This film is very well-made and often seems to be more focused on character development and relationships than pure action. "Have Sword Will Travel" does feature several action scenes that are often bloody and brutal. Chang Cheh and his action choreographers, Tang Chia and Yuen Cheung Yan, did a great job delivering quality action scenes within the narrative.

"Have Sword Will Travel" also features some very strong acting. If I had to list three of the best pure actors from the Shaw studio, Ti Lung, David Chiang, and Ku Feng would be among the top of the list. Some people may not be that high on Chiang and some of his stiff and emotionless acting, but I think it can be very effective. In the case of this film, I thought he was great as the poor loner that never wanted help from anyone possessing just enough mystique and charisma to attract Ti Lung's girlfriend (Li Ching). Ti Lung is also great and did a nice job playing the suspicious and jealous martial arts master. Finally, not enough can be said about the great Ku Feng. The more Shaw Brothers films you watch the more you realize this guy was in nearly everything. Ku Feng is a vetern of over 300 films and always does a great job whether he is a magician in "Black Magic" or a robber and head of a gang in "Have Sword Will Travel".

My only complaint with the film is that the pacing was a bit slow and a few scenes dragged longer than what was neccessary, but even still....

Highly recommended!

The film is typical Chang Cheh bloodshed happiness with a predictable plotline and plentiful bloodshed action. But with a film like this I pay more attention to characterization and I love the character in this film. I love the idea that some gives themselves a name that expresses a high level of infamy like Pestilence. Uh, I get orgasms everytime I witness this crap. I love character names over the commonplace crap. "It's Bill. He's gonna rape us." THAT SUCKS! "It's walrus Testicles. He's gonna slaughter us." PERFECT!!!!!!

[Spoilers] The film does fail in certain aspects if you do nit-pick at every detail of a film. The pacing is a bit slow and a few scenes just drag on tediously like the prolongation of the final scene where we see David Chiang trying to crawl away from the entropy and it's like 8 mintues. Also the pre-meditation scene before the final bout. It kills the pacing and the consistency of the film a little but not by much and could be considered incoherent depending on the viewer. But still this bloodshed at it's finest and I am just estatic when it comes to Chang Cheh bloodshed film.

Concept: 3 1/2 (out of 5) - Nothing you haven't seen before but still the story works well.

Execution: 4 (out of 5) - The fights were great but a few of the scenes drags and it kills the consistent flow.

Fairness: BLOODSHED!!!!!!

Conclusion: I'm gonna have an erection over any Chang Cheh bloodshed film no matter what so take that, SUCKAZZZZZ! :)

David Chiang plays a sullen drifter obviously inspired by Clint Eastwood's character in the Sergio Leone films. All Chiang has is his sword and his horse, which he apparently is in love with. Ti Lung and Li Ching are swordfighters who happen to be engaged, and also are the head enforcers of an escort agency (the type that protects cargo shipments). Their teacher is ill and can't use his kung-fu, so there's all sorts of worry going on, because the agency has been hired to transport a huge amount of money, and word is the Flying Tiger Stockade gang, headed by the purely evil Ku Feng, is out for it.

The majority of the movie deals with Chiang's interactions with Ti Lung and Li Ching, as a love triangle develops. For whatever reason, Li gets all tingly over the large-eared, snaggle-toothed Chiang. This of course pisses off Ti Lung, so he and Chiang engage in all sorts of challenges. While this is going on, Ku Feng keeps an eye on the escort agency, trying to figure out who the mysterious Chiang is. Feng sends out his top two henchmen: The Pestilence and The Mute, the latter played by Wang Chung, who by the way is probably the coolest-looking character in the movie. Whereas most of the other characters wear costuming you'd expect from older, more traditional martial arts films, Wang wears the type of outfit you'd expect to see in a latter-day Venoms movie, complete with studded armbands. His character is in fact mute, so all he can do is utter unintentionally-hilarious grunts. The quick fights with these two characters provide the movie with its only mortal combat until the blood-drenched finale.

The problem with the movie is that the escort agency knows Ku Feng is out for the money they're transporting. They also know that Ku Feng lurks in a towering pagoda that sits along the route they'll take. So this of course begs the question: why don't they just take a different route? This is never addressed, the escort instead just plodding along to the pagoda, which is infested with swarthy henchmen who are out for their blood.

Chiang of course ends up joining the agency, only because he secretly feels the same for Li Ching. Once he discovers her teacher is sick and can't protect her on the journey, he wants to be there. Chiang was Cheh's early favorite, so he makes him a veritable god when it comes to fighting and swordplay. Despite Chiang's obvious lack of swordfighting skill, he hacks down innumerable foes, with Ti Lung, the better martial artist, providing a supporting role. The film's internal and external plots come together during the great final reel, with a full-on massacre and battle at Ku Feng's pagoda. Those expecting Chang's requisite tragic ending will not be disappointed.

The movie isn't as bloody as later Chang Cheh films, or even a few that came before it, such as Golden Swallow or Return of the One-Armed Swordsman. All of the real violence is saved for the end, where we are treated to slow-motion shots of blood erupting from sliced stomachs, arrows puncturing flesh, and swords dicing through opponents. The choreography doesn't hide the actors' lack of martial arts skill, though Ti Lung, Ku Feng, and Wang Chung come off as naturals. The fights here are pretty quick, in fact, just a few sword strokes and that's it. This makes the movie come off as more of a traditional swordplay piece, even like a samurai film, than your average kung-fu movie. I'm not saying it's worse, just different.

Of special interest is that the end of the film features Lung and Chiang battling their way to the top of the martial artist-filled pagoda. Hey, wait a second: that's the same ending Bruce Lee proposed for his original Game of Death! But before you cry foul, consider this: Have Sword, Will Travel was released a full three years before Bruce began work on his project. Hmm. I can just see the headlines now: "Was Bruce Lee the Quentin Tarantino of his day?"