| Credited cast: | |||
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Pei-pei Cheng | ... | |
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Hua Yueh | ... | |
| Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
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Hsi Chang | ... |
Innkeeper
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Hsin Yen Chao |
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Hung Lieh Chen | ... | |
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Yang Chiang |
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| Siu-Tung Ching | ... |
Boy killed at monastery
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Alan Chui Chung San |
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Yi Feng |
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Ying-Chieh Han | ... |
Bandit
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Li Jen Ho | ... |
Monk
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Hsia Hsu |
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Feng Ku | ... |
Bandit chopping hand off
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Yunzhong Li | ... |
'Smiling Tiger' Tsu Kan
(as Yun-Chung Li)
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Chien Chuan Lin |
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A ruthless band of thugs kidnaps a young official to exchange for their leader who has been captured. Golden Swallow is sent to take on the thugs and free the prisoner (who is also her brother). Though she is able to handle the overwhelming odds, she is hit by a poison dart and gets help from a beggar who is really a kung-fu master in disguise. With his help, she forms a plan to get her brother back. Written by Fred Cabral <ftcabral@hotmail.com>
Shaw Brothers. Shaw Brothers. Shaw Brothers. We meet again.
Okay, so one day I was sitting around browsing the internet, and I thought to myself, "Hmm, why don't I download a bunch of Asian films to watch later?" Just in case you haven't already guessed, this was one of them. After watching several of the others, I finally decided to sit down to this one. The reason this one caught my eye is because it starred the lovely Pei-pei Cheng, who you may know from "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon", where she played the not-so-lovely Jade Fox. Those of you who know me know I love watching women kick some ass in movies, and this was a Shaw Brothers film on top of that, so I just HAD to get up in that.
Yeah, it was pretty damn cool. Those of you who have to have some sort of deep plot and spellbinding visuals in every film you watch probably wouldn't get a whole lot out of this, but I have an open mind and this is my kind of film, so I instantly took a liking to it. Pei-pei Cheng was fascinating to watch and undeniably beautiful. She just has that sort of presence that draws you to her. Whenever she wasn't on screen, the movie definitely felt lacking in my eyes, but thankfully, she's on screen pretty darn often considering she's the main character. The fight choreography was obviously impressive, and there were some brutal scenes that will likely stay with me for a while, such as when a young apprentice is cruelly murdered in cold blood. For being as old as it is, this is also a very fast-paced film. Sure, there are some slow spots - not that they bothered me - but it's constantly moving forward, which made it all the more engaging. The story itself is solid for this type of film, but nothing too surprising. The print I saw had very good visual and audio quality, which was nice. Great, now I'm just stalling to make the review longer.
Well, it's simply a good film. I wasn't blown away, but I enjoyed it about as much as I'm capable of enjoying a martial arts film from the 60's these days. The fights alone are worth the price of admission, so if you haven't already seen this, what the hell have you been watching lately?