Customer Reviews
Considered the first modern wuxia, the 1966 'Come Drink With Me' is a must see martial arts flick. Although the plot revolves around swordswoman Golden Swallow (Cheng Pei Pei) on a mission to rescue her brother, its not the story that makes this film most noteworthy. Its that it was a Hong Kong film that combined for the first time Western editing techniques with Japanese samurai style along with beautiful cinematography all within a Chinese aesthetic. Director King Hu would later make 'Dragon Inn' and his most celebrated film 'A Touch of Zen'. By todays standards the movie's action might seem slow and stylized with overly dramatic moments, but in 1966 it blazed a new path for the Hong Kong film industry going forward.
The legendary Cheng Pei Pei's beauty and charm along with her dance background made her a perfect lead for martial arts movies. International audiences best know her as the treacherous Jade Fox in the 2000 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' but the Hong Kong superstar already had a 30+ year career up to that point. When I think about her illustrious career there are many films of hers that I love, but I always come back to my favorite and the one that put her and director King Hu on the map, the immortal Come Drink With Me.
