Wu hua jian shen (1978)

I stumbled upon this, rare Taiwan sword fighting epic BIG LAND FLYING EAGLE on YouTube. Keep on mind that I have been into old school action movies for over 20 years, and I must confess to NOT recognizing too many actors or actresses in it. I wont go into plot details too much cuz i don't like to give spoilers in my reviews, but I will give my opinion of it. This was made pre -Drunken Master (remember when Drunken Master came out, every Chinese studio got on the martial arts comedy bandwagon?); so there are no comedic elements to spoil the suspense and intrigue. At the root of the story, it is a love story. The main character possesses an invincible sword (something very common in Taiwan martial arts films) and the bad guys and officials are always hunting him down for. After using his sword to cut down his opponents, he flees the army of bads guys by heading into a desert. While crossing the desert and fighting off attackers, he meets a mysterious woman. They travel the desert together and eventually fall in love. The movie follows the couple and the adventures they face while trying to stay alive. What really sets the movie apart is the locations. Most of the KF films were filmed in Asian forests or mountain ranges. This one pretty much takes place in a great US looking desert. In fact BIG LAND FLYING EAGLE has a very Japanese chambara feel it, with similar imagery right out of the LONE WOLF AND CUB films. The YouTube video I saw was in widesceen with English subs (if you are interested in checking out a good swordplay movie...)