Come Drink with Me
- -Cheng Pei-pei plays Golden Swallow, a fighter-for-hire who has been contracted by the local government to retrieve the governor's kidnapped son. Holding him is a group of rebels who are demanding that their leader be released from prison in return for the captured son. After a brief encounter with the gang at a local restaurant, Golden Swallow is joined by an inebriated wanderer Drunken Cat (Yueh Hua) who aids her in her mission.
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Cheng Pei-pei plays Golden Swallow, a fighter-for-hire who has been contracted by the local government to retrieve the governor’s kidnapped son.
Come Drink with Me is a 1966 Hong Kong wuxia film directed by King Hu. Set during the Ming Dynasty, it stars Cheng Pei-pei and Yueh Hua as warriors with Chan Hung-lit as the villain, and features action choreography by Han Ying-chieh. The film was selected as the Hong Kong entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 39th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.
A general’s son is taken hostage and used as leverage to free a bandit leader. The general’s other offspring, a girl named Golden Swallow, is sent to rescue the son. When the bandit gang encounter the Golden Swallow in a local inn, the prisoner negotiation escalates to bloodshed and the goons are swiftly defeated.
A local drunk beggar named Fan Da-Pei acts as Golden Swallow’s guardian angel, secretly helping her avoid being ambushed at night. That morning Fan Da-Pei, whom we now know only as “Drunken Cat” tips off Golden Swallow to the bandits’ whereabouts. They have occupied a Buddhist monastery. In the guise of an acolyte, Golden Swallow penetrates the temple and confronts the man who has taken her brother hostage. During the brawl she is injured by a deadly, poisoned dart. She escapes and is rescued in the woods by Fan who nurses her back to health. While she’s convalescing, Golden Swallow learns that Fan is actually a martial arts master and a leader of a Kung Fu society, which he otherwise keeps a secret.
The monastery is led by an evil abbot, Liao Kung, who is also a kung fu master and has allied himself with the bandits. On finding out that the beggar carries a bamboo staff, he realises that the beggar is a former student of the same master. The abbot has in fact killed their master in order to get this same bamboo staff, which was rescued by Fan Da-Pei. Now Liao Kung sees an opportunity to gain control of the staff.
Fan Da-Pei is hesitant to confront Liao Kung for two reasons. First, Liao Kung’s kung fu skills are unparalleled, and Fan Da-Pei thinks he has no chance against him, or at the very least, one of them would not survive a confrontation. Second, despite his evil ways, Liao Kung has actually done a good deed for Fan Da-Pei: he persuaded the master to accept Fan Da-Pei into the Green Wand Kung-Fu school when he was a mere homeless orphan, thus giving him a chance in life. For this reason, Fan is reluctant to fight the abbot even though Fan knows about the abbot’s criminal deeds.
To release the General’s son, Fan stages a prisoner exchange. During the exchange, the government soldiers receive the General’s son, but Fan prevents the bandits from releasing their leader. As the government soldiers march the bandit leader back to prison, the bandits attack the procession. Golden Swallow, leading her female warriors, fights off the bandits. The evil abbot forces a showdown with Fan Da-Pei, who defeats and kills him. [wikipedia]