Best movies like Big Boss of Shanghai

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Big Boss of Shanghai Starring Lung Fong, Chan Sing, Cheng Kang-Yeh, Chen Kuan-tai, and more. If you liked Big Boss of Shanghai then you may also like: The Young Master, Winners & Sinners, Once Upon a Time in Shanghai, Raining in the Mountain, Romeo Must Die and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

Chen and his brother travel to Shanghai in search of fame and fortune, but end up pitted against Chinese Mafia bosses - and can only fight their way out of the web of violence and betrayal they find themselves caught up in.

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Know any good movies to watch like Big Boss of Shanghai 1979. With a similar plot or stoyline. Suggest it.

The Young Master

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.

Winners & Sinners

Five friends are released from prison and do their best to stay out trouble. While trying to mind their own business (and run their 5-Star Cleaning Service), they are caught up in a war between rival Triad gangs fighting for control of the counterfeit currency market.

Once Upon a Time in Shanghai

A laborer moves to Shanghai in the hope of becoming rich. But ends up using his kung fu skills to survive. Remake of The Boxer From Shantung.

Raining in the Mountain

During the Min Dynasty, a Buddhist abbot charged with protecting a sacred scroll prepares to name his successor. An aristocrat and a general arrive at his secluded mountaintop monastery promising to help in his search, but are in fact scheming to secure the scroll for themselves. As they set about recommending corrupt successors, rival bands of martial artists lie in wait to steal the precious artifact, and the monastery is soon transformed into an epic battleground, with each player caught in a web of conspiracy and betrayal.

Romeo Must Die

Two warring gang families (one African-American, the other Chinese) maneuver for bragging rights to the Oakland, California, docks. Hang Sing and Trish O'Day uncover a trail of deceit that leaves most of the warring factions dead … or worse!

Knockabout

After being cheated out of some money, two small time crooks convince a martial arts expert to take them on as students.

Kung Fu Dunk

Shi-Jie is a brilliant martial artist from the Kung Fu School. One day, he encounters a group of youths playing basketball and shows off how easy it is for him, with his martial arts training, to do a Slam Dunk. Watching him was Chen-Li, a shrewd businessman, who recruits him to play varsity basketball at the local university.

Kung Fu Hustle

It's the 1940s, and the notorious Axe Gang terrorizes Shanghai. Small-time criminals Sing and Bone hope to join, but they only manage to make lots of very dangerous enemies. Fortunately for them, kung fu masters and hidden strength can be found in unlikely places. Now they just have to take on the entire Axe Gang.

A Better Tomorrow

A reforming ex-gangster tries to reconcile with his estranged policeman brother, but the ties to his former gang are difficult to break.

Blood Brothers

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.

Snake in the Eagle's Shadow

Everyone abuses and humiliates a downtrodden orphan until he befriends an old man, who turns out to be the last master of the snake fist fighting style. Jackie becomes the old man's student and finds himself in battle with the master of the eagle's claw style, who has vowed to destroy the snake fist clan.

Fist of Fury

Chen Chen returns to his former school in Shanghai when he learns that his beloved instructor has been murdered. While investigating the man's death, Chen discovers that a rival Japanese school is operating a drug smuggling ring. To avenge his master’s death, Chen takes on both Chinese and Japanese assassins… and even a towering Russian.

Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen

The Japanese forces occupy Shanghai and slowly start spreading terror in the city. Chen Zhen, who was presumed dead, returns to fight against the Japanese and put an end to their tyrannical rule.

Hero

Ma Wing Jing and his older brother Ma Tai Chueng arrive in Shanghai to make their fortune at the end of the Qin Dynasty. Be-friending a powerful mobster Wing Jing is given his nightclub in return for saving Tam Sei's life. Unfortunately, another Gangster wants the territory a well. Corruption and violence rule the streets as Wing Jing and Tam Sei must battle not only the rival gangs but the corrupt police officials as well.

