It starts with Kiu Chong rides into town and finds some dead bodies. A gang seems to be celebrating and he gets into a fight with them. Next, Mother Meng discusses the situation with him, Pai Ying, and Ingrid Hu Yin-Yin (her sons and daughter). She tells them to leave town. Pai Ying steps outside and gets into a fight with a man in red played by Eddy Ko Hung. They agree to meet again in three days.
Cut to the gangsters are meeting at a large house. Lee Wan-Chung announces a bounty of 100 taels for any member of the Meng family. Lee's sons were killed in the opening fights.
My copy is a digital file that plays on a HDTV as wide screen but the picture does not really fill the screen. There are dual embedded Chinese and English subtitles but they are white on white and sometimes difficult to see. The colors are faded and wash into each other. At times I can't see the picture at all. This always seemed to happen during the fights which I found most annoying. There is supposed to be a version by Rare Kung Fu Movies released in 2011 that is wide screen and made from a special private film source. I would hope this would be a better visual experience but I do not have that copy. I have read other reviews of this movie and they all mention the poor video quality so maybe that version is no better.
The movie is rather heavy on the drama but in this case that is not a bad thing because the drama was well done. The fights were also well done. I am rating it just a bit above average for the genre of martial arts movies of the golden age from 1967 to 1984. I will not be watching this ever again unless I can upgrade to a better quality video.
Cut to the gangsters are meeting at a large house. Lee Wan-Chung announces a bounty of 100 taels for any member of the Meng family. Lee's sons were killed in the opening fights.
My copy is a digital file that plays on a HDTV as wide screen but the picture does not really fill the screen. There are dual embedded Chinese and English subtitles but they are white on white and sometimes difficult to see. The colors are faded and wash into each other. At times I can't see the picture at all. This always seemed to happen during the fights which I found most annoying. There is supposed to be a version by Rare Kung Fu Movies released in 2011 that is wide screen and made from a special private film source. I would hope this would be a better visual experience but I do not have that copy. I have read other reviews of this movie and they all mention the poor video quality so maybe that version is no better.
The movie is rather heavy on the drama but in this case that is not a bad thing because the drama was well done. The fights were also well done. I am rating it just a bit above average for the genre of martial arts movies of the golden age from 1967 to 1984. I will not be watching this ever again unless I can upgrade to a better quality video.
