I'm a big fan of Kung fu cinema, so this will serve as a big list of the films that have influenced me personally. We will return to these films in more detail one day, as well as my complete thoughts on the martial arts picture in general.
Pre Bruce Lee: The One-Armed Swordsman and Return of the One-Armed Swordsman
Bruce Lee takes over: The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, Way of the Dragon, Enter the Dragon
Shaw Brothers post Bruce Lee:
The Work of Chang Cheh and the Venom Mob: 5 Deadly Venoms Kid With the Golden Arm, 2 Champions of Shaolin, 10 Tigers of Kwangtung, Crippled Avengers
Gordon Liu: The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, Return to 36th Chamber, 8 Diagram Pole Fighter, Shaolin Mantis, Shaolin and Wu Tang
Other Shaw Brothers Productions: 5 Element Ninjas, The Avenging Eagle, Dual of the Iron Fist
Master Yuen Woo-Ping: Drunken Master, Iron Monkey, Snake in Eagle's Shadow, Tai Chi Master.
Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Jet Li: Police Story Trilogy, The Magnificent Butcher, Once Upon a Time in China series, Legend of the Drunken Master, Hero, Fist of Legend and oh so much more.
Modern Day:
Most notably the work of Donnie Yen: S.P.L. Flashpoint, Ip Man, Ip Man 2, Legend of the Fist
Others outside of Hong Kong: Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Ong Bak, The Protector, Chocolate.
There's a lot more, the biggest thing happening right now is that Wong Kar-Wai is working on his own version of the story of Ip Man called The Grandmasters with action choreography by Yuen Woo-Ping.
Everything listed here is readily available in dvd shops. The list is in NO way a complete rundown of the complete history of kung fu cinema, simply the stuff that I really dig. And yes, I would say all of it is required viewing.
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