Mad Monkey Kung Fu

A disgraced former Kung Fu expert makes a living as a merchant with the help of a hot headed friend. When the men are harassed by gangsters, the merchant decided to teach his friend monkey boxing so they can defend their business.

Magnificent Bodyguards

Chan is asked by a young, wealthy lady to take her sick brother to a particular doctor in order to be cured. To reach this doctor, Chan and a handful of travelling companions must pass through bandit-infested wild country. They meet and kung-fu-fight several gangs of thugs along the way.

Paradox

When a Hong Kong police negotiator is informed about the sudden disappearance of his 16-year-old daughter in Thailand, he travels there to search for her whereabouts.

Temptress Moon

Set in the decadent 1920s, Temptress Moon tells the very complicated story of a wealthy family living on the outskirts of Shanghai. Their youngest daughter, Ruyi, is brought up as a servant to her opium-addicted father and brother. Meanwhile, her brother-in-law Zhongliang has a successful, if illegal, career seducing and blackmailing married women in the city. When he comes to Ruyi's home the two fall in love, and trouble ensues.

The Twins Effect

An evil Duke attempts to kill and collect the blood of a royal family of European vampires in order to become all powerful. The only surviving member of the family travels to Hong Kong, only to complicate his struggle by falling in love with a mortal girl who just happens to have a vampire hunter for a brother.

True Legend

Su Qi-Er, a wealthy man living during the Qing Dynasty who loses his fortune and reputation as a result of a conspiracy against him. After being forced out onto the streets, Su dedicates his life to martial arts and reemerges as a patriotic hero known as the "King of Beggars."

The Mighty Peking Man

Word of a monster ape ten stories tall living in the Himalayas reaches fortune hunters in Hong Kong. They travel to India to capture it, but wild animals and quicksand dissuade all but Johnny, an adventurer with a broken heart. He finds the monster and discovers it's been raising a scantily-clad woman, Samantha, since she survived a plane crash years before that killed her parents. In the idyllic jungle, Johnny and Samantha fall in love. Then Johnny asks her to convince "Utam" to go to Hong Kong. Lu Tien, an unscrupulous promoter, takes over: Utam is in chains for freak show exhibitions. When Lu Tien assaults Samantha, Utam's protective instincts take over: havoc in Hong Kong.

The Crippled Masters

Two men, one a lowly peon and the other a dutiful nobleman, are betrayed by their master and crippled for life-- One left with no arms and the other with paralyzed legs. Despite their obvious disadvantages, they strive to seek revenge against their evil master. The two men endeavor to track down the fabled Eight Jade Horses, said to hold the key to special martial arts techniques.

New Fist of Fury

A brother and sister escape from Japanese-occupied Shanghai to Japanese-occupied Taiwan, to stay with their grandfather who runs a Kung-Fu school there. However, the master of a Japanese Kung- Fu school in Taiwan has plans to bringing all other schools on the island under his domination, and part of his plan involves the murder of the grandfather.

Fearless Hyena 2

A pair of evil kung-fu artists, Heaven and Earth, are slaughtering the entire Yin-Yang brotherhood.

Trained To Kill

From the fields of Cambodia to the mean streets of L.A., there's no escaping death and it's blinding revenge.

The 7 Tyrants of Jiangnan

A child learns martial arts in order to become a Kung Fu warrior. Features the Seven Little Fortunes, and is the debut film of Jackie Chan.

Fist of Fury 3

After avenging the death of his brother, Chen Shen (Bruce Li) returns home from Shanghai. He tells his mother (who went blind from crying over her son's death) that he will no longer fight. However, being a movie with the words "fist" and "fury" in the title, Chen doesn't keep his promise for very long. Japanese occupiers who are aware of Chen's history terrorize his family by, among other things, vandalizing his mother's store and beating up his brother. Later, they frame Chen for a murder. After the Japanese boss arrives in town and causes a ruckus, Chen breaks out of jail for a final confrontation.

