Golden Swallow (1968) User Reviews

Early Chang Cheh film - Not bad but mistitled.

[ChungMo · 6/10 · 15 July 2007]

This is the seventh film from Chang Cheh. Still finding his style, here Cheh is clearly influenced by concurrent chambara films from Japan. While there are a number of signature Cheh style scenes in this film, there many scenes that are very experimental for him especially the opening fight that's cropped in unique ways. The photography is very good, especially the outdoor shots and the composition is better then in many of his later films.

While titled, "Golden Swallow", as others have noted, it really should be called "Silver Roc" or "Iron Whip vs. Flying Swords" or something like that. The character Golden Swallow is in the film but director Cheh is more interested in the disturbed swordsman played by Wang Yu. He gets to kill scores of bad guys in numerous extended scenes while the title character is involved in four short fights at the most.

Is the film good? Well it is entertaining for the most part if a bit gory (with lots of bright red paint). The martial arts are good but many fights scenes are shot with a shaky hand-held camera much like many Japanese movies from the same time. It's effective but muddies up the choreography if that's what you're looking for. The signature zoom lens Shaw style camera work doesn't really get going until the mid seventies. Shaw director Liu Chia Liang can be seen for a second or two as a villainous swordsman.

A Nutshell Review: Golden Swallow

[DICK STEEL · 6/10 · 24 June 2007]

Touted as the sequel to King Hu's Come Drink With Me starring Cheng Pei Pei, this movie is anything but. Except for the return of Pei Pei's Golden Swallow role, Chang Cheh's movie doesn't share any similarities with King Hu's original, clearly stamping his own take on his movie utilizing the lead character from Come Drink With Me, and relegating her to supporting role status.

As a fan of the original, this is downright disappointing, as I had expected to see Pei Pei kick some serious rear again as the fabled swordswoman. Instead, what we get is a story involving a love triangle of sorts, with costars Lo Lieh as Golden Whip Han Tao, a man who saved Golden Swallow from bandits and nursed her back to health, and Wang Yu as a beau from long time ago, who now calls himself The Silver Roc. The Drunken Cat, with whom Golden Swallow rode into the sunset with, is clearly forgotten and totally written out.

In actuality, this movie can be renamed The Silver Roc. The story centers on this figure, an orphan bearing a scar on the forehead similar to Harry Potter's, and is one of the fellow disciples to Golden Swallow's teachers. Disappearing one night to seek revenge on his family's murderers, he resurfaces to look for Golden Swallow, and does so by killing villains in her name, in an attempt to lure her out of seclusion. Being the self-proclaimed number one swordsman with an attitude helps too, and not before long, our trio will meet, with Golden Swallow being indecisive about both alpha males, that they have to duke it out to settle scores.

In Chang Cheh's signature ketchup blood style, this movie doesn't lack in the gore department, with really bloody scenarios, dismembered bodies, slashes to face and an inspiration to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, albeit done in a more straightforward manner. But some of the kung fu moves seemed recycled from One Armed Swordsman, especially Wang Yu's Silver Roc, who holds his sword akimbo similar to his One Armed days. And his much revered "Coup De Grace" killer move was never seen until the finale, and that too was too weakly executed and laughable. I wondered too about numerous scenes where characters liked to leap out of windows, clearly to a mat at the bottom, out of the screen. But one thing's a bonus, and that's having plenty of outdoor shots versus indoor studio ones, which boosts production values a little.

Still, it's a decent martial arts flick, but one which could have been miles better. With Wang Yu hogging too much of the limelight with his character in this movie, it suffers by neglecting the other leading characters by Lo Lieh, and especially Cheng Pei Pei, because the movie, after all, is named after her Golden Swallow, or in the original English title, it's the Girl with the Thunderbolt Kick (apparently it's a misnomer, she doesn't have that skill, nor executed any recognizable kicking moves).

If anything, watch out for a young Wu Ma as Hu Zhen, a supporting character and friend of Golden Swallow and Han Tao. Nothing memorable, but just a getting a kick out of recognizing a star (to me at least) in his earlier youthful looking days.

Now fully restored on DVD

[loco12 · 8/10 · 14 October 2004]

I first saw this movie when I was 16 years old back in the 1970's during the kung fu craze. Our local cinema in Swindon showed a Kung Fu movie every Sunday and me and my mates used to go down and sneak in the back door and watch the latest flick.

I remember this movies as "Girl with the thunderbolt kick", but that's a terrible title as she doesn't have much of a kick, and most of the film centers around the male lead rather than "Golden Swallow".

