Two rival swordsmen in imperial China, poncho-clad Fu Hung-Hsueh and Yen nan-Fei vie with a power-hungry villain for the deadly Peacock Dart and fend off waves of expert killers during their journey.
Cinematography
Chor Yuen's color-drenched sets — teal, magenta, gold, every shadow deliberate.
Costume
Ti Lung's white poncho: cinema's most iconic outerwear before The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
Practical Effects
Wirework so obvious it becomes poetry — bodies defying physics with zero shame.
Director
Chor Yuen
Ti Lung
Fu Hung Hsieh
Lo Lieh
Yen Nan-fei
Ching Li
Chiu Yu Cheng
Tang Ching
Master Yu
Tanny Tien-Ni
Mingyue Hsin 'Moonlight Heart'
Lily Li
'Lute' Yu Chin
Fan Mei-Sheng
Painting Wu
Ku Feng
Sword Xiao
Norman Tsui Siu-Keung
Chess Gu
Lau Wai-Ling
Poetry Tang
Ching Miao
Chiu Shui Ching
Chan Shen
Kung Sun Tao
Teresa Ha Ping
Devil Grandma
Eddie Koo Koon Chung
Do Ching Tzu
Chiang Yang
Hsia Chia
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Chor Yuen adapted this from Gu Long's novel, pioneering the 'new wuxia' style that prioritized psychological complexity over traditional Confucian heroism.
The Peacock Dart's visual design — a hidden spring-loaded mechanism — became so iconic it influenced decades of Hong Kong weapon design, including the title weapon in 1983's The Avenging Eagle.
HK