Fist to Fist

A young police cadet graduates from the academy, and is sent to a small town run by gangsters - one of whom betrayed the hero's father and left him to die.

The Young Tiger

A spoilt rich kid turns up at a fu school to show off, but he gets clobbered by the boastful Little Tiger, who is later framed for the kid's murder when a gang of blackmailers make an example of him. The police allow Tiger to escape, in order to find the real culprits. Tiger hides at his girlfriend's place, but a model she works with does some whoring on the side for the blackmailer, and so the crooks are onto his trail...

18 Bronzemen

During the Manchurian invasion of China, the son of the Ming Dynasty General takes refuge in the Shaolin Temple to learn martial arts, so that he may seek revenge for his dead father. But he must first endure the rigorous test of the temple's legendary 18 Bronzemen.

Martial Club

Wong Fei Hung and his friend are constantly having contests to see who has the better martial arts skill. After getting in trouble with their fathers, Wong Fei Hung settles down and starts to train seriously, while his friend still horses around. After his friend is hurt by a rival school, Wong goes to the school for retribution. Instead his skill is tested through a series of events which climax with him taking on a Northern martial artist. In an excellent battle of skill, he earns the respect of the rival school. Also stars Mai Te Lo and Hui Ying Hung.

Shaolin Master and the Kid

A government law officer is dispatched to bring his brother's killers to justice. On his bloody mission, untold assassins are thrown at him, but to no avail. One by one they are done away with in a most militant style.

Man of Iron

Man of Iron was positioned as something of a follow-up to Boxer From Shantung, the rise-and-fall story of Ma Yung Chen and it reunites the directors and some of the cast in a similar but much slighter tale of a lesser gangster's rise and fall in Shanghai. While the opening narration specifically recalls the events and tragic conclusion of BOXER, this one is set 20 years later in the same section of Shanghai but otherwise has nothing to do with the events or characters of the previous film.

The Anonymous Heroes

A perennial Chang Cheh favorite, Anonymous Heroes focuses on two vagabond brothers, Meng Kang and Tieh who, in the search for fame and fortune, join in a rebellion against a provincial general. Used to shaking down local vendors for food and gambling away their limited funds, they are recruited by a local rebel leader who promises them a glorious adventure. The rebels plan is to steal a huge cache of new rifles set to be delivered to the barracks of the local army. With the help of an officer's daughter, their plan starts out well, but inevitably slips toward a heroic but tragic finale.

The Chinese Stuntman

The Chinese Stuntman was a Bruceploitation film released in 1981. Bruce Li (who also directs) plays an insurance salesman who ends up working as a stuntman on a Hong Kong movie.

The Champion

A recently jailed martial arts master teams up with a wronged woman to take down the man's brother, a coal baron who rules a small town with an iron fist.

Queen Boxer

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.

Crazy Horse & Intelligent Monkey

Guards of a casino beat Hou Hsiao-Shan because he was caught cheating. Fortunately, Kung Fu expert Ma Ta rescues him.

Vanishing Son II

The continuing saga of the Chang brothers: Jian-Wa and Wago. Picking up where it left off, Jian-Wa has left L.A. after a gangfight which involved his brother Wago. Jian-wa travels to the south and finds that hatred comes in all forms as a group of racist whites feud with harmless Vietnamese fishermen. Jian-wa decides to side with the Vietnamese and help them defend themselves. Back in Los Angeles, Wago is enjoying his new life as a gangster.

Vanishing Son IV

After the death of his brother Wago, Jian-wa Chang now roams America's countryside while looking for his place in the world. He is hit by a van of two college students. Jian is taken in and nursed by Megan, a secluded artist. Jian is also befriended by the ghost of brother Wago. Wago must act as an angel to Jian-wa to gain acceptance into heaven. Meanwhile, the students from the hit and run plan to kill Jian-wa so he doesn't talk to the police.

