Review of Have Sword, Will Travel (1969) by Steve W — 06 Sep 2014

I am a Shaw Brothers-fan since years and own many of their newly remastered films on DVD.

The most are from the 70s and the story is often thin, the fight scenes are sometimes unspectacular, but THIS one beats them all.

Likable, heroic characters played by Ti Lung (the badass) and Li Ching (both kick asses, also the woman), a stranger, a Clint Eastwood-esque guy played by David Chiang, the plot twists and shots of blood spurting, dying enemies in slow-motion make this movie so great.

"Have Sword, Will Travel" is one of the first (1969) and one of the best Wuxia Eastern films ever.

Wuxia is the combination of heroic characters, warriors, a beautiful landscape (set), an adventurous story with flying (wirework), jumping (trampoline) characters (like "Hero", "House of flying Daggers", "Grouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") and many artistic scenes / shots in slow-motion.

The characters and sets in this movie are great, overall it's amazing, especially the bloody and totally unexpected finale in the pagoda, this is chinese cinema at it's best!

Many of the best Martial Arts films were made in the 60s, back then they used gallons and gallons of fake blood and turned the brutal killings of many many enemies into art.

The fight scenes are very well made, brutal and gory and not cheesy at all (like in the late 70s).

I will not post any spoilers here (regarding the story) because fans of Martial Arts films and the Shaw Brothers should check this out.

A Shaw Bros Wuxia masterpiece, a definite must see! (10/10).