Ying Ke-Feng, head of Peerless Manor, is an expert swordsman whose escort business transports 200,000 taels of silver to the capital each year. This year, however, he is afflicted with an infirmity that renders him unable to use his sword. Rather than give up this important commission and let the martial world know of his precarious health he means to entrust the consignment to two young knights in his manor, Hsiang Ting and Yun Piao-Piao. As it happens, these two are also betrothed; clearly they have their swordsmanship in common. At Peerless Manor, everyone is suspicious of malevolent strangers who may be sniffing around the silver transport. So when Le I appears astride a high-quality charger but otherwise clearly down on his luck, Hsiang Ting thinks Le I may be a spy for the bad guys in the Flying Tiger Manor. It doesn't help that Le I and Yun Piao-Piao hit it off right away. Even or especially when Le I saves Yun Piao-Piao from a Flying Tiger thug, Hsiang is not assuaged. Yun Piao-Piao is torn, though it seems that a certain sisterly compassion finally wins the day when she arranges to reunite Le I with his horse. It's a cute horse, and Le I seems rather attached … When the silver convoy passes by a pagoda that happens to house the Flying Tiger gang, Chiao Hung, the Flying Tiger chief, tries to steal the shipment. To win the day, Hsiang and Le must fight together, despite their mutual disaffection. Before Ti Lung and David Chiang and Chang Cheh gave us DUEL OF THE IRON FIST, there was HAVE SWORD, WILL TRAVEL. We're introduced to Lung as he attempts to woo the lady Li. He's interrupted by some pesky members of the Flying Tiger Clan, but he casually dispatches them as he puts OTHER moves on Ms. Li. Chiang, meanwhile, is accosted when he tries to enter a seven-story pagoda to rest for the night: it's inhabited by members of- surprise- The Flying Tiger Clan, and they don't want him around. He, too, proves too much for the gang but moves on of his own accord. Lung and Chiang bump into each other and have a brief but inconclusive encounter… during which Chiang and Li lock eyes and, well… The trio effectively becomes a triangle at that point. Later, when Chiang arrives at Lung's Invincible Village still looking for a place to bed down for the night, Lung attempts to impress Chiang by turning a chopstick into a PAIR of chopsticks with one stroke of his sword. Chiang, rising to the challenge, splits a chopstick into THREE separate chopsticks with a single thrust… Needless to say, these guys are GOOD swordsmen. In Akira Kurosawa's THE HIDDEN FORTRESS, a hidden fortune is transported by the surviving princess of a fallen House and her bodyguard (Toshiro Mifune). Here, the shipment is to be watched over by Lung and Chiang (who volunteers, after putting two and two together and being threatened with death, though his volunteering has nothing whatsoever to do with fear of Death). In an interesting sequence, Chiang has a vision of his own death and its aftermath (which happens to come true). Although many of Chang Cheh's movies end abruptly, HAVE SWORD, WILL TRAVEL allows for a longer and more poignant resolution. There's a GAME OF DEATH type of ascension to the top of the pagoda and the often slow motion Finale prefigures the ending of DUEL OF THE IRON FIST (with Chiang, at one point, sporting more arrows than a pin-cushion). Just one of the many reasons why I think Easterns are better than Westerns. HAVE SWORD WILL TRAVEL is one of the earliest Shaw Brothers films featuring the classic 'iron triangle' of youthful stars David Chiang and Ti Lung alongside Shaw's best director, Chang Cheh. Be warned, this is more of a character piece than an action movie, given that the only real action is at the opening and the climax, but for once the non-action bits are just as engaging as the swordplay.<br/><br/>Ti Lung and Ching Li play a betrothed couple who become involved in protecting an upstanding lord's valuables. Unfortunately the lord has been left weak and a ruthless bandit leader, played by studio regular Ku Feng, has designs on the shipment. He sets up an ambush, at which point the wandering swordsman hero David Chiang comes into play. What follows is beautifully-shot and involving, with Lung playing a pretty unpleasant character while Li holds things together through her charm. Chiang is typically excellent throughout. The lavish, lengthy climax offers all the bloodshed, fine choreography, and heroism you've been waiting for.
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