Come Drink With Me is the classic wu xia film by King Hu that inspired and influenced filmmakers for year to come. The ethereal Cheng Pei-pei (just 19 at the time) 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 aided by the drunken wanderer Drunken Cat (Yueh Hua), who turns out to be a kung fu master searching for the monk who betrayed his teacher and school. As luck would have it, the monk turns out to be in contact with the gang, allowing Golden Swallow and Drunken Cat to band together and accomplish both their missions.

For the time in which it was made and even today, Come Drink With Me is an excellent film. The comparisons in style to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon have been numerous, but after seeing CDWM again, they become more evident. The fight in the restaurant is very similar to Zhang Ziyi's brawl in CTHD, as is the chase across the rooftops in both films. Ang Lee's film owes much to King Hu's, and fittingly CTHD pays more tribute to CDWM than steals from it. Hu's filming and editing may seem a bit jumpy, but given the time at which this was made and the complete lack of special effects, the typically wu xia-style super-human abilities that he is trying demonstrate come across quite effectively. In these times of CGI, we have gotten spoiled by lavish visuals and effects, and sometimes lose the ability to use our imagination to fill in what we don't see. Come Drink With Me is a great example of a film that you have to suspend your beliefs enjoy what the story provides for you: a great adventure with colorful characters, an exciting story and the ability to enter the wu xia world as it had never been shown before.