The Water Margin is a really "big" production of the Shaw Bros. Studio. It tells the story of the legendary 103 Heroes doing acts of valor and chivalry while fighting evil and injustice. The Studio bosses used every one of their stars in the cast and they did not penny pinch in the costume department. Lavish set design and lighting stamp the trademark Studio "look" to the film.

Running about two hours, there are a lot of characters introduced throughout and the viewer is barraged with information, most of which has little to do with the actual plot. This epic is overseen by the Studios top director Chang Cheh who continues to draw inspiration from the American, and Italian, Western genre. In this production he borrows, quite liberally, some musical cues from Ted Post's Hang 'em High [1968] which starred Clint Eastwood in his first post-Leone western.