Nevertheless the film is truly magnificent, with wonderful panoramic shots, excellent fight sequences and a story that is easy to follow.

After searching high and low for the film years ago, I gave up, but luckily for me Celestrial Pictures purchased the whole of the Shaw Brothers Back catalogue and has now started to release these great Kung Fu movies that were thought gone for ever. A search on Ebay discovered "Golden Swallow" was available, and a week later I am watching a fully restored, digitally enhanced DVD with a crystal clear 1:235 widescreen classic.

The quality looks like it was filmed in the last couple of years, not the mid 1960's.

Grab yourself a copy, get a beer out of the fridge, sit back and have 100 great minutes of entertainment.

A colorful vehicle for Jimmy Wang Yu and Shaw Bros. diva Cheng Pei Pei

[BrianDanaCamp · 14 October 2001]

THE GIRL WITH THE THUNDERBOLT KICK (aka GOLDEN SWALLOW, 1968) is a Shaw Bros. costume swordplay drama notable for co-starring the studio's top male action star, Jimmy Wang Yu, with the studio's then-reigning swashbuckling diva Cheng Pei Pei (THE THUNDERING SWORD). Wang Yu plays the notorious killer Silver Roc and Cheng plays his childhood sweetheart Golden Swallow, whom he hasn't seen in years (a reprise of a character the same actress played in King Hu's COME DRINK WITH ME, 1966). Golden Swallow follows Roc's trail of blood and is accompanied by Golden Whip Hand (Lo Lieh), who is in love with her but helps her track down Silver Roc. Midway through the film they all meet, but Silver Roc quickly challenges Whip Hand to a duel after the latter condemns Roc for an earlier instance of cold-blooded killing. That's pretty much the whole plot and it takes a long time getting to the final duel.

There are plenty of swordfights here, but they're fairly stylized, with lots of leaping around, twirling of swords, soft blows, and unconvincing fighting skills. Cheng Pei Pei has great screen presence, but she's more of a dancer than a fighter. There's an undertone of unrequited love that's rather poignant at times. Following this film Wang Yu turned to a harder-edged brand of martial arts film with THE CHINESE BOXER (1970), generally considered the first pure kung fu film.

ADDENDUM (12/24/18): Watching this film again on the Dragon Dynasty DVD, in Mandarin with English subs. and the original music score, makes a world of difference. It's a beautiful film, a sweeping love story, with action scenes a dramatic by-product, and great performances by all concerned, especially the three leads. I was also struck by the breathtaking cinematography by Pao Hsueh Li, shot on both lavish studio sets and picturesque mountain locations. I regret that the above review wasn't as enthusiastic, but it was based on watching a pan-and-scan Cantonese language VHS tape with plastered-on music cues from a James Bond soundtrack.

Not bad, not amazing

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 10 March 2022]

Chang Cheh takes over the reins from King Hu in this COME DRINK WITH ME follow-up. As usual with Cheh, Cheng Pei Pei is severely underutilised and the main thrust of the plot seems to be in the rivalry between arrogant killer Jimmy Wang Yu and the more sensitive chilvarous knight Lo Lieh. This film is spoilt by the slow love triangle scenes, which feel largely mannered and staged, but it's better elsewhere and Cheh seems to be pushing the boundaries with viciousness here - there's an incredible scene with Mars and Ku Feng and a torture chamber interlude that takes it to the max. The action is fun, with inventive camera angles throughout, but not a patch on what Cheh would achieve in the years to come.

The plot's a write-off, but the action's very good

[Jeremy_Urquhart · 7/10 · 14 March 2023]

Reviewed and complained about The Man with the Iron Fists a couple of nights ago, and thought that throwback martial arts movie could have been good even with a muddled storyline if it had just had neat action and no distractingly bad digital effects.

Golden Swallow feels like that hypothetical martial arts movie with a messy narrative yet still delivering on the action and martial arts movie charms. Of course, it's not a throwback, and was made at a time when the martial arts genre in Hong Kong was thriving, but it still goes to show that an action movie like this can work simply by having good... well, action.

It feels like there's almost more time spent on action scenes than there is time spent on non-action scenes. I'm a sucker for any martial arts sequences, but ones where one person fights through a dozen or more other people with ease I'm particularly a sucker for, and there's some stuff like that here.

The melodramatic romance is a bit underwhelming, and the story is all over the place, but the fighting is exciting and fun, and that's the most important thing. Great fighting and a good story might make a martial arts movie great, which isn't the case here... but the movie's at least good, thanks to it having frequent and entertaining fights.

