Come Drink with Me

King Hu's 1966 Hong Kong wuxia pian ("martial chivalry" genre) classic stars Cheng Pei-Pei as the avenging Golden Swallow, on a mission to save her kidnapped brother, and Yueh Hua as an amiable beggar with a chorus of scruffy orphans, who plays guardian angel to the warrior woman, his drunken front hiding his true identity. Together they take on the pale and powdered Jade Faced Tiger and his bandit army, in wild battles with magnificent action choreography and comic flourishes. Hua makes a charming rogue with a genuine modesty and easygoing quality in contrast to the cool intensity of Pei-Pei, whose control becomes a sexy fierceness in the heat of battle. The film soars on a lyrical mix of scruffy singing heroes, cross-dressing heroines, narcissistic villains and fantastical action choreographed like dance. The film launched a new wave of Hong Kong filmmaking, and you can feel its influence in everything from Bruce Lee's martial arts thrillers of the 1970s to Jackie Chan's "Drunken Master" films to the Tsui Hark-led new wave of high-energy, special-effects-laden adventures in 1980s Hong Kong, and, of course, the Oscar-winning "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," Ang Lee's tribute to the magical, colorful genre that King Hu reinvented with this film.

The DVD features a detailed commentary with Hong Kong cinema expert Bey Logan and lead actress Pei-Pei (who is amazed at Logan's knowledge and fills in his gaps with her own remembrances). Logan pays tribute to the film in "A Classic Remembered: A Retrospective With Hong Kong Cinema Expert Bey Logan," and the disc features new interview featurettes with stars Pei-Pei and Hua and a remembrance of King Hu by Hong Kong director/producer Hark.