After Jackie’s two-picture deal with Seasonal films expired, he returned (somewhat unhappily) to Lo Wei’s film studio. However, with two genuine hits under his belt, he now had enough clout to make some changes – first and foremost, he would now direct himself and retain some control of his films.

The results are somewhat mixed. The plot and general feel of this film bear striking resemblances to the films he made for Seasonal, but sadly the production values don’t come anywhere close. Even in the recent remaster of this film, it still looks cheap and rather amateur. Also, the humour in this film is very hit-or-miss, and not a patch on Drunken Master.

The absence of Yuen Siu-Tien is another handicap (he had become a big star after Drunken Master and this lead to him being inundated with work – sadly contributing to his death shortly afterwards). Instead, we have James Tien in aged make-up and grey wig (which works insomuch as he doesn’t need to be doubled, but is unconvincing nonetheless) and Chan Wai-Lau in the “Kung Fu Master/Beggar” role.

However, the whole scene where Jackie is in drag is brilliant, and the chopstick struggle with Chan Wai-Lau is a masterpiece – it must have taken ages to work out the intricacies and execute it so smoothly. In fact, it’s worth seeing the film for these two scenes alone, but the final fight with Yen Shi-Kwan isn’t bad either.