The Chinese Boxer

Jimmy Wang Yu directs and stars in the film that invents the empty-hand kung fu picture, dropping the swords that defined wuxia in favour of fists. A student trains in iron-palm technique to avenge his slaughtered school against Japanese karate killers, and the bare-handed combat pointed the whole industry in a new direction.

It predates Bruce Lee's leading roles and set up the hand-to-hand style and nationalist revenge plots that would dominate the decade. Wang Yu was already a huge star and here became a filmmaker.

A genuine turning point, if a rough one, in the history of the genre.