Cheng
Pei-pei is the top billed actor in this film, but it is directed by Chang
Cheh and he does a Golden Swallow on her. In that film from the previous
year, Cheng Pei-pei reprised her character from Come Drink with Me and the
film is even named after her character. But Chang Cheh was into masculinity
and bare chests and he gave the majority of time and kills to Jimmy Wang-yu.
Pei-pei was furious and I am surprised to see her in another one of Chang's
films. But you do what Shaw tells you to do. Her best films besides the King
Hu one are those directed by Lo Wei in five films and Ho Meng-hua in three
films. She is short-changed again especially in action time getting in only
a few fights. The main action role goes to Lo Lieh. And he is terrific in
this as a wandering swordsman full of himself but with a sense of fairness.
He even helps the villain one time when he is outnumbered. There was certainly
enough action to have given Pei-pei more time, but she is also the object
of desire.
The film opens in black and white with Yu
Ying (Cheng Pei-pei) killing a rapist and murderer. He says upon spotting
Ying, 'Looks like it's my lucky day". Not so much. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
But he is the son of the chieftain of the Green Dagger Clan and Jiao Lei
(Yang Chi-ching) swears vengeance against Ying and her clan, the Qiankun
Sword Clan. Jiao is a master of the Flying Daggers with five at his disposal.
He can hit anything within throwing distance. And often does. After killing
people with his flying daggers, his men pull out the blades and politely
offer them back to Jiao who patiently cleans them of blood before putting
them back in their place. Cleanliness is next to Godliness. He and his hundreds
of minions are closing in on the Qiankun Clan and after the head and Ying's
father (Ching Miao) is badly wounded, a small group of them find refuge is
an inn and hope they are not discovered.
Yang Qing (Lo Lieh) happens to come along
because he likes to be where the action is. Turns out to be as good as Jiao
with knives and pretty handy with a sword as well. He starts cutting down
the Green Dagger Clan because he just feels like it. He shows up at the inn
and soon is beguiled by Ying. He promises to help rescue her brother for
one night with her. Swine! But she agrees reluctantly - after the rescue.
It is a solid plot as this small group fights for their lives and to save
the chief. The action is choreographed by the legendary team of Tong Kai
and Lau Kar-leung and it is quite good. Nothing fancy - basic sword and knife
work and Lieh performs it very well. Tong and Lau were in the process of
migrating from Cantonese films to Shaw and they now had more athletic actors
to work with.
