Towards the end of Chang Chen's time at the Shaw Brothers studios, his films had evolved from very stagy Sword dramas to vast historical epics to fantastic superhero period kung fu films. Along the way he dabbled in gangster dramas. The one connecting trend in his career was the extreme violence and gore that permeates most of his films and his obsession with male bonding. By the end of his career he was making films without any women in the cast and the men were parading around in revealing open torso outfits with shiny chests. Make of that what you will however this film is a welcome exception in the trend. Based on a popular book, Chang Cheh keeps his predilections low this time.
Kuo Choi (Phillip Kwok) is the lead in this film as he plays a righteous bumpkin named "Bastard" by his mother. He happens to resemble the leader of a criminal clan that is being stalked by a master martial artist who single-handedly punishes clans for their misdeeds. Bastard is kidnapped by the gang to replace their missing leader and hopefully take the blame for their misdeeds when the master shows up. That's about all I'm going to explain as the plot is very convoluted but somehow makes sense while you watch it. Let's just say that the simple Bastard is mistaken by the parents and the wife-to-be of the clan leader also, plus he learns super martial arts along the way.
The film is kooky and the plot swerves all over the place but is fun to watch as the pace is very brisk without being too fast. Kuo Choi is very funny in the role and carries the film. He does struggle to appear to not know martial arts but when the plot finally allows him to let go at the end, it's his usual excellent work. The two other venoms, Chiang Sheng and Sun Chien, have minor roles and don't do anything until the last ten minutes of the film. This is not the martial art fest of "The Crippled Avengers". There are good but modest fight scenes throughout, however the last ten minutes have the excellent choreography and Venom action you are looking for. You will just have to accept the crazy situation the film suddenly throws at you to set up the scene. Unusual for a Chang Cheh film, there are four important female characters but except for one of them they are portrayed as either manipulative, deluded or outright evil. Also the gore is low key for a Cheh film but that doesn't mean that we don't get to see lots of swords sticking out of bloody victims along the way.
Not bad at all, the light comic tone keeps the film from bogging down. Recommended for Shaw enthusiasts.
