Overview
“Come Drink with Me” is a 1966 Hong Kong wuxia (martial-arts chivalry) film directed by King Hu. Set in China during the Ming dynasty, it features a swordswoman and a drunken martial artist, and it depicts the fight between the government-general in the Jiangnan area and a bandit gang, and the succession struggle of the “Green Bamboo School”. Produced by Shaw Brothers Studio. 91 minutes.
Plot
When a party led by the governor’s son Chan (Wong Chung) escorts bandits, the fellow bandits led by the deputy leader called “Jade Faced Tiger” (Chan Hung-lit) attack them, and kidnap Chan.
Jade Faced Tiger takes Chan as a hostage, and he asks the government-general for the release of their jailed leader in exchange for the freedom of Chan. The governor sends Chan’s sister Golden Swallow (Cheng Pei-pei) to rescue Chan.
When Golden Swallow stays at a local inn, she is attacked by bandits, but she fights off them with her masterly swordplay, and she escapes from the night attack by the bandits with the help of a drunk beggar named Fan Da-Pei (Yueh Hua).
Fan Da-Pei intimates to Golden Swallow that the bandit gang is based in a Buddhist monastery named Guangji Temple. Golden Swallow gets in the temple by herself. When she fights against the bandits in the temple, she is injured by Jade Faced Tiger’s poisoned dart. Fan Da-Pei rescues her, and she is saved from death.
In Fan Da-Pei’s hideaway, Golden Swallow learns that Fan Da-Pei is a martial arts master and the rightful successor to the Green Bamboo School.
Fan Da-Pei had been looking for his senior pupil Abbot Liao Kung (Yeung Chi-hing), who took over the Green Bamboo School after killing their master. Fan Da-Pei has discovered that Abbot Liao Kung is based in the Guangji Temple and he joins forces with bandits.
With the help of Golden Swallow, leading her female warriors, Fan Da-Pei recaptures Chan in a surprise attack against the bandits, pretending to exchange the bandit leader for Chan. Then, Fan Da-Pei has a showdown with Abbot Liao Kung to take back the Green Bamboo School from him.
Commentary
“Come Drink with Me” is a pioneering work of the new Hong Kong martial arts films after the mid-1960s, which incorporated then-innovative elements, such as a female protagonist and violent action.
The story of the film is an adaptation of the Beijing Opera “The Drunken Beggar”.
The film is characterized by its stylized and graceful fight choreography like the dance of the Beijing Operas, bloody violence, dynamic camera work, detailed transitions, and the beauty of fantastic images.
There is a musical part, in which Fan Da-Pei sings with children, in the middle of the film.
