Chopsocky films are martial arts movies made in Hong Kong and Taiwan from the 1970’s to the present. The term comes from chop suey (Chinese for “mixed pieces”). Chop also implies a hit as in a karate chop and sock implies a hit as in a punch or sock.

 

Depending on who you ask, the term can be considered derogatory and dismissive of the films that typically were filled with cheesy special effects and excessive violence. But many consider this genre to be some of the best cinema has to offer.

 

From the 1970’s to the 1990’s, Hong Kong put out hundreds of these martial arts films. In Hong Kong, these movies were much more popular than the American blockbuster films that we sent over there. Part of the reason for this was that the Hong Kong industry strictly limited the number of screens allowed to show U.S. films. For example, in 1981, Raiders of the Lost Ark was the top grossing film in America, but only made it to No. 16 in Hong Kong.

 

As we in America received more and more of these “chopsocky” films that were cranked out in Hong Kong and Taiwan, a fan base grew.

 

Some famous films here are John Woo’s violent epics, such as The Killer, and Jackie Chan’s stunt focused, sometimes comedic action flicks such as Police Story. The genre is extremely diverse, though, and includes everything from medieval swordsman dramas to gruesome ghost stories and cross-dressing comedies.

 

Since the 1990’s, there has been a sharp decline in the production of these chopsocky films out of Hong Kong. The famous directors like John Woo and actors like Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Chow Yun-Fat have moved over to Hollywood fame. Hollywood created its own multiplex movie theatres in Hong Kong and began to control the increased showing of American blockbuster films, overshadowing the local industry there.

 

On a side note, guess who is a giant fan of these “chopsocky films”? -- Samuel L, Jackson, the actor who played the hit man who “saw the light” and changed his ways in the groundbreaking film, Pulp Fiction. Jackson brings a suitcase filled with up to 300 DVD’s of martial arts films out of Hong Kong from the 70’s with him on film sets to pass the long hours of waiting between shots. He first became a huge fan of the films when living in New York as a starving actor in the early 70’s. He and his friends frequented cheap theatres on 42^nd street in Times Square that played triple features of Bruce Lee and other more anonymous action flicks.

 

Jackson recommends four films for novices of the genre: Hard Boiled (1992), Drunken Master, My Father is Hero (1966), and The Bride With White Hair (1993), and My Father is a Hero (1995).