Best movies like Once Upon a Time in China and America
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
So goes to the U.S. to open a martial arts school. Around this time, many Chinese people were sold off to U.S. railroad companies, and were brutally treated by the Americans under the harsh working conditions. Thus, the American workers' hatred towards the Chinese immigrants is high. As a result, So gets into trouble with the Americans and the mob, and calls Master Wong for help.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Adventure, History, Western
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: serious, exciting, rough, captivating, suspenseful, tense, touching, cult classic, stylized, fast
Best tv shows and movies like Once Upon a Time in China and America (1997):
Similar in 86%
I am Somebody: No Chance in Hell (2008)
Plot Summary:
1870's America. A Chinese immigrant falsely accused of murdering a white woman is viciously hunted down; he'll have to prove his innocence in a time when people of color had "no legal rights" and could be bought and sold for a profit. Railroad to Hell: A Chinaman's Chance explores the exploitation of Chinese workers during the building of American railroads. The workers not only spent long hours, but the work was often dangerous and fatal. The Chinaman is a fugitive on the run, and all odds are against him. While stealing a horse was a hanging offense in the Old West, our fugitive knows that killing a Chinaman is not a crime.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 197
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Family, History, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, sincere, captivating, suspenseful, political
Similar in 80%
Shanghai Express (1986)
Plot Summary:
What happens when a glamorous express, with high government officials, wealthy merchants, concubines and a gang of brigands on board, speeds towards the small town of Hanshui, where escaping bank robbers, corrupt officials, and gamblers await? Well, let's just say the Titanic had a smoother maiden voyage.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Western
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: funny, slapstick, humorous, realistic, stylized, semi serious, fast, spaghetti western, spoof, slapstick comedy
Similar in 76%
Shaolin Temple 2: Kids from Shaolin (1984)
Plot Summary:
Two rivaling families live on opposite sides of a river. One of them practices Shaolin kung fu and has only sons, while the other has only daughters and practices the Wu-Tang sword. The father of the Wu-Tang family is so paranoid about the Shaolin kids stealing his sword style (besides, he wants a son to teach it to, and the closest thing he has is a lesbian daughter) that he is taken off guard when some real bad guys come along to kill his family, but the Shaolin family helps them out. All the while, everyone is desperately trying to get the lesbian girl to marry Jet Li.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Comedy
Country: Hong Kong, China
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: cult classic, humorous, realistic, stylized, semi serious, fast, cult film
Similar in 88%
Last Hero in China (1993)
Plot Summary:
Jet Li stars in this comic spectacle as a Chinese "Robin Hood" who stumbles upon a kidnapping scheme after unwittingly opening a martial arts school next to a brothel!.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Comedy, History
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: romantic, scenic, cult classic, humorous, epic, semi serious, cult film
Similar in 82%
The Master (1992)
Plot Summary:
Uncle Tak is famous for using Chinese herbal medicines to cure diseases. A martial arts expert, he also teaches the young how to defend themselves. One of his students, Johnny, dreams of monopolizing the teaching of kung fu throughout the United States. To accomplish this, he tries to kill Uncle Tak. Chuck, Uncle Tak's best student from Hong Kong, comes to Los Angeles to find his master. Chuck is willing to let Johnny have his way, and tries to take Uncle Tak back to Hong Kong. But Johnny and his men will not leave Chuck alone. Chuck, on his way back to Hong Kong, returns for the showdown.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Crime
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: romantic, scenic, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, fast, cult film
Similar in 89%
The Legend (1993)
Plot Summary:
This Hong Kong martial-arts extravaganza tells of evil emperors and true love. The secret Red Lotus Flower Society is committed to the overthrow of the evil Manchu Emperor and his minions. One of his Governors is sent on a mission to retrieve a list of members of that secret society. Meanwhile, Canton kung fu practitioner Fong Sai-Yuk falls in love with the beautiful daughter of a rich merchant.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Action, Comedy, History
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: cult classic, humorous, stylized, exciting, realistic, semi serious, funny, sexy, breathtaking, entertaining
Similar in 77%
Born to Defense (1988)
Plot Summary:
Jet, a young soldier at the end of the second world war must overcome some abusive Americans who are bullying him as well as the Chinese people.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, War
Country: Hong Kong, China
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, cult classic, bleak, fast, cult film
Similar in 84%
Once Upon a Time in China IV (1993)
Plot Summary:
Wong Fei Hung must deal with both foreign threats and the nationalist Red Lantern Society in this continuation of the popular kung fu series.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: anamorphic, cult classic, cult film
Similar in 89%
The Evil Cult (1993)
Plot Summary:
A wild and rollicking martial arts fantasy extravaganza that features prized swords and swordsmen, a crazy monk attached to a rolling boulder, serious clan and cult rivalries, and lots of magic and flying.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Fantasy, History
