D irected by the legendary Chang Cheh (One-Armed Swordsman, Golden Swallow) and featuring a veritable who's who of Shaw Brothers stars, 1979's Life Gamble is an often overlooked but essential entry in the popular "Five Venoms" series. Although not a direct sequel to the previous year's cult classic Five Deadly Venoms, Life Gamble reunites much of the same cast and showcases the same level of martial arts brilliance, over-the-top heroes and villains, and delightfully convoluted storylines fans have come to expect from Chang Cheh and the Venoms. This one also features Lu Feng (the perennial "Venoms" villain) as a guy with a metal hand that shoots poisonous darts, and a young Kara Hui (My Young Auntie) as an undercover agent.

A priceless piece of jade has gone missing, and every martial artist in town wants to get their hands on it. When a shiftless gambler finds himself in possession of the item in question, his knife-throwing bodyguard (Alexander Fu Sheng, The Proud Twins, Magnificent Wanderers) has his hands full fending off an array of would-be jade thieves, which include Venom members Lu Feng, Lo Meng, and Chiang Sheng. Also in the mix is a female con-artist played by Shaw Brothers sexpot Shirley Yu (The Call Girls, Ghost Story) and Philip Kwok as a noble blacksmith trying to help the heroes recover the precious artifact. The stage is set for martial arts mayhem and double-crossings a plenty, and Life Gamble delivers both in spades.