All Men Are Brothers (C-Movie) (HK-Movie) (1975)

After this bloody opening, things get started with a meeting of the leaders of the Marsh. It’s decided that rebel leader Fang La is the greatest threat to the Emperor, so a force is sent to destroy his stronghold city of Yongjinmen. The city however is well-guarded, with high walls and even water fortifications. This is the part where the movie shows the limits of its budget, though. Where the Water Margin merely hinted at naval warfare, All Men shows an armada assault on Yongjinmen, and it isn’t pretty. Only a handful of boats are shown, and they’re waylaid by a half-assed gate of wire-laced logs. The naval force is wasted, with only one guy escaping to tell the tale.

The Marsh leaders then send a few heroes into the city alone, to figure out a way to break down the defenses so the Outlaw army can get in, by land and by sea. This successfully whittles down the unwieldy cast list, and we’re given only a few heroes to root for, which makes the movie much more accessible than its predecessor. David Chiang is of course one of these guys, some of the others being Chen Kuan-Tai, Wang Chung, and Danny Lee. Ti Lung unfortunately isn’t along for the trip, but shows up long enough for some heroic sacrifice at the very end.