Have Sword, Will Travel (Bao biao, 1969)

Chang Cheh

Hong Kong

101 min, 2.35:1, color, Mandarin (English subtitles)

Review © 2003 Branislav L. Slantchev

This is a Chang Cheh film, so we know four things already: (i) it will be an epic with martial arts galore and blood by the gallon; (ii) it will probably have Ti Lung and/or David Chiang as leads, not to mention Ku Feng; and (iii) there will be a woman who will probably screw up the one good thing to happen to the main characters; and (iv) said woman will probably be Li Ching or Ching Li.

Have Sword, Will Travel meets all four requirements. In addition, with a script by I Kuang, it is guaranteed not to make much sense for the first third of the film because of the copious amounts of superfluous characters, all scrupulously named and promptly forgotten. We can also be sure that there will be a complicated intrigue that is so unnecessarily intricate that one should wonder whether his own powers of reasoning are in doubt.

Moody credits sequence	Li Ching impressed by Ti Lung's long sword

Thankfully, this one has a fairly straight plot. Lord Yin (Ching Miao) has grown old. So old that he can't beat up on young guys anymore. This would be a tragedy for any old geezer used to beating up young dudes, but it's also a professional failure because Yin happens to be the guy responsible for the safe transport of government monies. Unlike most other films, the government here relies on private initiative and the security services of a well-known firm to guarantee safe passage of the gold.

Yin requests the help of two young and dashing swordspeople, Siang (Ti Lung) and Piao Piao (Li Ching). Not only are they extremely well-versed in all sorts of lethal arts, including secretive throwing of toothpicks, but they are both beautiful and set to be married soon. However, on their way to Yin, they meet the young, dashing, and no less handsome wanderer Yi Lo (David Chiang), to whom Siang takes an instant dislike, exceeded only by the instant like that Piao Piao takes.

David Chiang in the hay	The first clash of many

The stage is quickly set for the most important conflict: Yi Lo, whose own attraction to Piao Piao soon becomes clear, versus Siang, who is all too aware that his blushing bride blushes way too much in the presence of the other guy. So Siang does what any sane male would do in his place: he tries to get Lo humiliated and, when that fails on account of Lo being a more skilled swordsman, to get him killed under false pretenses. In this case, by having him accused in being a Flying Tiger, the latter designation referring to a maraudering band of robbers and not a circus troupe.

Thinking thoughts unbecoming a future wife	Ching Miao out-staring Wong Ching Ho

Even when Lo saves Piao Piao from an unsavory character with the unlikely nickname of Pestilence, Siang refuses to believe it is not all a ploy. Piao Piao, of course, is useless as a character witness because she's already head over heels in love with the suspect. Later on the suspect sells his expensive horse for 40 cents, but Piao Piao buys it back for him, and then stares wistfully in the direction where Lo has disappeared, this in full view of Siang, who can't help but feel a tiny bit put off.

... and if you are not, I AM	Symbolic touching of the naked blade

Siang confronts Piao Piao is the most roundabout way possible but her guilty conscience makes it all too clear where their marriage prospects are headed. While in the forest, the two just happen to overhear how the Chief of the Flying Tigers (Ku Feng) offers Lo a job in the gang, and how Lo refuses with proud indignation. This is too much for Siang, who is now deprived of a decent pretext under which to rid himself of Lo. Sure enough, Lo soon forces his protection services on Yin, and the three ride with the gold caravan.

Love at third sight	Siang suspects Piao Piao's interest isn't traffic

The Flying Tigers ambush the gold train by setting fire to some implausibly positioned straw, and then proceed to kill everyone in Yin's entourage while Siang, Lo, and Piao Piao kill them in return. There's a lot of killing, some of it in excruciating slow motion which plainly shows how the sharp pointy objects fail to make contact with the warm bodies of the extras but the latter explode in geysers of blood undeterred anyway. The Chief retires to the seven-storied pagoda with Siang in hot pursuit.

Ku Feng fails to recruit David Chiang	Li Ching mowing the hay

And then the key scene comes where Piao Piao asks Lo to go in and help Siang because he's likely to get skewered by the crafty Flying Tiger. Lo has a vision of his death in this, a premonition made even more painful by the realization that Piao Piao will promptly marry Siang and ride off into the sunset (or some suitably positioned appropriate substitute of it thereof, in this case, a steep hill). But how can he refuse her? He goes in and impersonates Washizu in the latter's last moments in Throne of Blood, but not nearly as well as Mifune. Piao Piao weeps over his prostrate body, Siang being torn between feeling grateful to Lo for saving him and the gods for then saving him from Lo.

Sending Lo to his death	Not Mifune

As usual for Chang Cheh's misogynist tendencies, women have entirely destructive roles in almost all his films. Because there was only one woman here, played quite well by the Baby Queen Li Ching, only two thousand men die, along with a single main character. Had it been two women, none of the cast would have survived for sure. While this is mildly annoying, the obviousness with which these women fall for the "wrong" guy is a bit unnerving. While I believe that they may not want (or be able) to control their feelings, they certainly should be able to control their display of said feelings, at least when the supposed hubbies are around. This was the problem in Blood Brothers as well, where Ching Li fell hard for Ti Lung.

None too subtle, Chang then proceeds to methodically destroy the main character, the wandering swordsman Lo, whose typical David Chiang style makes him sufficiently annoying not to mourn his departure too much. The guy who owes nothing to nobody and who refuses help even while dying, is helpless before Piao Piao's long eyelashes. I almost believed that he decided to die when he found out that she is engaged to Siang, even though it should have been clear even to a blind man where her affections lay.

The fighting scenes are not impressive by modern standards. The abuse of trampoline is egregious, and the wire people are obviously still struggling with setting up the shots properly. It is a mildly entertaining movie that will not offend anyone (heck, the Baby Queen battles along with the guys, albeit not as well).

The Celestial Pictures DVD is typical for the newer batch of releases. It has anamorphic widescreen video in the correct 2.35:1 ratio and with a remixed Dolby Digital 5.1 Mandarin soundtrack. The removable English subtitles are bright, readable, and generally free of errors although not free from the occasional cumbersome expression. The extras are limited to the usual still gallery, talent files, and trailers.

August 22, 2003