Cast Member: Yuen Siu-Tien

‘Come Drink With Me’ has convinced me of King Hu’s mastery of film-making and I would certainly consider his work here to be almost equal to the best of Chang Cheh and Liu Chia-Liang.

Yuen Woo-Ping and his brothers fill the film with stunning ‘drunken’ conflicts and duels.

No one who claims to be a Hong Kong action cinema fan or a true Chan fan should be without a copy of this movie.

The plot and characterisation are very weak but there’s enough about the fights to keep a kung fu fan watching till the end.

‘Heroes Of The East’ starts relatively slowly, but when the storyline develops beyond the basic exposition, this is another kung fu treat from ‘The Pops’.

‘Sleeping Fist’ is not brave enough to offer any variations on a very tired theme, but it is consistently rewarding from an action perspective.

‘Snake In The Eagle’s Shadow’ gave Jackie his first chance to shine outside the reigns of Lo Wei, and under the expert guidance of Woo Ping and Ng See Yuen delivers a classic of the genre.

Liu Chia Liang’s ‘The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin’ is an important cinematic moment and remains influential not just in Hong Kong film-making, but also globally.

Unfortunately, for veterans of old-school flicks, the choreography on display here is nothing new, and a lot of it takes place in the dark, which makes it less than easy to follow.

The stand-out feature is the abundant fight scenes that are not only exciting, but also have a level of imagination not always seen in independent kung-fu cinema.

Though the overly moral message may deter some, there’s more than enough rough and tumble scraps to entertain fight fans and a host of strong performances from the leads as well as a thoroughly involving story to engage most everyone else.

Joseph Kuo can be credited with providing the genre with much to savour, but ‘World Of Drunken Master’ is a very routine kung fu comedy.