You can usually tell where a Shaw Brother's wuxia
lands in the rankings by the cast. The big ones get Ti Lung, David Chiang,
Jimmy Wang-yu while smaller ones get Wai Wang. This one gets Wai Wang as
the hero. He usually plays these smarmy villains, conmen or perverts, but
1971 was a busy year for Shaw martial arts and so they must have drafted
him into the action. Considering that the other actors are Tina Chin-fei,
Margaret Hsing-hui and Tsou Shen in the action scenes, you can count on it
being less than pristine. The director Hsu Tseng-hung had made a few good
martial arts films - Temple of the Red Lotus (one of the first Shaw wuxia
films), The Twin Swords (the follow-up), King Cat, Twelve Deadly Coins -
but you need tools to do it. In earlier films he had Wang-yu, Lo Lieh, Chang
Yi and Cheng Pei-pei among others. Here he gets Chang Yi and kills him off
almost immediately. It also gets Sammo Hung - as a rapist - and he
too is killed before you sit down. This isn't to knock the actors but they
are not martial artists and it shows in the choreography. Clunky and slow.
But it is still an entertaining film spreading
some solid drama and romance around the action. It takes a while to catch
on to the plot but once you do, it is pretty simple. There is a knife called
the Deer Knife that can cut through anything - even a tough over cooked steak
- and everybody wants it. It will make them the King of the Martial Arts
World. Xi Niang wants it - she is a heroic swordswoman played by the stunning
Tina Chin-fei - one of the beauties of the Shaw roster who never really made
it to the top tier. Her character is the one that saves the women from being
raped by four men and kills them all. Sammo included but at least he gets
a few lines of dialogue before she cuts him down. She finds a family slaughtered
and is told that Xiao the Rambler (Wai Wang) is responsible but finds it
hard to believe. He is her friend and is known for stealing from the rich
and giving to the poor. In fact, impersonators of him are robbing and killing
all over the country giving him a poor reputation.
The Deer Knife is being delivered to Lian
Cheng-bi (Tsou Shen) and his cousin Miss Shen (Margaret). Every time I see
Margaret Hsing-hui I think of Rosamund Kwan - there is a very strong resemblance.
Miss Shen is nicknamed the Great Beauty by the press and neighbors. The Knife
is stolen by minions of the Happy King and now he is very happy. But he wants
one more thing he tells his men - the Great Beauty. But bad luck for them
as they cross paths with the Rambler with her slung over their shoulders.
Maybe not being so obvious would have been a better idea. Saving a girl is
the best way to her heart and Miss Shen responds accordingly. But he is a
rambler, a rover, a joker, a smoker, a midnight poacher. Not a man to be
tied down to a woman. And he likes getting drunk with large jugs of wine.
It is Shaw and it is wuxia and it is based on a script from Gu Long. Not
one of the best but I still enjoyed it. The porky Ko Hsiao-Pao plays the
Rambler's good friend in one of his bigger roles.
