Quote from: Dumarest;960577(1) What era are those movies taking place in? Or is it just pure fantasy, a time that never was?

Differs. Distant governments are the rule in a huge part of Chinese history, though, and even when they're not, there were usually pockets of instability...so there's lots of leeway.

Quote(2) Can you name some of those movies in that vein? I would love to see some of them again. (I do not enjoy the modern even-more-over-the-top kung fu movies where everyone flies around on wires, so I know they aren't any of those.)

Five Deadly Venoms, Snake in the Eagle's Shadow;).

Quote(3) Would Ninjas & Superspies and Mystic China be good for roleplaying in this genre and setting? Is there something more attuned to it (and don't say Hong Kong Action Theater, I don't care for gun-fu)?

There's loads of games that would be better, IMNSHO:D.
The free Outlaws of the Water Margin would be my first choice, followed by Qin: the Warring Kingdoms (though it's mostly a weapons game). Then Tianxia, though that one is Fate-based (which you might or might not care about). Ironclaw with the Jadeclaw supplement is actually quite good, if you can stand the characters being more like Kung-fu Panda and the Ninja Turtles than Jackie Chan.
Of course, Mythras could easily do it, as long as set specific rules about the combat styles and limit all the available magic schools to one, at most, or none (which would mean the Passions get more important, IME).

Quote from: AsenRG;961616The free Outlaws of the Water Margin would be my first choice,

The book series "Outlaws of the Water Margin/Marsh" is one of the sources the movies draw from.
If you want to read some of the stories they are based on.
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Quote from: Greentongue;961694The book series "Outlaws of the Water Margin/Marsh" is one of the sources the movies draw from.
If you want to read some of the stories they are based on.
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Yeah, I can also recommend reading the Outlaws of the Water Margin book, especially since some characters are totally PCs from a darker campaign;)!

Quote from: AsenRG;961616Snake in the Eagle's Shadow;).
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The fighter from Russia gets me every time on the dubbed version. Awesome movie.

Kung Fu Avengers: Civil War?

[video=youtube;XyuQTb6rmdo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyuQTb6rmdo[/youtube]

LOL!

Pretty funny, but why would Iron Man and Captain America fight? They're both good guys.

Also, thanks everybody for all the answers to my relatively vague inquiries.

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

It is classic that a Kung-Fu master prove that his/her skill is superior.
Clearly you have not watched enough Kung-Fu movies.
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Quote from: Dumarest;961851Pretty funny, but why would Iron Man and Captain America fight? They're both good guys.

One of the classical reasons is when both characters are well-intentioned, or at least have the same general goals, but strongly disagree on the methods:).
Or to test their skills.

Just like in real life, where examples of both abound;).