A Film Festival of Kick Ass Kung Fu/Martial Arts Films in the Public Domain

Everyone remembers their first kung-fu movie — or everyone remembers their first wave of kung-fu movies, anyway. For some, they came late at night on the less-explored frequencies of the television broadcasting spectrum; for others, they came on sparsely attended double- and triple-bills at the local discount theater. They looked faded and muddy, but somehow still vivid; they felt cheaply produced, yet full of life and energy; and as for how they sounded, time has turned their both hollow and theatrical English-language dubbing into an art form with connoisseurs of its own. They came from faraway lands, which rendered them exotic, but we experienced them almost as dreams, products of another reality altogether. And some of them you can experience again as public domain films.

We still call them “kung fu movies” even though, having grown older and wiser — or at least more culturally aware — we now know their heroes didn’t always defeat their enemies with the Chinese martial arts covered by that umbrella term. But the label applies well enough to 1977’s Legend of Shaolin, the Hong Kong-made epic at the top of the post set in the 13th-century Yuan Dynasty and dealing with that most kung-fu of all themes, revenge. But such historical “kung fu” pictures could also come from countries like Japan, an example of which you can thrill to just above: 1983’s Legend of the Eight Samurai features Sonny Chiba, living embodiment of the 1970s martial-arts film, under the direction of the prolific and respected provocateur Kinji Fukasaku, best known today as the maker of the controversial Battle Royale.

Next in this public-domain martial-arts marathon, we have another Hong Kong movie, Guy with the Secret Kung Fu from 1981, whose title alone strikes me as recommendation enough. And for our final selection, we move to a more contemporary setting with 1987’s Four Robbers, wherein the titular quartet—pursued by both the police and a malevolent crime syndicate that at first wants to recruit them and later wants revenge against them—have to flee from Hong Kong to Thailand without gambling away the fruits of their labor or compromising their principles. This movie, and many others of its kind, give the lie to the notion that there’s no honor among thieves. Most all of the wanderers, samurai, rebels, aristocrats, cops, and robbers you see in them have one kind of honor or another — but when they come into conflict, it tends to take some old-fashioned kung-fu fighting to settle things. You can find these films added to our collection, 4,000+ Free Movies Online: Great Classics, Indies, Noir, Westerns, Documentaries & More, which includes more 23 Free Kung Fu and Martial Arts Movies Online.

Related Content:

700 Free Movies Online: Great Classics, Indies, Noir, Westerns, etc.

Radical French Philosophy Meets Kung-Fu Cinema in Can Dialectics Break Bricks? (1973)

The Five Best North Korean Movies: Watch Them Free Online

The 5 Best Noir Films in the Public Domain: From Fritz Lang’s Scarlet Street to Ida Lupino’s The Hitch-Hiker

Colin Marshall writes elsewhere on cities, language, Asia, and men’s style. He’s at work on a book about Los Angeles, A Los Angeles Primer, the video series The City in Cinemaand the crowdfunded journalism project Where Is the City of the Future? Follow him on Twitter at @colinmarshall or on Facebook.


by | Permalink | Comments (3) |

Support Open Culture

We’re hoping to rely on our loyal readers rather than erratic ads. To support Open Culture’s educational mission, please consider making a donation. We accept PayPal, Venmo (@openculture), Patreon and Crypto! Please find all options here. We thank you!


Comments (3)
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
  • childofparker says:

    Decent choreographed fight scenes. Terrible/hilarious voice overdub.

  • Asiatic Melvin says:

    I have been doing research on Public Domain Movies and TV shows to Broadcast on my channel, I found your site by google. My question Public Domain movie are suppose to be free of copyright to broadcast why are people charging to get the movies & TV show to broadcast? And do your company do the same if so how much. I am mostly looking for Kung Fu movies a few TV shows and Movie to fill my Saturday and Sunday Broadcast on my Network, Please give me a call (929) 484-6909 Asiatic Melvin or email me the info my channel is a Roku TV app with Live TV broadcasting I currently have my show Amasia Music Videos Broadcasting hour by hour.

  • jack buck says:

    You made some good points there. I did a search on the issue and found most people will consent with your site.

Leave a Reply

Quantcast
Open Culture was founded by Dan Colman.