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: serious, surreal, scenic, atmospheric, cult film
Similar in 85%
Martial Arts of Shaolin (1986)
Plot Summary:
Jet Li weasels out of the north Shaolin temple to assassinate a despotic ruler at the ruler's extravagant public birthday celebration. Two other men from the south Shaolin temple also set out to assassinate the ruler, but all three fail and are chased all over by soldiers. Meanwhile, one of the southerners turns out to be a cross-dressed woman, who is also discovered to wear a footbell to match Jet Li's, meaning they are somehow slated for an arranged marriage.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Drama
Country: Hong Kong, China
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, exciting, cult classic, cult film
Similar in 88%
The Blade (1995)
Plot Summary:
A young man adopted by a renowned swordsmith, discovers that his real father was killed by a powerful bandit called Lung. Leaving to seek revenge, he runs foul of a group of vicious desert scum, losing his right arm in the process. After being nursed back to health, he eventually learns to compensate for his loss and returns to confront the man who murdered his father.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: perverse, exciting, rough, epic, serious, suspenseful, stylized, cult film
Similar in 84%
Once Upon a Time in China V (1994)
Plot Summary:
Epic adventure set during a tumultuous time in China, when left without a leader, the cavalry is attacked by the powerful allies and pirate bands. A martial arts master, Wong Fei-Hong and Aunt Yee return to do battle against these evil forces.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: brutal, suspense, intense, cult film
Similar in 87%
Black Mask (1996)
Plot Summary:
Chui Chik tries to lead a quiet life as a librarian. However, he is really a former test subject for a highly secretive supersoldier project and the instructor of a special commando unit dubbed "701." The 701 squad is used for many government missions, but after one of the agents kills a team of policemen in an uncontrollable rage, the government decides to abort the project and eliminate all the subjects. Chui Chik helped the surviving 701 agents flee the extermination attempt. Having escaped, Chui Chik went separate ways from his team. Later, he discovers that the rest of the team were responsible for a violent crime spree that was beyond the capability of the local police. He sets out to stop them, donning a disguise and using the superhero alias of "Black Mask". Having lost the ability to feel pain due to the surgery performed on the super-soldiers by the military, Black Mask is almost invulnerable.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, suspenseful, bloody, stylized, crime drama, cult classic, colorful, rough, fast
Similar in 83%
Swordsman II (1992)
Plot Summary:
Jet Li plays Ling, a student from the Blue Mountain school of martial arts, who, along with fellow students and Kiddo, find themselves embroiled in a country-wide political/clan war with the Highlander clan in the forefront of the battle.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Action, Fantasy
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: surreal, cult classic, exciting, serious, captivating, suspenseful, stylized, cult film
Similar in 84%
My Father is a Hero (1995)
Plot Summary:
An undercover cop struggling to provide for his son and ailing wife, must infiltrate a ruthless gang. But things turn sour when another cop blows his cover and he quickly finds himself battling for his life and the lives of his family.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: scenic, cult classic, exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, fast
Similar in 83%
The Swordsman (1990)
Plot Summary:
When a scroll containing valuable martial arts secrets is stolen from the Emperor, an army detachment is sent to recover it. It is based on the novel The Smiling, Proud Wanderer by Jinyong.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, History
Country: Hong Kong, Taiwan
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, captivating, suspenseful, stylized
Similar in 86%
Hard Way to Die (1979)
Plot Summary:
Sung Shao Chong (Billy Chong) traverses the Arizona desert, helping those in need on the way to meet his old friend Kum (Lam Hak-Ming) in a small western town. Once there, he runs into a group of men who terrorize the town and extort the local businesses. Meanwhile, a trio of three bank robbers need a place to hide until the heat dies down from a recent heist. They pick the home of a black farming family and subsequently kill them, leaving only the severly injured eldest son Tommy (Carl Scott) to escape. Tommy is found by Chong and Kum and is brought to the home of Doctor Ko (Leung Siu-Chung), who heals his injuries. Eventually Tommy learns kung fu from Ko, and sets out for payback. Luckily for Tommy, Chong is also bent on revenge after the bandits hire the local troublemakers and some Japanese samurai to kill him.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 153
Genere: Action, Drama, Western
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, spaghetti western
Similar in 83%
Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen (2010)
Plot Summary:
Seven years after the apparent death of Chen Zhen, who was shot after discovering who was responsible for his teacher's death (Huo Yuanjia) in Japanese-occupied Shanghai. A mysterious stranger arrives from overseas and befriends a local mafia boss. That man is a disguised Chen Zhen, who intends to infiltrate the mob when they form an alliance with the Japanese. Disguising himself as a caped fighter by night, Chen intends to take out everyone involved as well as get his hands on an assassination list prepared by the Japanese.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Action, Drama, History
Country: Hong Kong, China
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, realistic, suspenseful, serious, stylized, anime, non stop action
