Best movies like Painted Faces
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The story of Peking Opera School, its teacher Master Yu and his students.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 555
Genere: Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: cult classic
Best tv shows and movies like Painted Faces (1988):
Similar in 78%
The Bells of Death (1968)
Plot Summary:
A simple woodcutter named Wei Fu (Chang Yi) finds his world shattered when three murderous horsemen arrive to kill his family and kidnap his sister. Left with nothing but his mother’s bell-laden bracelet, he sets out to seek his revenge. Lucky for him, Wei Fu encounters a master swordsman (Yeung Chi-hing), who takes him under his wing.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 307
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: road movie, spaghetti western
Similar in 82%
The Stunt Woman (1996)
Plot Summary:
A few years in the life of Ah Kam, starting with her joining action director Master Tung's team of regulars.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 470
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
The Fate of Lee Khan (1973)
Plot Summary:
Chinese rebels battle Mongol warriors in a desert inn.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 851
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong, Taiwan
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
Lady with a Sword (1971)
Plot Summary:
Feng Fei Fei, an excellent swordswoman, seeks revenge with her nephew for the murder of her old sister, who got killed by some rogues on her way home. She soon finds out that the murderer is the son of her father's best friend and her future husband.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 117
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
Kung Fu Queen (1972)
Plot Summary:
Fan Kao-to is a worker who had enough of corruption in Shanghai. He tries to crush the organization alone. An attempt has been made before but ended up with the big Axe Gang, several of their brands in the man. The man's sister arrives in Shanghai at the same time as Fan Kao-to go out on one-man war, and she wants to do her in the fight, also, she takes the war personally.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 125
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Taiwan, Hong Kong
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
Pedicab Driver (1989)
Plot Summary:
Lo Tung and his friend Malted Candy, pedicab drivers working the streets of Macao, have both fallen in love. The problem is that both their objects of affection - one a baker, the other a prostitute - are working under cruel and lecherous bosses. Somehow, the pair must find a way to win the ladies' hearts and free them from their unpleasant jobs.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: slapstick comedy, slapstick, eighties
Similar in 85%
The Invincible Eight (1971)
Plot Summary:
Everyday when General Xiao and his men ride through the Imperial City, inhabitants have to scatter around in order to keep out of their path. One day when Lei plans to assassinate Xiao but gets hurt, another three fighters He, Jiao and Feng come out boldly to help him out. With the help of Zhu, a cook, He succeeds to escape whereas the other three are seized. Later on, He acquaints himself with the girl Gui. Along with another two girls, Hai and Jiang, these eight youngsters are the descendants of the late patriotic generals, who have been recently murdered. Gui suspects that Hai and Jiang are controlled by Xiao and sneaks into his manor. She meets the girls successfully, but she is seized. When Wan, Xiao's butler, urges his master to kill Hai and Jiang, Jiang overhears their conversation and tries to rescue all her friends. At last, the eight are united and try their best to fight against General Xiao and his men.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 92
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
Death Duel (1977)
Plot Summary:
This martial arts spectacular showcases 20-year-old Erh Tung-sheng (a.k.a. Derek Yee). Even Variety noted: "Erh's charismatic screen presence should take him to superstardom like his older brother, David Chiang." The prediction proved correct, and his performance as ace swordsman Third Master is just what any producer would want. He fights evil, saves damsels in distress (including a kindhearted prostitute played by Chow Yun-fat's first wife, Yu An-an), and duels rival swordsmen to the, well, death.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 608
Genere: Drama, Action
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
The Shadow Whip (1971)
Plot Summary:
This top ten box office hit reunites the star duo from Come Drink With Me in another classic action adventure. Cheng Pei-pei (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) radiates her trademark charm while wielding the deadly title weapon, which is implicated in multiple murders and a major heist. Whether single-handedly fighting sixteen bandits or avenging her father's brutal death, she demonstrates why she was Hong Kong's number one swordswoman -- and no slouch with the whip either!.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 338
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: serious, fast
Similar in 81%
The Shaolin Avengers (1976)
Plot Summary:
The famous story of the Shaolin Temple's betrayal by the White-Browed Hermit, and the subsequent revenge by Shaolin firebrand Fang Shih-yu, is the stuff of legend. It has been filmed many times by many directors, but few are remembered as fondly as this production. The potent combination of director Chang Cheh and international idol Alexander Fu Sheng caught lightning in a lens.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 311
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Taiwan, Hong Kong
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
Masked Avengers (1981)
Plot Summary:
