Come Drink With Me

Come Drink With Me (Da Zui Xia) (1966)

Runtime: 90 minutes

Directed by: King Hu

Starring: Pei-Pei Cheng, Hua Yueh, Hung Lieh Chen, Chih-Ching Yang, Yi Feng

From: Shaw Brothers

I saw this movie last night on Netflix Instant; it does deserve its high reputation. The movie I mean, although the same can go for Netflix Instant. After all, I was able to see this subtitled instead of a goofy dub. I talk about this in my Letterboxd review below:

Not that long ago, Netflix Instant added some Shaw Brothers movies to their service. I figured it was about time for me to try it out and see, for example, if the films would be subbed or dubbed. They were subbed, which I unquestionably did appreciate. I chose this one as it is one of the more famous Shaw films and a big early hit for them.

The plot is simple yet effective: some bandits kidnap the son of the Governor, as the government has their leader. They want a trade, or else the son dies. Well, the Governor happens to have a daughter named Golden Swallow who is a badass, and a graceful one at that. The lady happened to be a ballet dancer in real life so some of the fighting is more graceful than realistic... but I was good with that, as it was all exciting and thrilling. She meets up with someone named Drunken Cat (who has a troupe of kids, one of whom may or may not be Jackie Chan; it's just a rumor that he was) and he's not what he first appears to be. From there we get plenty of sword action & such things as daggers and poison darts.

I will give this movie a high rating not because of its grand reputation but because it deserves a nice rating. There are scenic outdoor settings and nice sets too. Lead Pei-Pei Cheng does a corking job at being a vicious engine of destruction... and being a very cool lady. The rest of the cast perform admirably but she and Drunken Cat were the highlights for me. A great scene was early on when Golden Swallow enters an inn and despite it being stocked with villains, she's not scared and we see how quick she is to deflect any sort of object coming their way, then she whips all their asses. Besides the action and the drama, it was a lengthy scene so things had time to build up.

I am glad I finally saw this. It was an exciting story where the relationship between Ms. Swallow and Mr. Cat was interesting, and Cat has a layered backstory too. The final act has an entire crew of female fighters and I found that to be pretty dope. There are some wacky moments but I rolled with the film when-for example-you see steam shoot out of people's hands. Overall, its reputation is deserved.