Come Drink with Me

1966 Hong Kong film by King Hu

This article is about the Hong Kong film. For the Chinese TV series with the same Chinese title, see Drunken Hero.

Come Drink with Me

Hong Kong theatrical poster

Chinese name
Traditional Chinese| 大醉俠
Simplified Chinese| 大醉侠
Literal meaning| Great Drunken Hero
| Transcriptions

Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin| Dà Zuì Xiá
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping| Daai6 Zeoi3 Haap6
Directed by| King Hu
Written by| King Hu
Ting Shan-hsi
Produced by| Run Run Shaw
Starring| Cheng Pei-pei
Yueh Hua
Chan Hung-lit
Cinematography| Nishimoto Tadashi
Edited by| Chiang Hsing-lung
Music by| Chow Lan-ping

Production
company

Shaw Brothers Studio

Distributed by| Shaw Brothers Studio

Release date

* 7 April 1966 (1966-04-07)

Running time

| 91 minutes
Country| Hong Kong
Language| Mandarin
Box office| 12,892 tickets (France)[1]

Come Drink with Me (Chinese: 大醉俠; pinyin: Dà Zuì Xiá; lit. 'Great Drunken Hero') is a 1966 Hong Kong wuxia film produced by Shaw Brothers Studio and directed by King Hu. Set during the Ming dynasty, it stars Cheng Pei-pei, Yueh Hua and Chan Hung-lit in the leading roles, and features action choreography by Han Ying-chieh.

Considered one of the greatest wuxia films of all time, Come Drink with Me was both a critical and commercial success, and launched the career of Cheng Pei-pei as a star of the wuxia genre.[2] It was selected as the Hong Kong entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 39th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.[3]

## Plot

[edit]

Zheng Bi-qiu, a provincial magistrate and the son of the governor, is kidnapped by the bandit Jade-Faced Tiger. Tiger demands Zheng release his imprisoned master, but when the principled man refuses, he instead holds him for ransom: demanding to the Governor that the master be released in five days, or his son will be killed.

The Governor's other child, a young woman known as Golden Swallow, is sent to rescue her brother. Initially disguised as a man, Golden Swallow is herself an adept swordfighter and martial artist, demonstrating her skills against Tiger's bandits when they confront her at a local inn.

A local beggar, known as Drunken Cat, acts as Golden Swallow's guardian angel, covertly saving her from an ambush attempt later that night. When Golden Swallow goes to thank him the next day, he feigns ignorance, appearing only as a hedonistic drunkard collecting scraps with his army of children. However, he covertly communicates the bandits whereabouts via a coded message in a song, describing the traditional Chinese character meaning temple (廟).

Jade-Faced Tiger's gang have occupied a local Buddhist monastery with the support of its corrupt abbot, Liao Kung. Golden Swallow penetrates the compound disguised as a parishioner, but is swiftly found out by Jade-Faced Tiger and forced into a confrontation. Despite her skills, she is woefully outnumbered, and narrowly escapes with her life. During the brawl, she is injured by one of Tiger's poison-tipped darts. She is rescued in the woods by Drunken Cat, who nurses her back to health.

While she is convalescing, Golden Swallow learns that Drunken Cat is actually Fan Da-pei, a Shaolin master and a leader of the Green Wand Kung Fu school, which he otherwise keeps a secret. Liao Kung is Fan's blood brother, having him into the martial arts society when he was a starving orphan. Greedy for power, Liao Kung killed their master to take over the school, and sought the valuable bamboo staff that is their symbol, which Fan has obtained. Although Liao Kung claims to be the legitimate heir to the throne, as he was the most senior student, Fan maintains that his murderous deeds have negated that right. However, he is unwilling to fight his blood brother, both out of gratitude for saving his life, and because of Liao's superior skills.

Fan negotiates a prisoner exchange between Zheng Bi-qiu and the bandits' master. However, after Bi-qiu is handed released, Fan ambushes the bandits and prevents them 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, manages to fight them off, killing all but Jade-Faced Tiger, who is spared at the intervention of Liao Kung. A fight with Fan ensues, and he holds his blood brother at swordpoint, demanding he reform his evil ways in exchange for his life. Liao seemingly agrees, but then later attacks Fan at his house. In their final confrontation, Fan kills Liao with their master's bamboo staff.