Philip Kwok plays a repentant killer who vows to destroy the masked gang of which he was a member. A young fighter and his martial arts brothers come to the town to catch the killers, but one of them is not to be trusted!.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 773
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: bloody
Similar in 75%
The Magnificent Ruffians (1979)
Plot Summary:
Venom regulars Philip Kwok, Chiang Sheng, and Sun Chien star as a gang of unemployed martial artists who spend their days stuffing their faces at local restaurants and letting the staff beat them up instead of paying the bill. Their fortunes appear to improve when the head of a local security agency hires them to take out the competition, who their new employer insists is up to no good. But the boys are being played for fools, and after an unfortunate misunderstanding, they unite with their former adversary to take out the true villain.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 433
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: grindhouse
Similar in 87%
Kung Fu Invaders (1974)
Plot Summary:
Director Chang Cheh begins his Shaolin Cycle with this solid kung fu actioner about a band of fighting Ming Dynasty loyalists branded as enemies of the state and driven underground following the burning of the Shaolin Temple by Qing Dynasty officials. Due to a misunderstanding, Shaolin kung fu prodigy Fong Sai-yuk (Alexander Fu Sheng) is duped into helping Qing agents to capture leading Shaolin rebel Hung Hei-gun (Chen Kuan-tai). Upon discovering his mistake, Sai-yuk teams up with the remaining rebels to free Hei-gun before his planned execution. Plotting to stop them is General Che Kang (Zhu Mu), a formidable Tibetan kung fu master who commands an army of fighters including four deadly Tibetan llamas.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 564
Genere: Action, Drama, History
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: grindhouse
Similar in 79%
The Flying Guillotine (1975)
Plot Summary:
The Emperor's armies have developed a new weapon: a thrown blade that can remove someone's head from long distance. As the paranoid Emperor begins decapitating anyone he fears might be a threat, his guard Mau Tang becomes disillusioned with the excesses of his master. He leaves his post and takes up the quiet life of farming and raising a family. Eventually, though, his past catches up with him, and he must find a way to fight the flying guillotine if he is to save his head.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: grindhouse
Similar in 83%
Chinese Vengeance (1973)
Plot Summary:
Set in the waning years of the Ching Dyansty, this dramatic, tragic, romantic, blood-soaked martial arts tale of betrayal and revenge explores one of the most sensational scandals in Chinese history and marked the true ascension of its director and actors to superstar status. In fact, Ti Lung won Taiwan's Golden Horse Award for Outstanding Performance as the challenging role of a jealous provincial governor who kills his friend in order to steal the man's wife. The 11th Golden Horse Awards: Special Award for Outstanding Performance (Ti Lung).
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 833
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
The Flying Dagger (1969)
Plot Summary:
The Yu family earn the ire of the Green Dragon clan when the daughter (Cheng Pei-Pei) kills the clan chief's son (a rapist and murderer). The Green Dragon chief wounds family head Yu Yuan with his flying daggers, and kills many others who try to protect the noble family. Wandering swordsman Ying Qing (Lo Lieh) saves the family in a fight, using his own flying dagger skills, but his allegiances and motives are unclear.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 203
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
Warriors Two (1978)
Plot Summary:
In an attempt to save his village from being taken over by brutes, Wah is beaten to a pulp and his mother brutally murdered. Determined to take revenge, Wah learns the art of Wing Chun and enters into a showdown with the nasty villains.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: epic, serious, realistic, stylized, fast
Similar in 77%
The Prodigal Son (1981)
Plot Summary:
A rich man's son (Yuen Biao) believes himself to be the best kung fu fighter in Canton. Unfortunately, his father, anxious for his son's safety, bribes all his opponents to lose. After a humiliating defeat at the hands of an actor in a traveling theatre company, the son resolves to find a better teacher. Furious kung fu battles and slapstick comedy.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Comedy
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: cult classic, serious, cult film
Similar in 85%
The Iron-Fisted Monk (1977)
Plot Summary:
Iron Fisted Monk, heavyweight HK superstar Sammo Hung's directorial debut, is a powerful old school kung fu movie which sees the portly one at his physical peak on screen as well as calling the shots behind the camera. Husker (Sammo) is a student of the Shaolin monks, learning kung fu so that he can avenge his uncle, who was murdered by the nasty Manchus who control the province. He leaves his training early, desperate to teach the killers a lesson and teams up with a martial artist monk (Chan Sing) who is teaching a group of factory workers how to defend themselves. When the Manchus attack the factory and kill everyone there, Husker and his Buddhist pal decide it's time to even the score.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: realistic, stylized, semi serious
Similar in 75%
Magnificent Butcher (1979)
Plot Summary:
A plump butcher student of 'Wong Fei Hung', Lam Sai-Wing (Sammo) gets into trouble with a rival kung-fu school known as 'Five Dragons'. He is accused of raping the Head of that school's goddaughter and killing his son. Now Ko, the Head of Five Dragons, wants revenge.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: humorous, stylized, semi serious, black comedy, slapstick comedy, slapstick, dark comedy
Similar in 79%
Throw Down (2004)
Plot Summary:
