When it comes to the long history of martial arts movies, which encompᴀsses more than six decades, there’s no year that was better for the genre than 1978. The genre was still relatively young at that point, having only made the jump from sword-fighting action to actual hand-to-hand combat in 1970 when studio Shaw Brothers released Jimmy Wang Yu’s The Chinese Boxer.
Interest in martial arts entertainment exploded shortly thereafter; Bruce Lee had his breakout role in 1971 when he starred in The Big Boss, and kung fu fever expanded beyond Asia and found its way to the West, thanks to Kung Fu and Five Fingers of Death. But what really kicked it into high gear was Enter the Dragon, which is now widely regarded as the greatest martial arts movie ever made.
But that’s not to say that 1973 was the genre’s high point. Rather, that would actually come five years later.
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1978 Was Jam-Packed With Major Martial Arts Movies People Still Watch Today
Due to the “kung fu craze,” nearly every year of the 1970s and the 1980s had an impressive slate of martial arts films for moviegoers to enjoy. One that stands out is Game of Death, which was to be Bruce Lee’s fifth kung fu movie but wound up being finished after his death. The genre’s other all-time great, Jackie Chan, had two noteworthy releases that year – Drunken Master and Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow.
What really makes up the bulk of 1978’s contributions to the martial arts genre is the mᴀssive load of gems pumped out by Shaw Brothers. As the biggest name in the kung fu movie business in Hong Kong, Shaw Brothers was always heralding quality martial arts films on a regular basis, but the overall body of work for that year was particularly was eye-catching.
In 1978 alone, Shaw Brothers made one of Ti Lung’s best movies (Avenging Eagle), three spectacular martial arts ensembles (5 Superfighters, Five ᴅᴇᴀᴅly Venoms, and Crippled Avengers), a pair of great Gordon Liu films (Heroes of the East and The 36th Chamber of Shaolin), and David Chiang’s most famous kung fu movie (Shaolin Mantis).
1978 also saw the theatrical debut of a few low-budget kung fu films that have been since been enshrined in martial arts fandom as cult classics, the most important of which being Carter Wong’s Born Invincible.
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Multiple Important Moments In Martial Arts History Happened In 1978
1978 might not have been the most significant year in terms of the development of the martial arts genre, but it did bear witness to some landmark moments. One of those relates to Bruce Lee’s legacy, even though the actor died in 1973.
Considering that so much of it was made without Bruce Lee’s involvement and is therefore littered with flaws, it may not be fair to call Game of Death one of the best martial arts movies, but it most certainly holds a special place in pop culture, as evidenced by the iconic status held by Bruce Lee’s yellow jumpsuit and the fame shared by his fight scene with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Meanwhile, Jackie Chan’s rise to stardom was just beginning. Chan had already starred in multiple kung fu films by this point, but none were true successes. 1978 marked a mᴀssive turnaround for him, with Drunken Master and Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow forming the foundation for the image Jackie Chan ultimately cultivated and shifting him away from the Bruce Lee successor he was being turned into.
Although not as game-changing as Drunken Master, Five ᴅᴇᴀᴅly Venoms and The 36th Chamber of Shaolin also enjoyed long-term impacts on the genre. Five ᴅᴇᴀᴅly Venoms launched a string of future cult classic kung fu movies courtesy of its five stars, retroactively referred to as the Venom Mob. As for The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, it paved the way for Gordon Liu to become a top star.
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3 Of The Best Martial Arts Movies Ever Made Released In 1978
A testament to how phenomenal of a year 1978 was for the genre is the notion that it includes not one, but three of the greatest martial arts movies of all time. In addition to helping jumpstart Jackie Chan’s career, Drunken Master featured some extraordinary martial arts choreography from Yuen Woo-ping, with the icing on the cake being Chan’s intense showdown with Hwang Jang Lee.
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, for its part, was a master-class in martial arts cinema, offering several unique training sequences for its hero, a great revenge plot complete with an appropriate payoff. It was the masterpiece of Lau-Kar-leung, one of the greatest martial arts directors of all time, and arguably the pinnacle of the old-school kung fu movie genre.
Like Lau, legendary martial arts director Chang Cheh had his magnum opus in 1978 as well, which came in the form of Five ᴅᴇᴀᴅly Venoms. The Shaw Brothers classic brilliantly combined mystery with kung fu action to tell a story about a martial artist trying to tell allies from enemies in his quest to defeat his master’s former pupils. The incredible ensemble’s mix of styles and edge-of-your-seat intrigue in the film’s two-on-three final battle has few rivals.