Dragon Fight

Jimmy and Tiger are members of the Chinese national wushu team. The two are in Los Angeles to perform exhibitions. However, for Tiger, he plans to defect to L.A. to make a name for himself. When Jimmy learns of Tigers plan to defect, an attempt to stop him fails and Jimmy ends up missing his flight to China. Now a fish out of water, Jimmy's only hope is Andy, a wisecracking youngster in L.A. Meanwhile, Tiger works for a mafia boss. When Tiger loses a fortune in cocaine in a detergent box that Andy accidentally took, Andy and Jimmy soon have no choice but to face the wrath of Tiger and his men. Their only ally is Penny, the girlfriend of Tiger's boss. Two men who were once best friends have now become bitter enemies.

The Big Boss Part II

In the last "Big Boss" (AKA "Fists of Fury"), Cheng Chao-On was arrested after killing Hsiao Mi, "The Big Boss." In this unofficial sequel, his brother, Cheng Chao-Chun, visits his brother in Thailand, finds a job at the same ice factory that his brother worked at and avenges the death of their father.

The Young Dragons

The powerful mobster Leung, who is protected by the dangerous and wicked Huan Fai, sells two hundred Japanese weapons and ammunition to a Chinese gang. He uses the smuggler Luy Fu to bring the weapons but the smalltime thief Kim and his gang heist the shipment on the road and dump the cargo into the sea. However, he lures Luy Fu and asks a large amount to return the weapons with the intention of traveling abroad with his brother. Meanwhile Kim befriends Fan Ming, an undercover police office from Shanghai that is investigating the illegal activities of Leung. When the mobster finds that Fan Ming is a policeman, Leung ambushes him and Huan Fai and his men stab the officer that falls from a cliff into the sea. Kim brings Fan Ming's fiancée Ipi Feng to the house of his lover, the prostitute Hung, and tells Ipi Feng that her fiancé was murdered by Leung. She decides to revenge the death of her beloved Fan Ming with tragic consequences.

The Bloody Fists

Yuen Woo Ping, who would in time become one of the world's leading martial arts choreographers, blocked the fight scenes for this Kung Fu action extravaganza. A small Chinese town is being torn apart by a conflict between local farmers and Japanese soldiers of fortune, who have been brought to town to liberate supplies of a rare Chinese herb. A martial arts expert gifted in both Chinese and Japanese fighting disciplines passes through town, and takes it upon himself to settle the feud.

Way of the Black Dragon

Allison Wong gets abducted by a gang of drug smugglers with a nasty sideline business involving white slavery and prostitution. Interpol agent Bill Eaton, honest worker Chen, and Allison's brother join forces to take out the nefarious crime syndicate.

Shanghai 13

A patriot finds evidence that the government is collaborating with a foreign power. If the people knew about the deception, they would revolt and overthrow the corrupt government. One patriot in office steals the proof and must make it out of the country. He gets assistance from a local rebel leader who is in charge of a motley group of fighters called the Shanghai 13. Not all of them can be trusted, as some of them will turn in the government official. Our weak protagonist must run a gauntlet of the who's who already mentioned.

Black Luck

A hitman in hiding struggles to keep his monsters at bay when his dark past comes calling. Some days your LUCK just goes BLACK.

Kung Fu 10th Dan

Li Tin Ming (Alex Lung) travels the countryside with his sidekick, Hsiao San (Hon Kwok Choi) defeating any martial arts school they come across in an effort to test his Kung Fu 10th Dan. Having become a heroic figure for killing a feared villain named 'The Leopard', Li soon questions his actions of testing his skills and the violence that is born from the never-ending fighting. Upon making a decision to fight no more, a new gang enslaves the town set free from the claws of 'The Leopard' and Li once again must take action to prove that DRAGONS NEVER DIE.

Gold Snatchers

Two foster brothers fight in a deadly struggle for possession of their mother's gold fortune and a beautiful young woman.

The Supergirl of Kung Fu

At her father's deathbed, Little Flower swears she will travel to Shanghai to locate his top students, Mercury and Stone, to revive the Ching Wu Men to beat back the Japanese still in the PRC.

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