A great showcase for Cheng Pei-pei's talent

[freakus · 9/10 · 5 February 2000]

This film is a perfect example of why Cheng Pei-pei's characterizations were years ahead of their time. She was a truly independant and strong female role model without sacrificing any femininity. The closest contemporary I can think of would be Michelle Yeoh, yet Cheng did it back in the day and in some ways paved the way for stars like Yeoh.

There is a scene in this film which illustrates this point well. Cheng's character, Golden Swallow, is hurrying to save her friend's from killing each other but she's dragging another female character with her. The other woman does the cliche twist-the-ankle-while-running-and-look-pitiful move we have seen in in every cheesy chase scene. Cheng turns to her and gives her a look that says "What is WRONG WITH YOU? Why are you so helpless?! Get up and RUN!" before she practically drags her to her feet.

Coup De Grace...?

[poe426 · 7/10 · 28 January 2012]

SILVER ROC (a.k.a. GOLDEN SWALLOW) features Wang Yu (again sporting more eyeliner than a $5 hooker) as yet another of those swordsmen whose Magic Sword Technique fells attackers by the dozens with but a single stroke. (Which is one of the reasons I prefer kung fu movies to swordplay movies: taking a swipe at a crowd of extras with a sword and having them all topple like tenpins- spurting blood- is nowhere near as interesting as some good, old-fashioned hand-to-hand combat.) We see Wang Yu in action early on against a band of mountain bandits, whom he proceeds to lay waste with sword and darts. He leaves behind his calling card, a golden dart- suggesting it's all the handiwork of Golden Swallow (Cheng Pei Pei). While she pines for Roc, he spends his spare time in a brothel. Oh, he composes a poem to her (and never fails to leave HER calling card behind at the scenes of carnage he's unleashing), but he DOES live in the brothel... When he singlehandedly decimates the local branch of The Golden Dragon Clan, he once again leaves behind her calling card. Golden Swallow, meanwhile, has to carefully fend off the subtle amorous advances of Golden Whip, Han Tao (Lo Lieh, in perhaps his most sympathetic role ever). We glimpse David Chiang in a bit part as a brothel guard, but, despite the title, this one's all about Wang Yu. The "Coup De Grace" move he's known for (an air-borne attack, courtesy of some Old School wirework) is seen only once, and it doesn't quite live up to its reputation. Not Chang Cheh's best by a mile, but not terrible, either.

Watch it take flight.

[lost-in-limbo · 9/10 · 13 February 2010]

Kung-fu at its innovative best and one of the finest the genre has to offer. The Shaw Brothers produced "Golden Swallow" mixes a melancholy romance with violent martial arts caught by its handsomely earthy direction and inventively novel camera placement during the excitingly expansive set-pieces. The dazzling imagery in some sequences is marvellously projected, like the vigorous fighting craftsmanship in the woods and the vivid colour plateau accompanying it. The arresting sword fights are quick, ruthless and meticulous without a drop of sweat being spilt… however blood is plentiful in its many awesome showdowns! The story's groundwork is quite simple, but well-told with its ominous edge and suitably paced… even though I did find some of the editing in between sequences to be rather jumpy. The score is kinetic, but elegantly impulsive. There are illustratively able performances from the likes of Pei-pei Cheng (who provides one strong character), Yu Wang, Lieh Lo, Hsin Yen Chao and Chia-Liang Liu. Wang is quite memorable as the unstoppably cold-blooded warrior Silver Roc that really has a bone to pick, while in the quest to find his true love.

Golden Whip Deserved Better

[dafrosts · 5/10 · 8 March 2018]

Having just watched Jimmy Yu Wang in One-Armed Boxer, and enjoying it, I figured this would be just as good. Boy, was I wrong. Jimmy Yu Wang is wooden in his depiction of Silver Roc Xiao Pang/Hsiao Peng. He doesn't have the charisma here that he exuded in One-Armed Boxer. He seems more like a man in serious need of Lamictal.

His obsession with Golden Swallow (Cheng Pei-Pei), is so intense he frames her for murders by leaving her Darts at every scene. He wants to draw her out. Setting her up for them murders of many villains was his only option? A letter would have done a better job. And, she wouldn't be dealing with nutjobs coming out of the woodwork to exact revenge for things Silver Roc did.