Similar in 80%
Dr. Wai in the Scriptures with No Words (1996)
Plot Summary:
A serial adventure writer with problems in his personal life lives out the adventures of his literary hero, King of Adventurers.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: exciting, humorous, semi serious, fast, cult film
Similar in 87%
Project A 2 (1987)
Plot Summary:
Dragon is now transferred to be the police head of Sai Wan district, and has to contend with a gangster kingpin, anti-Manchu revolutionaries, some runaway pirates, Manchu Loyalists and a corrupt police superintendent.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Crime
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: cult classic, exciting, humorous, realistic, semi serious, fast, slapstick comedy, slapstick, eighties
Similar in 90%
The Young Master (1980)
Plot Summary:
Youthful martial arts master Lung is searching for his missing brother, when he is mistaken for a criminal on the run. He must prove his innocence by solving the case himself, while local lawmen and merciless mercenaries are hot on his trail.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: humorous, stylized, tense, light, exciting, semi serious, cult classic, funny, sexy, thought provoking
Similar in 82%
Once Upon a Time in China III (1992)
Plot Summary:
Master Wong and his disciples enroll in the 'Dancing Lion Competition' to stop an assassination plot and to battle an arrogant, deceitful opponent.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Biography, Drama, History
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: stylized, serious, cult classic, harsh, anamorphic, exciting, epic, silent, light, thought provoking
Similar in 78%
The New Legend of Shaolin (1994)
Plot Summary:
A young father and his infant son are beset by forces of evil and corruption. They wander China, upholding their sense of honor and protecting the weak. When they are forced into combat, spectacular and hilarious fast-motion kung fu sequences follow. In the end, they must call on all of their abilities in a battle royale, to attempt to vanquish a supernatural man-monster or die trying.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, History, Romance
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: serious, stylized, tense, suspense, suspenseful, cult classic, fast, cult film
Similar in 81%
Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (2011)
Plot Summary:
Flying Swords of Dragon Gate picks up three years after the infamous Dragon Inn was burnt down in the desert when its innkeeper Jade vanished. A new gang of marauders had taken over - innkeepers by day and treasure hunters by night. The inn is the rumoured location of a lost city buried under the desert, and its hidden treasure would only be revealed by a gigantic storm every 60 years. The gang used the inn as a front to locate the lost treasure.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Action, Adventure
Country: China
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: exciting, stylized, captivating, tense, suspense, epic, serious, fast
Similar in 89%
The Legend II (1993)
Plot Summary:
The hero Fong Sai Yuk becomes involved in the secret brotherhood "The Red Flower", who are trying to overthrow the Manchurian emperor and re-establishing the Ming dynasty. The social upheaval is combined with Sai Yuk's personal moral conflict about how to conform to the rigid regime of the brotherhood and on top of that sort out his difficult love life, saddled with two presumptive wives.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Comedy, History
Country: China, Hong Kong
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: cult classic, humorous, stylized, semi serious, cult film
Similar in 82%
The Shaolin Temple (1982)
Plot Summary:
The Tang emperor is betrayed by one of his generals, who installs himself as emperor in the East Capital. The son of one of his slave workers escapes to the Shaolin Temple, learns kung fu, and sets out to kill the traitor who killed his father. Based on a true story from Shaolin folklore, but highly fictionalized.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Drama
Country: China, Hong Kong
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, stylized, captivating, tense, touching, cult classic, cult film
Similar in 76%
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 77%
Return of the One-Armed Swordsman (1969)
Plot Summary:
The notorious “One-Armed Swordsman” who has spent the last two years retired from the martial world as a simple farmer with his wife. Of course this idyllic life is about to be sliced to ribbons by Chang’s wicked imagination. He concocts a savory setup when he introduces, not one, but eight unique villains known as the Eight Kings of Swords and their sword-wielding entourage for Wang Yu to eventually chop his way through.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Adventure
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, offbeat, serious, realistic
Similar in 80%
Once Upon a Time in China (1991)
Plot Summary:
Set in late 19th century Canton this martial arts film depicts the stance taken by the legendary martial arts hero Wong Fei-Hung (1847-1924) against foreign forces' (English, French and American) plundering of China.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, History
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: intense, colorful, exciting, serious, realistic, cult classic, stylized, heroic, epic, thought provoking
Similar in 77%
Once Upon a Time in China II (1992)
Plot Summary:
In the sequel to the Tsui Hark classic, Wong Fei-Hung faces The White Lotus society, a fanatical cult seeking to drive the Europeans out of China through violence, even attacking Chinese who follow Western ways. Wong must also defend Dr. Sun Yat Sen, a revolutionary, from the military.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Biography, History, Romance
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: stylized, enigmatic, cult classic, epic, exciting, serious, realistic, tense, light, road movie