There are probably millions of daggers in martial arts movies but only one dirk. I have no idea why but in this movie we have that one dirk.
In his book "The Ultimate Guide to Martial arts Movies of the 1970s" Dr. Craig D. Reid speculates about this dirk so I won't have to.
The movie starts with a pleasant moment catching doves spoiled by our madam arriving on horseback in a not long to live condition. On her death bed we flash back to 20 years ago when bandits besieged their city and only women and children escaped. The Black Tiger Gang is still after some treasures from that siege. One was on the roof right then and managed to escape. He reports to the chief. They kidnap Shu Pei-Pei. Chang Yi, hero on a white horse, overhears her calls for help and rescues her. He has quite a sword. It shoots swords. In the course of the movie he uses a variety of unusual weapons. There are times I find this annoying. Chinese martial arts has enough fantastic weapons without making up any. Here it was done but not overdone.
Chang Yi was an actor and not a martial artist when he started at Shaw Brothers. After just three to four years it is evident from his fight sequences that he spent a lot of time learning from the stunt men. The first fight in this movie shows none of that but hang in there and you will see what I mean.
The movie continues with the refugees continuing their struggle against the Black Tiger Gang. Some plot points are stretched thin such as pretending to be mute for 20 years and too many traitors among them. The excellent final fight makes the audience forget those details.
The fight is all outdoors and not on one of Shaw Studios big sets but just among tombstones. Chang Yi uses multiple weapons and fights empty handed against weapons. I could find no frame in which a stunt man took his place. This was an excellent end fight. Technically though, it was Ching Li who delivered the final blows to the villains, in case you are keeping a strict body count.
I rate this movie above average and recommend it for all fans of martial arts movies of the golden age 1967 to 1984.
