Come Drink with Me (1966)

August 5, 2015

Directed by the famous King Hu (Dragon Gate Inn, The Swordsman, Painted Skin, A Touch of Zen), Come Drink with Me is a Wuxia film set in the Ming Dynasty. The story follows Golden Swallow a constable for the Governor who is after her brothers kidnappers and Fan Da-pei who has a mysterious story all of his own!  Together their stories intertwine to become the same as they match wits and battle against a bunch of criminals Jade Faced Tiger, Smiling Tiger Tsu Kan, and Abbot Liao Kung!

Cheng Pei-pei as Golden Swallow

This is a classic Wuxia movie and certainly one of my favorites.  I was grinning through the entire movie as I watched it on NetFlix today (I own it on DVD but I want to encourage NetFlix on getting more of these movies). This is Shaw Brothers at its best! Two of the child actors Mars and Ching Siu-tung would certainly make a name for themselves.  Mars is now a member of Jackie Chan’s Stunt team and Jackie’s Stunt Double and Ching Siu-tung is now a famous director responsible for A Chinese Ghost Story!

Come Drink with Me certainly set the bar for Wuxia films and you can see this in Tsui Hark’s Return to Dragon Inn (a remake of King Hu’s Dragon Inn) and Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The movie itself is inspired by Chinese Opera

left to right Yeung Chi-hing as Abbot Liao Kung, Yueh Hua as Fan Da-pei , and Cheng Pei-pei as Golden Swallow

The action sequences are very well done and the acting is spectacular. I’m not going to give much away as you really must see this film for yourself!

Golden Swallow surrounded by Jade Faced Tiger’s henchman

Cheng Pei-pei (Princess Iron Fan, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Wing Chun, Legendary Amazons) as Golden Swallow

Yueh Hua as (The Sentimental Swordsman, Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon) Fan Da-pei / Drunken Knight (Drunken Cat)

Chan Hung-lit (The Shaolin Invincibles, Wong Fei Hung – Master of Kung Fu TV series) as Jade Faced Tiger

Lee Wan-chung (Revenge of a Swordswoman, The Duel, Shaolin Martial Arts) as Smiling Tiger Tsu Kan

Yeung Chi-hing (One-Armed Swordsman, Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre 1 & 2, Disciples of the 36th Chamber) as Abbot Liao Kung

Mars (A member of Jackie Chans stunt crew, Fists of Fury) as One of Fan Da-pei beggar kids

Ching Siu-tung (Director of Duel to the Death, and A Chinese Ghost Story) as Boy monk who gets injured in the eye

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OffScreen thoughts on the movie and King Hu

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