Ma Jiawei, a Hong Kong writer, noted in an article that if one compares the films of the 1960s (like One-Armed Swordsman), the Bruce Lee trend in the 1970s, and the "hero films" of the 1980s, it can be seen that these three categories all subtly conform to the social development of Hong Kong in those decades.
香港作家馬家輝曾經為文分析，如果把李小龍電影當成七○年代初期一種流行類型，並且和六○年代的「大俠電影」（如王羽的《獨臂刀》）、八○年代的「英雄電影」做一比較，可以發現這三種電影類型，正微妙契合著香港的六○、七○、八○年代三階段的社會發展脈絡。