By Randall Smith

1. Way of the Dragon – Bruce Lee on a Roman holiday. This cinematic gem culminates in a classic clash in the Coliseum with American sport karate legend Chuck Norris. Noteworthy for: 1) Lee knocking a guy’s knife out of midair with a pair of nunchakus, 2) the 1000-fps sequences in the final fight between Norris and Lee, and 3) the amusingly effeminate bad guy sidekick (listen for the line “My, what rippling muscles!”).

Best watched while eating: steamed dumplings (shui jiaozi) with Thai sriracha hot sauce.

2. Big Trouble in Little China – While not actually a martial arts film per se, and despite its utterly eighties brand of camp, the Three Storms alone are worth the price of admission. Granted, no movie this side of Goldfinger works so hard to orientalize all things Asian (eat your heart out, Said fans!). If you dare to be tasteless, though, you just might have a good time. More than a few styling cues for Midway’s original Mortal Kombat game came from this movie.

Best watched while eating: tater tots and corn dogs.

3. Fearless Hyena Vol. II: One hallmark of early Jackie Chan films was that they were so low-budget; the footage for one movie often got repurposed for others, as exemplified by Fearless Hyena Vols. I & II. The two films seem very similar, and the same characters appear in both, in the same costumes—and yet the stories are unconnected. Of the two, Vol. II is definitely better. It’s early Jackie Chan in the zone: astoundingly dextrous, physically inventive, and utterly hilarious.

Best watched while eating: anything you won’t be in danger of having come out your nose.

4. The Five Deadly Venoms: This is the quintessential Shaw Brothers film. Next to Master of the Flying Guillotine, this is perhaps the most widely seen of the Saturday afternoon Kung Fu theater films. An old master of the Poison clan is dying and sends his young pupil out into the world to see if his former students are living virtuously or as scoundrels. The five older pupils are each known only by the animal form of the Poison martial arts they practice (snake, toad, centipede, lizard, and scorpion). With mystery, intrigue, and chambara-style acrobatic effects, this Hong Kong whodunit opens up a can of whoopass.

Best watched while eating: gummi snakes, gummi frogs, gummi centipedes—you get the picture.

5. Kill Bill Vols. I & II: Again, not strictly speaking a martial arts film (whatever its pretensions), but few “real” martial arts films can match the “Showdown at the House of Blue Leaves” sequence for explosive action or choreography. Beats Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for sheer intensity; rocks for the fact that it has Sonny Chiba, and because it has Gordon Liu of the would-be-on-this-list-if-there-was-room-for-six-picks 36 Chambers of Shaolin. Vol II. features Liu once more as the villainous White Lotus master Pai Mei.

Best watched while eating: rice from a bowl, with your chopsticks, like a human. Hmmph!