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The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

This is not the best from Cheh Chang, but it features a few of my Shaw Brothers faves Fu Sheng, Chi Kuan-Chun, David Chiang Da Wei and of course The Venoms, so I am willing to let the uneveness of the film pass.3 con men Lin Shao You (Alexander Fu Sheng) Guan Fei (LiYi-Min) and reluctant companion Shi Da young (Chi Kuan-Chun) are struggling to make a few bucks when they encounter wealthy rebel Chu Tie Xia (David Chiang Da-Wei) . Chu Tie Xia has placed assets in the hands of local merchants and is in town to recoup them. He invites Lin Sah You, Guan Fei and Shi Da Young to a luncheon his is having with the merchants. The merchants swear loyalty to Chu then quickly disperse when a representative of the local Mongols appears to demand Chu's presence for a "chat". Lin Shao You remarks how easily the merchants scattered while he and his 2 friends remained.There are several worthy fight scenes in this film. There is also a lot of fooling around during the fight scenes, mainly from Lin Shao You. He is a typical Fu Sheng character. Plays around a lot but can still kick your butt. Chu's use of the bow and gold pellets is reused in Crippled Avengers (1978) with Tai-Ping Yu as the archer. Three of the Venoms have cameos in this film and spotting them was half the fun. Chiang Sheng is a guard for Mongol General Lu Bo Hua (Shan Mao), who seems far too fearful of fighting to do well as a guard. There is a running gag with Gen. Lu Bo Hua's stuttering. He never seems to complete a thought when talking to his main flunkies. They keep bowing and promising to do as he asks or receive punishment (which we learn is beheading once Hua gets out the words, but always after his flunkies have departed).The final fight scene is more of a competition with an exploding ending. Chu, You, Fei and Young are disguised as Mongols and wander into a Mongol camp. Chu explains they are there to test the skills of the troops. You and Fei outwit soldiers using their wiliness, while Young takes on wrestlers (Venoms Phillip Kwok Chun-Fung and Lu Feng).While You and Young are still challenging soldiers, Fei wanders off in search of a way to take out the camp. He discovers the explosives depot and decides to have some fun while trying to avoid soldiers looking for him. He rejoins his friends while carrying rolls of dynamite. He tosses them at the soldiers to keep them at bay so he and the others can escape the camp. The soldiers immediately scatter. Fei informs his friends the dynamite are duds, as they ride out of the camp. I gave it a 7 more for who was in it than what it concerned. Had the plot been more solidified, I'd have given it a 9.

I'm still not a fan of many kung-fu comedies and this one was no different, even though it was directed by Cheh Chang and features the Venom Mob. While I didn't really care about the story of two goofballs helping out a kung-fu master (kind of a low rent version of "The Hidden Fortress"), this film did feature enough solid Venom Mob fight sequences to make it worth watching.

Fu Sheng and his two friends are hustlers out to make a buck any way they can. They set themselves up as fortune tellers, but, when they fail to lure in the suckers, Fu Sheng dons a patently ridiculous-looking beard (that hangs from his ears like a pair of glasses). The Authorities frown on such scams and attempt to rout the trio. They fail. The trio then enlists the aid of local bad boy David Chiang, who we first see sitting in a nice tavern (or a brothel), fondling his pair of golden balls. These balls aren't just for show, either: he has an ammo belt full of them and a specially-designed bow to fire them. Using golden balls has two purposes: they hurt when they strike and, when the victim realizes that he's been shot by a ball of gold, he automatically tries to grab as many of the missiles as he can (thereby allowing Chiang to get away). The local Prince, a "giant" who turns out to be a real dummy (literally: he wears a clumsy costume that makes him look much larger than he is, though he comes across as little more than a puffed-up scarecrow- like most politicians), sends soldiers after Chiang, Fu Sheng, and their partners. This gives the quartet the opportunity to rob a gold shipment AND raid the Prince's personal treasury. The final battle takes place at an outdoor army camp and involves extensive use of trampolines- but there's more than enough solid action and kung fu gags to keep one watching (and laughing). THE MAGNIFICENT WANDERERS isn't one of Chang Cheh's best, but it's far from his worst.

Tried to get through the dubbed version, so it's a little unfair, but this is a lame, slapstick attempt at humor, that looked like they cranked it out in between other, better films. "You guys still got your outfits on from Shaolin Avengers? Come over and film this-". Movies like this are what really hurt Shaw Brothers and let Golden Harvest eat there lunch, in the long run. At one time, Shaw brothers would film actors in two or three movies in one day, as they constantly cranked out movies. Some were great, for what they were, but others, such as this, really look like an after thought. One of the reasons is that they wanted to save time, so if you were made up for a period movie, you may be doing two different flicks in one day.