From the 'Golden (Harvest) age of kung fu comes this old school period style film from a bunch of young guns lead by director Wu Yu Shang (later to become famous as John Woo) featuring Tao Liang Tan (Dorian Tan) James Tien, Chan Yuan Lung (Jackie Chan), Hung Kam Bo (Sammo Hung) and Biao Yuen (Yuen Biao).
Good solid stuff with Woo adding some touches of class with some nice scenic shots wrapped around the usual broad brush story and frequent action.
Being 'old school' means the action is generally rather contrived and stiff, two guys going through a set series of moves and counters in a kind of rythmic dance, but it seems to improve as the movie progresses (either that or this viewer became less discriminating).
A taekwondo champion in Korea, Tan was renowned for his outstanding high kicking technique, which is impressive, however he's not much of an actor and nothing special to look at.
James Tien is far more charismatic in the lead villains role, with Hung providing trademark support as a semi comedic henchman.
Jackie Chan fills one of the two main friend of the hero roles and gets a couple of spots to show his wares, including what may be the best fight sequences in the film, as one of his adversaries has the most interesting weapon in the movie, a sort of sword blade on the end of a chain.
Yuen Biao has a minor role, but was mainly on hand to act as stunt double for the two leads apparently
If pre Bruce Lee 70s kung fu is your bag, then this won't let you down.
