripped, weaponless, alone and only ten desperate seconds ahead of the killers!" A realistic and sweet film. Cornel Wilde qualified for the 1936 U.S. Olympic fencing team.
• Romeo and Julie (1968). The best movie rendition of Shakespeares work and lethal rapiers.
• Billy Jack (1971). Way dated, but he's a stoic.
• Red Sun (1971 Europe, 1972 U.S.). A western with Charles Bronson and Toshiro Mifune as a samurai!
• Kung Fu (1972/1975 TV). Definitely dated but it made it's mark.
• Five Fingers of Death (1972). A Shaw Brothers Studios film which started the Hong Kong kung fu flick craze for America in the 1970s. Quentin Tarantino paid homage to it in "Kill Bill" (note the music at the end of this out take: http://youtube.com/watch?v=_X26uSu-E5s).
• The Street Fighter (1974). The first film to receive an X rating solely for violence. Sonny Chiba's character Takuma Tsurugi or Terry Tsurugi kicks ass simply because he wills it. Cheesy good stuff. There are actually a bunch similar movies by Sonny Chiba [Amazon] and they're only $6 USD! Chiba was also Hattori Hanzo the swordsmith in Kill Bill.
• The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978) = The Master Killer = Shaolin Master Killer. A kung fu classic esp. on the processes of Shaolin Buddhist education. The lead character, San Te, was played by Liu, Chia-Hui, who also played as Pai Mei and Johnny Mo in Kill Bill.
• Hou hsing kou shou (1979) = Snake in the Monkey's Shadow = Snake Fist vs. the Dragon. Entertaining and a kung fu classic. Also has some drunken style.
• Kill or Be Killed (1980) and the sequel Kill and Kill Again (1981). The latter is actually the first film to use the bullet time visual effect. Stan Schmidt had a hand in these B-grade films and thus they have a lot of South African JKA karate in them.
• Gymkata (1985). So bad, it's almost good. Almost. I did a post on it: Gymkata: A martial arts movie in its own class.
• The Untouchables (1987). Chicago! The violence was well done.
• The Prince Bride (1987). A beloved, sweet comedy, adventure, romance and fantasy film based on the 1973 book of the same name by William Goldman. It mentions actual historical fencing masters such as Capo Ferro and Agrippa!
• Road House (1989). A cheesey American martial arts classic.
• Misery (1990). Eye gouging and other dirty fighting.
• Last of the Mohicans (1992). Some beautiful moves.
• Casino (1995). Joe Pesci's character is glorious.
• Rob Roy (1995). Great sword fighting, especially at the end between rapier and Scottish claymore.
• The Quick and the Dead (1995). A very stylized, tall-tale Western with Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, and Leonardo DiCaprio. Both light and dark.
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). Beautiful.
• Gangs of New York (2002). Based on gang violence at the the Five Points district of New York City in the 1800s. The character William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting (played by Daniel Day-Lewis) is a based upon the historical William "Bill The Butcher" Poole. I like the improvised weapons and showing the fishhook in a fight.
• The Bourne Trilogy: The Bourne Identity (2002), The Bourne Supremacy (2004), and The Bourne Ultimatum (2007). The exploits of a psychogenic amnesiac and former Special Activities Division operative as played by Matt Damon. Features great fight scenes coordinated by Jeff Imada so theres a lot of FMA and improvised weaponry.
• Napoleon Dynamite (2004). Rex Kwon Do!
• Troy (2004). Brad Pitt as Achilles as an athletic and skilled warrior instead of just some tough brute.
• 13 Assassin (2010). Based on a true story. Yes, Kōji Yakusho from the wonderful Shall We Dance!
• Book of Eli (2010). Starring Denzel Washington. Beautiful moves.

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