## Cast

[edit]

* Cheng Pei-pei as "Golden Swallow" Zheng
* Yueh Hua as "Drunken Cat" Fan Da-pei
* Chan Hung-lit as Jade-Faced Tiger
* Lee Wan-chung as "Smiling-Tiger" Tsu Kan
* Yeung Chi-hing as Abbot Liao Kung
* Wong Chung as Zheng Bi-qiu
* Shum Lo as "Number Five", bandit
* Wang Ruo-Ping as "Baldie", bandit
* Han Ying-chieh, Yuen Siu-tien, Ku Feng and Ting Shan-hsi as bandits
* Hao Li-jen as Elder Monk
* Cheung Hei as Innkeeper
* Jackie Chan, Mars and Alan Chui Chung-San as beggar children
* Ching Siu-tung as Novice
* Angela Pan as Soldier

## Production

[edit]

Come Drink with Me was shot on-location in Taiwan and at the Shaw Brothers Studio in Hong Kong. It was the breakthrough role for actress Cheng Pei-pei,[4] who was only 19 years old at the time of filming. Cheng did not have a martial arts background, but was a trained ballet dancer and choreographer, which director King Hu found conducive to his style of action filmmaking.[2]

Hu told critic Tony Rayns (quoted in Bey Logan's book) that he had deliberately chosen a ballet dancer for the lead female role, "... rather than fighting. I'm very interested in Peking opera and particularly its movement and action effects, although I think it's difficult to express them adequately on stage, where the physical limitations are too great". King Hu was said to recognise that some of the fights are stylised as opposed to realistic but claimed that combat in his movies was "always keyed to the notion of dance".

Jackie Chan is rumoured to have appeared as one of the child singers near the beginning of the film. Lead actress Cheng Pei-pei denied this in the audio commentary to the Hong Kong DVD release of the film. Still, the film is listed among Chan's acting credits on his official website and autobiography.[5]

## Reception

[edit]

The film was a great success upon its release in Hong Kong, and made a star of Cheng Pei-pei and others.[6]

## Home video

[edit]

In 2003, Intercontinental Video Limited (IVL), through Celestial Pictures, released a digitally restored version of this classic film with a new trailer and interviews, including Cheng Pei-pei.[7]

In May 2008, Dragon Dynasty released their own edition with an improved transfer, the original Mandarin mono soundtrack and exclusive supplements, including a newly recorded audio commentary with Cheng Pei-pei, trailers, and interviews with the cast (Cheng Pei-pei, Yueh Hua) and director King Hu.

## Sequel

[edit]

A sequel, Golden Swallow, was released in 1968. Cheng Pei-pei reprised her role, with Jimmy Wang Yu as her male co-star.

## Unproduced remake

[edit]

Producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein announced in April 2007 that they would invest in movies with Asian themes. One of the movies they announced was a remake of Come Drink with Me, directed by Quentin Tarantino.[8] However, little has been heard of the project since then, and in June 2008, Tarantino announced his next project would be Inglourious Basterds, leaving the status of the remake undisclosed.

## See also

[edit]

* List of submissions to the 39th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
* List of Hong Kong submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Soyer, Renaud (4 February 2014). "Jackie Chan Box Office". Box Office Story. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
2. ^ a b "How did Cheng Pei-pei, martial arts actress of Crouching Tiger fame, first see stardom?". South China Morning Post. 13 December 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
3. ^ Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
4. ^ quoted in Bey Logan, Hong Kong Action Cinema, Titan Books (1995)
5. ^ Filmography (Child & Stuntman Only) Archived 13 January 2006 at the Wayback Machine
6. ^ Offscreen :: Wuxia Masks: On Come Drink With Me and the Beijing Opera
7. ^ DVD Times – Come Drink With Me
8. ^ Weinsteins investing in Asian films

## External links

[edit]

* Love HK Film review
* Review Archived 18 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
* Review
* Review
* Review[usurped]
* Illustrated Review
* Come Drink with Me at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by King Hu

* Come Drink with Me (1966)
* Dragon Inn (1967)
* A Touch of Zen (1971)
* The Fate of Lee Khan (1973)
* The Valiant Ones (1975)
* Raining in the Mountain (1979)
* Legend of the Mountain (1979)
* The Swordsman (1990)
* Painted Skin (1992)

* v
* t
* e

Hong Kong submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

1959–2000|

* For Better, for Worse (1959)
* The Enchanting Shadow (1960)
* The Love Eterne (1963)
* Between Tears and Laughter (1964)
* Come Drink with Me (1966)
* The Arch (1969)
* The Last Tempest 1976)
* Raining in the Mountain (1979)
* Homecoming (1984)
* Painted Faces (1989)
* Eight Taels of Gold (1990)
* Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
* Farewell My Concubine (1993)
* The Day the Sun Turned Cold (1994)
* Summer Snow (1995)
* Hu-Du-Men (1996)
* Made in Hong Kong (1998)
* Ordinary Heroes (1999)
* In the Mood for Love (2000)

2001–present|

* Fulltime Killer (2001)
* The Touch (2002)
* Infernal Affairs (2003)
* Running on Karma (2004)
* Perhaps Love (2005)
* The Banquet (2006)
* Exiled (2007)
* Painted Skin (2008)
* Prince of Tears (2009)
* Echoes of the Rainbow (2010)
* A Simple Life (2011)
* Life Without Principle (2012)
* The Grandmaster (2013)
* The Golden Era (2014)
* To the Fore (2015)
* Port of Call (2016)
* Mad World (2017)
* Operation Red Sea (2018)
* The White Storm 2: Drug Lords (2019)
* Better Days (2020)
* Zero to Hero (2021)
* Where the Wind Blows (2022)
* A Light Never Goes Out (2023)
* Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (2024)

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