Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (1978)

Original title

蛇形刁手

Directed by

Yuen Woo-ping

Genre

slapstick, martial arts film, action comedy film

Country

Hong Kong

Runtime

1h 38m

Rated

PG

Rating

7.3 of 10 from 365 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A bullied orphan at a kung fu school learns Snake Kung Fu from an old beggar who becomes his teacher. The film mixes martial arts training with a lot of physical comedy.

energeticplayfulslapstickfast-pacedlightheartedupbeatwhimsicalunderdog

What happens

Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (Chinese: 蛇形刁手; lit. 'Snake Form Tricky Hand') is a 1978 Hong Kong martial arts action comedy film directed by Yuen Woo-ping in his directorial debut. It stars Jackie Chan, Hwang Jang-lee, and Yuen Woo-ping's real life father, Yuen Siu-tien. The film's plot is about Chien Fu (Jackie Chan), an orphan who is bullied at a kung fu school, meeting an old beggar, Pai Cheng-tien (Yuen Siu-tien), who becomes his sifu (teacher) and trains him in Snake Kung Fu. Right after this film, Yuen Woo-ping directed Drunken Master, released in the same year, which also starred Jackie Chan, Hwang Jang-lee and Yuen Siu-tien. The film established Chan's slapstick kung fu comedy style which he further developed with Drunken Master, while also establishing the basic plot structure used in many martial arts films internationally since then. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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