A former Judo champion is given the chance to redeem himself after he befriends a competitor and an aspiring singer.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Hong Kong, China
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 83%
My Beloved Bodyguard (2016)
Plot Summary:
A retired bodyguard who has settled into a corner of the world where China, Russia and North Korea meet as he suffers from early dementia finds a new friend in a young girl. When her life is threatened by her father's connection with a local crime lord, .the bodyguard must call upon his long forgotten skills to save her.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: China, Hong Kong
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: captivating, entertaining
Similar in 76%
The Avenging Eagle (1978)
Plot Summary:
Eagle Chief Yoh Xi-hung raises orphans to be his personal killers. One such is Chik Ming-sing who now wants to put his killer life behind him. When the Eagle Clan come after him, a stranger called Cheuk comes to his assistance It turns out that Cheuk is the son of a family who were robbed and murdered by the Eagles. Now they will team up to destroy the evil clan.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: road movie
Similar in 90%
Rise of the Legend (2014)
Plot Summary:
In 1868 during the late Qing Dynasty, rampant corruption on the Imperial Court inflicts much suffering in people's lives. For years, the Black Tiger’s fearsome boss Lei Gong has been trying to get rid of the leader of the Northern Sea. One of his latest recruits is Fei, a fearless fighter who takes the Northern Sea leader’s head after a fierce fight. Just as Lei Gong believes he has total control of the port, a new gang called the Orphans rises in power. Led by Fei’s childhood friend Huo, the Orphans are out to eliminate all the criminal power from the port….
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Biography, Drama
Country: Hong Kong, China
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: exciting, captivating, psychological, tense, perverse
Similar in 75%
Hapkido (1972)
Plot Summary:
Korea, 1934. During the Japanese occupation, there is open warfare between rival martial arts schools. There is a fight in the marketplace, and three Chinese students can't stand the unfair way of students that side up with the invasors, when they gang assault one of the fighting men. Between the three, they send the aggressors away. Retaliation is heavy: their school is destroyed, and they are banished. They return to China, and start their own school, and set out on good-will visits to the other martial arts schools, only to find that everybody in their neighbourhood is already dominated by the Japanese. They have many kung fu fights to win, before they eventually manage to establish peace.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 976
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong, South Korea
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: cult classic, serious, realistic, stylized
Similar in 88%
The New One-Armed Swordsman (1971)
Plot Summary:
Lei Li lost his right-arm in a sword duel with the master of a martial arts school, long ago. Now, he is able to defend himself well with just his left arm, and kung fu techniques. That he proves with just the help of his friend Chung-Chieng, when he crosses his path with a beautiful girl in need, Pao Chiao. Even against impossible odds, he will prove a great warrior.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, stylized
Similar in 89%
The Kid with the Golden Arm (1979)
Plot Summary:
Jin bei tong opens with a group of escort/guards preparing to move a shipment of gold from the local government to an area stricken by famine... one of the very few Venom films where all six Venom actors are present within a single film.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: cult classic, exciting, serious, realistic, stylized, fast, cult film
Similar in 79%
Fist of Legend (1994)
Plot Summary:
Chen Zhen, a Chinese engineering student in Kyoto, who braves the insults and abuse of his Japanse fellow students for his local love Mitsuko Yamada, daughter of the director, returns in 1937 to his native Shangai, under Japanse protectorate -in fact military occupation- after reading about the death of his kung-fu master Hou Ting-An in a fight against the Japanese champion Ryuichi Akutagawa.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: harsh, intense, tense, rough, realistic, suspenseful, exciting, serious, cult classic, brutal
Similar in 87%
Shaolin (2011)
Plot Summary:
China is plunged into strife as feuding warlords try to expand their power by warring over neighboring lands. Fuelled by his success on the battlefield, young and arrogant Hao Jie sneers at Shaolin's masters when he beats one of them in a duel. But the pride comes before a fall. When his own family is wiped out by a rival warlord, Hao is forced to take refuge with the monks. As the civil unrest spreads and the people suffer, Hao and the Shaolin masters are forced to take a fiery stand against the evil warlords. They launch a daring plan or rescue and escape.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong, China
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: serious, stylized, exciting, bleak, captivating, realistic, epic, heroic, cult classic, action thriller
Similar in 82%
Clan of the White Lotus (1980)
Plot Summary:
Shaolin practitioners and brothers Wu and Hung kill the merciless Pai Mei. However, Pai Mei's even more merciless brother White Lotus takes revenge; killing most of the Shaolin disciples, including Wu and Hung's girlfriend, leaving only Wu's pregnant wife and Hung as the only remaining practitioners of Shaolin left to avenge the deaths. But Hung's kung-fu will not be powerful enough so he must learn feminine kung-fu techniques to help him try and defeat White Lotus.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, stylized, perverse, exciting, offbeat, serious, realistic, suspenseful, fast, cult film