Reviewed by: Chungking_Cash Date: 04/03/2007 Chang Cheh, renown for male chauvinism, tilts the focus away from actress Cheng Pei Pei in "Golden Swallow" a disappointing, mediocre follow-up to the excellent "Come Drink with Me" one of the first martial arts films to feature a female protagonist. Chang is no King Hu and as such the ambience is not there and neither is the narrative. The actors are fine and the martial arts, while inferior to the original's ballet-style choreography, are square with other Shaw Brothers productions of this period. The script is a featherweight romance that cannot anchor the film and Chang succumbs to his lust for cruel torture and visceral executions multiple times. Even with the finale looming which promises to bring together Jimmy Wang Yu, Cheng Pei Pei, and Lo Lieh in an orgy of bright red syrup -- boredom, unfortunately -- has already taken hold. Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: cal42 Date: 04/30/2006 I fully understand and appreciate the importance of this film on the genre of Hong Kong films, but it literally bored me to tears. Whereas Come Drink With Me was an entertaining and beautifully shot classic, this semi-sequel is dull and surprisingly squalid looking. Jimmy Wang-Yu exudes all the grace and charisma of a dead sloth, as usual. It’s a mystery to me why he was so popular during this period. Reviewer Score: 3

Reviewed by: Gaijin84 Date: 02/10/2006 Summary: Good follow up to Come Drink With Me Although it really should be called "Silver Roc", "Golden Swallow" is Chang Cheh's follow-up to the legendary "Come Drink With Me," starring Cheng Pei-pei. The title would suggest that the movie would focus on Pei-pei's Golden Swallow character, but instead tends to follow the exploits of one of Chang Cheh's favorite actors, Jimmy Wang Yu (Silver Roc). At the start of the movie Golden Swallow is attacked and poisoned, leading a fellow master, Golden Whip (Lo Lieh), to rescue and protect her in his secluded valley. In the meantime, Silver Roc is on a murderous rampage throughout the region, targeting criminals and gangs, his hatred stemming from the brutal murder of his parents by petty thugs who were never caught. He leaves Golden Swallow's darts at the scene of each massacre, hoping to draw her into a confrontation. This leads to my main problem with this film. Even though the action is fantastic, the blood flows freely and Jimmy Wang Yu is a joy to watch, the premise of the story falls flat quickly. Silver Roc is intent on meeting his former classmate Golden Swallow, but the reason is never revealed. It is assumed that he is in love with her, but from her descriptions of him you would never know they had even talked, let alone fallen in love in the past. She mentions that he was aloof and hardly ever talked to any of his classmates, but we're supposed to believe that he is madly in love with her, willing to do anything to get her to find him. Lo Lieh acts as the chivalrous hero who wants to protect Golden Swallow from Silver Roc, but realizes that the two are destined to meet again. For the most part, the film is fun to watch for the massive amount of over-the-top violence and liberal doses of blood sprayed around the set, but in the end I found myself asking why any of the death and destruction had to occur in the first place. Had the back-story for the plot been set up stronger, the movie itself would have benefited greatly. Reviewer Score: 7

Reviewed by: TheManInWhite Date: 11/02/2004 Summary: Close but no cigar... Upon watching this film, I couldn't help but notice a few differences between this and the well-acclaimed Come Drink With Me. For one, CDWM had more of a sense of nobility about it whereas GS seemed to be a grand showcase of senseless violence in a way only Chang Cheh can bring. Jimmy Wang Yu's purpose for his killing spree was just to see Cheng Pei Pei? Also, Cheng Pei Pei's hands were that clean either when it came to random acts of killing though there weren't many fight scenes for her. Lo Lieh barely got to crack his whip in this one. It was nice to see some familiar faces in this film - Ku Feng, Liu Chia Liang, Lau Kar Wing, Wu Ma, the Yuens, etc. The outdoor scenes were very good for its time period. Overall, I recommend it to those who may want to compare it with Come Drink With Me or whoever wants to see this follow-up to it.

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy Date: 09/18/2004 Summary: It reminds of of "reality bites" Yes, the american drama "reality bites" and why you may ask? Cheng Pei Pei will have to choose from good guy hero Lo Lieh who is loyal and noble, or Wang Yu who kills people because he likes it and because it's a way to lure back Cheng pai pai to his arms, if you know "reality bites" you will know the answer!! The action itself is nothing special, just swing the sword and watch the blood flow. To me, Wang Yu is not convincing, i think because the audience is so use to him being a good guy. Lo Lieh plays his small part well, he should of got more air time. Cheng Pai Pai breezes through this movie, you almost forget she is there as she doesn't weild her sword as much as expected Disappointed since my expectations were a little high but worth a watch 6/10

Reviewed by: MrBooth Date: 07/18/2004 Summary: ****1/2 Nominal sequel to Come Drink With Me, with Chang Cheh infusing his own bloody style with that of King Hu's work from the previous year to create a rather wonderful beast. Much more melodramatic and violent (the body count is quite staggering) but very beautifully and creatively shot. There's some very innovative camera work, including some camera work in fight scenes that was years ahead of its time. Sometimes it must be admitted that their ambitions exceeded their abilities somewhat (and some shots are just plain out of focus :p ), but full marks for trying. Almost a 5 star film. Reviewer Score: 9

Reviewed by: pjshimmer Date: 07/26/2001 Summary: This is so gay.... I just find it very, very, gay, indeed, that some guy would take a perfectly fine movie in Mandarin and dub Cantonese to it. This is obvious because we can hear the original Mandarin language softly in the background! So the whole time I lost about 2/3 of the picture on screen and had to put up with a dubbed version. This 1968 Chang Cheh production is hailed as a SB classic. However, few things about it are quite disturbing. 1) Wang Yu seems to have no swords skill what-so-ever. The whole time he simply waved his sword around a million times-even though one could feel his heavy power. 2) There seems to be a killing rampage going on here. Even Cheng Pei Pei kills everybody she sees - regardless of whether they deserved to die. For instance, one scene has several people mistaking her for the murder of their loved ones (real murderer is Wang Yu, of course), but Cheng Pei Pei didn't reason with these guys at all and simply slaughtered them at once. The moral value here is at conflict. Other than that, we get a good plot and a realistic love story. Lo Lieh proves once again what a magnificent actor he is. I would not recommend this film to anyone who is against violence, since there seems to be a bunch. Also, for anyone looking for GOOD action, forget it! (Wang Yu is especially disappointing) But if you like a good story and pretty nice acting, like I do, then this film will be worth your time. Though I did like One-Armed Swordsman 1 & 2, Killer Darts, & 12 Deadly Coins much better. [6/10]

Reviewed by: battlemonkey Date: 12/21/1999 Silver Roc, a walking death machine, takes on the Dragon gangand kills what appears to be everyone in the entire universe. Tons of killing. Wang Yu kills with a sword more people than John Woo kills with guns. Despite the wholesale carnage, this isn't nearly as exciting as the previous excursion into blood-drenched swordsmanship, ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN. Best thing about this is that Wang Yu's incredible sword technique seems to be that he swings the sword back and forth and guys run into it in waves.