I felt so bad for Golden Whip Han Tao (Lieh Lo). He saved Golden Swallow from from certain death. He nursed her back to life. He even sparred with her to keep her Kung Fu levels above par. And, she spends 3 years (Yup, Han Tao spent 3 years at her side) pining over the unrequited love of Silver Roc. Han Tao puts up with it because he too is in love with her.

Silver Roc, when not setting Golden Swallow up, spends most of his time at a brothel with Mei Niang (Chiu Sam-Yin). He uses her as, a substitute for Golden Swallow. You know the saying, if you cant be with the one you love, love the one you're with - however, Silver Roc makes it quite clear he has no feelings for Mei. He'd rather wax nostalgic over Golden Swallow, kill any baddie that crosses his path and of course, set Golden Swallow up for his crimes. Yeah, talk about toxic love.

Han Tao follows Golden Swallow in her search for Silver Roc. She needs to decide which one she loves more. It's quite clear from the moment she realizes Silver Roc is her old school chum, that her heart belongs to him. She constantly reminds Han Tao he's been friend-zoned.

The men finally meet and prepare to duel. Silver Roc's attempts to act all cool and nonchalant come off more annoying than impressive. His attitude is not believable, in my honest opinion. He spends most of the time looking like he'll collapse from a lack of sleep.

The best parts of this film are the brief, and a I do mean brief, appearances of other well known Shaw Brothers Actors. Lau Kar Leung and brother Wing are baddies who are bumped off by Silver Fox. Ku Feng is a father who's son is accused of stealing a goose because the accuser wants Ku Feng's house to add to his property. Sadly, the boy kills himself to prove his innocence and Ku Feng is murdered by the accusers cronies.

If you blink, you'll miss Wang Kuang-Yu as Lin Qian and Cliff Lok as Fang Ying, who are both killed off by Golden Swallow in a fight at a restaurant. The best moment is seeing David Chiang Da Wei as an eavesdropping brothel clerk. Now, there's someone who could have breathed the missing life into Silver Roc. David Chiang Da Wei would have given Silver Roc his signature over confident smirk and it would have made this movie pop.

Silver Roc and Han Tao's duel is merely a precursor to more unrequited love confessions between Silver Roc and Golden Swallow. Han Tao misinterprets Silver Roc's leap toward him and stabs Silver Roc mid-air. Silver Roc was actually aiming for Poison Dragon Wang Xiong (Yeung Chi-Hing). Xiong was sneaking up on Golden Swallow and Silver Roc wanted to protect her.

The dying Silver Roc demands Han Tao take Golden Swallow home, so she can't watch Silver Roc die. But, it's okay for Mei to hang around for the final curtain. Silver Roc hangs on to kill off a few more baddies before doing his version of James Cagney's "Made it Ma. Top of the World" from White Heat.

Golden Swallow and Mei bury Silver Roc between Golden Swallow's and Han Tao's homes. Yeah, that wouldn't be an issue for any man. Han Tao packs up and announces he's leaving - a good choice. He assures Golden Swallow they'll never meet again - also a good choice.

This is not a good Jimmy Yu Wang movie. It is, a great fight film. If you like checking out Shaw Brothers' actor in their younger days, this is one to watch. Otherwise, skip it.

Even better than the first? I sure think so!

[Boba_Fett1138 · 9/10 · 4 December 2011]

This movie quite surprised me. Not only because it's such a great one but because I liked it even better than its predecessor "Da zui xia" as well.

"Da zui xia" was already a surprising good movie, that besides was a genre defining one. It was one of the first 'modern' Kung Fu movies, with plenty of sword fights and action in it. But this is perhaps why I liked this sequel better; it's even more action filled! Not only does the movie feature some amazing and spectacular fight choreography in it but it's made even more spectacular and amazing thanks to the way it got shot. It has some absolutely wonderful cinematography in it, especially during all of its fight scenes. I also quite liked the hand-held camera-work during some of the sword-fights. I'm not too sure about but I believe that this is something I have never seen before in a genre movie like this.

Because the movie is so action packed, it becomes a truly entertaining one to watch, with a pleasant fast pace to it as well. The story still finds some room to throw in a love-story as well but it does this in a quite original way. It's a sort of love triangle love-story that plays out nicely for its story.

The character played by Pei-pei Cheng gets pushed somewhat more to the background this time but it's OK, since the movie brings in a lot of more awesome characters to replace her with. What I like about the character's is that you're constantly changing your opinions about them. Some of them start out as villains, who eventually turn out to be good guys after all.

