Directed and written by Chor Yuen, this is the story of Little Flying Dagger Li (Ti Lung), who has such strong ideals that he has lost almost everyone in his life, including Lin Hsin-ehr (Li Cheng), the woman he loves, who he feels unworthy of after a rival sword fighter saves his life. Now he wanders the countryside, drunk all day, for ten years with his assistant Chuan Jia (Fan Mei-Sheng). He then learns that the Plum Blossom Bandit is endangering his homeland. When he comes home, he meets Ah Fei (Derek Yee), another warrior who is looking for a gold armor shirt that can protect its user from any strike. Seeing as how the Plum Blossom Bandit kills with darts, this vest is very important.

Based on Gu Long’s Sentimental Swordsman, Ruthless Sword, this finds its hero wine drunk and pining for someone he knows he should have fought for. Seeing as how he’s the third best fighter in the world, he has a lot to deal with and all he wants to do is look at nature and, yes, drink to numb the pain of losing the only perfect woman he’ll ever know. Even when the bad guys poison his wine, he drinks more wine to get over it.

Funny enough, Li doesn’t use a sword but a fan. The name works for him, I guess, because it sets up all those people coming to fight him up to think he has a blade and instead he whips around a metal fan, which is a pretty interesting weapon and one I figure not many people have prepared themselves for.

Chor Yuen made seven movies in 1977 and its amazing that this looks as good and works as well as it does. That’s hard working.

The Arrow Video Shaw Scope Volume Three box set has a brand new 2K restoration of The Avenging Eagle as well as commentary by David West, author of Chasing Dragons: An Introduction to the Martial Arts Film. There’s also a trailer.

You can get this set from MVD.