directed by king hu who also did touch of zen and dragon inn. good movie. dont quite like the shift in focus midway through the movie, but the fights are pretty good and there is some genuine emotion with the later plot. this movie established some tropes in later kung fu films, so its importance is pretty high. if you like martial arts flicks, i would say this one is essential viewing.
tarantino was supposed to do a remake of it, but harvey weinstein was the one who came up with the idea of having miramax movies venture into asian stories. seems like that idea is dead.