1971 Taiwan with Jimmy Wang Yu and it is not the Shaw Brothers movie "The Assassin" from 1967. Surprisingly the opening sequence with Jimmy looks like it was shot on a Shaw Brothers set. Jimmy even has his pucker puss on like he did on the Shaw Brothers oldies. Next some people need a bodyguard. Jimmy is at the tea house and it seems he got stiffed as he has no money to pay for his wine and has to sell his sword. Some men of dubious integrity are hired as bodyguards. The caravan is attacked and Jimmy enters the fray because he doesn't like to see his old sword being wielded so poorly. He and the buyer buddy up and go to the tea house. The buyer has a big boss and they are using Jimmy for some ulterior motive. For the time being, Jimmy plays along. Whatever they are up to I don't quite get but it seems now Jimmy is hired to kill the wrong people or personal involvement. He has to kill a guy he does not want to kill. He proceeds anyway and seems about to do it when a shadow passes by and kills the guy for him. Jimmy is confused and spends a lot of time thinking and talking to the girl. Yes, it is dragging in the middle. The mystery killer incident repeats in case we weren't paying attention. The bad guys are all traitors working with corrupt officials. The final fight is so-so, far from the brawling fights in other Wang Yu movies. The other reviewer seems to have enjoyed the Shaw Brothers movie from 1967, and I did too, but this link is for another movie, just to clear that up as titles are misleading in this genre.
