Come Drink with Me (1966)

[Drunk Monk]

This is what I like about El Rey. The Flying Five Finger One Armed Eight Pole Shaolin Exploding Death Touch Thursdays are well paired. Golden Swallow is the sequel to Come Drink With Me, with Cheng Pei Pei again taking the titular role in a love triangle with Jimmy Wang Yu and Lo Lieh. What a choice. I've never cared for Wang Yu - he was a swimmer, not a martial artist, and his choreography always felt stiff like his acting. Lo Lieh is usually cast as the villain, a role that he would excel at later. According to El Rey, this was his first film. It's also not directed by King Hu. It's the other master of the wuxia genre, Chang Cheh. And it's pretty mediocre.

One thing I really liked about CDwM is that Golden Swallow is an independent heroine. She doesn't need a man. In fact, in both films, for some baffling reason, whenever Golden Swallow puts on men's clothes, she is taken to be a man, even those she's smokin hot, and doesn't change her hair or voice at all. Eh, all Asians look alike (and no, PPFY, this in no way justifies any of the Castle Highland 'oops-I-thought-you-were-Deb incidents. Not even). To have her subject to these two men who are going to duel over her reduces the character in so many ways. And it's more about Wang Yu, so the choreography is middling at best. The scenery is amazing - quite spectacular outdoor settings in contrast to CDwM which is almost all indoor sets. But that's the only notable improvement. GS was a very disappointing sequel.