It's not featuring a that complicated or well written story but it's serving its purpose well for the movie. It takes the movie to lots of beautiful looking places, where we meet all kinds of awesome characters, who often get into a fight with each other. Seriously, I can't see how someone could not like this movie, even when you aren't very familiar with the genre yet.

It's simple entertainment but oh so well made and brought to the screen!

9/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

One of those learning-as-you-go films

[InjunNose · 5/10 · 30 August 2022]

Nominally a sequel to "Come Drink with Me," this film does bring back Cheng Pei-pei as the title swordswoman Golden Swallow...but, aside from that, it bears little apparent resemblance to King Hu's 1966 classic. "Golden Swallow" was one of those learning-as-you-go films for Chang Cheh, who went on to become the elder statesman of Hong Kong martial arts cinema. Chang hadn't quite realized his vision, but was finding his way.

Wang Yu plays a thoroughly unlikable antihero, Silver Roc, who's out for revenge against the murderer of his parents. (Or his teacher. Or something.) Golden Swallow and another woman are in love with Silver Roc; an upstanding warrior called Iron Whip (Lo Lieh) has the hots for Golden Swallow, but can see that he's losing out to Silver Roc. Yang Chih-ching (Wang Yu's nemesis from the previous year's hit "The One-Armed Swordsman") portrays the lead villain, Poison Dragon. With smoother choreography, the limitations of the dreary soap opera-style plot might have been easier to overlook, but the scenes of combat prove unsatisfactory. There are lots of fights, certainly, but they're awkwardly choreographed and filmed. Chang Cheh knew that he wanted to create long, bloody fight scenes with a lone hero facing virtually impossible odds, and from here on out he began to fine-tune his approach. Beginning with "The Return of the One-Armed Swordsman" (1969), the fights got better and better.

"Golden Swallow" was filmed in Japan, and the film's gorgeous outdoor photography may be its strongest feature. It's a necessary step in the development of Chang Cheh's directorial style, but will be of interest primarily to Wang Yu/Shaw Brothers completists.

Golden swallow

[skullfire-48012 · 9/10 · 3 April 2019]

A beautiful, yet tragic, romance. Very well written, acted and directed. The action scenes were well placed and choreographed, they aid the story without overwhelming it. You may not get the ending you would have longed for, but, it is still appropriate to the story.

Great, classic old school wuxia from director Chang Cheh

[dworldeater · 8/10 · 12 November 2017]

Golden Swallow was a sort of sequel to King Hu's classic Come Drink With Me and the name of the film. Golden Swallow is also the name of returning character by actress Cheng Pei Pei, but is more of a vehicle for Jimmy Wang Yu. This is much different from Come Drink With Me, but is also a classic in its own right. This was directed by Chang Cheh and is a very sharp looking, action packed and well put together swordplay film. Performances are excellent and Cheng Pei Pei becomes involved in a love triangle between the righteous Iron Whip( Lo Lieh) and the ruthless Silver Roc(Wang Yu). Together the three of them must fight off an evil kung fu clan that Silver Roc had ticked off, but targeted Golden Swallow. In this film Wang Yu shines as revenge seeking anti hero as he slaughters a slew of bad guys in a gory fashion. He lives in a brothel and is greatly admired and adored by the ladies that live there. He is a great swordsman indeed, if you get my drift. But, what a cool character and Wang Yu does a great job in carrying the film while stealing a little thunder from Cheng Pei Pei and Lo Lieh, who both did an excellent job as well. Lo Lei is best known for playing villains, but he is great here as the heroic and honorable Iron Whip. Golden Swallow is very bloody and action packed and a very good earlier film from the legendary Chang Cheh.

Jimmy Wang Yu is an anti-hero, a merciless mercenary killer swordsman with a scholarly and poetic side pining for his lost love - The Golden Swallow

[Deusvolt · 8/10 · 28 February 2005]

Released in the Philippines with the title: The Golden Swallow,the film follows a well worn formula in Chinese swordplay movies. The character of Jimmy Wang Yu has a formidable secret fighting method called the Dragon's Flight or whatnot. He executes it with a high flying leap and slashes too quick for the eye to follow. Unfortunately, his arch-enemy has devised a formula counter-attack called The Dragon's Convulsion.

Always in immaculate white with a gleaming silver sword (he is Silver Roc, after all), the reed thin and handsome Wang Yu is at his prime in this movie. He pines for his lost love, a female swordfighter called Golden Swallow. The last scenes where a seriously wounded Wang Yu fights to the last is one of the best choreographed swordplay scenes ever.