Snake in the Eagle's Shadow

Jackie Chan's breakout film and Yuen Woo Ping's directorial debut, this movie helped revitalize both their careers and the waning Hong Kong film industry.

The story starts off showing a master of the renowned Snake Style fighting and dying at the hands of a wandering Arrogant Kung Fu Guy,a master of the Eagle Claw who has sworn to kill all masters of the Snake Style.

Then we meet Chien, an orphan regularly beaten upon and treated like a servant by the Kung Fu school that has adopted him. One day after a particular painful beating he sullenly walks along to find an old-man set upon by a gang of kung fu fighters. Jumping to his aid and through a series of kung fu hijinks the old man decides to teach Chien Snake Style and through Training From Hell leads him to his I Know Karate moment.

But the master of the Eagle Claw takes notice of his newfound abilities, and things wont end peacefully...

A definitive Kung Fu classic, here Jackie Chan first departed from the Bruceploitation characters he often portrayed into the comedic action roles he is now renowned for.


 * Comforting Comforter: The Old Man does this for Chien, who is the whipping boy for the martial arts school where he's been raised.