Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (1978)
Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow 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 Woo-ping), 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 slap-stick 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.
Plot.
Chien Fu, an orphan adopted by a kung fu school, is overworked as their janitor while being bullied and abused by the kung fu teachers as a walking punching-bag, with the school’s cook, Ah-Wu, being his only sympathizer. Chien befriends an old beggar by offering him a meal and a place to stay. Unknown to Chien, the old beggar is actually Pai Cheng-tien, one of the last surviving masters of the Snake-style of kung fu. Pai is on the run from the Eagle Claw clan, which is viciously killing off all of the rival Snake-style masters, but is ambushed by Eagle Claw student Su Chen and an assassin masquerading as a Christian missionary (Roy Horan), and is injured. After being abused once more, Chien later finds Pai and helps him recover. Pai agrees to give him more lessons, on the condition that he does not call him “sifu” (“master”), since they are friends. The real reason, however, is to keep Chien’s connection with him secret from his pursuers.
Chien practices the lessons and learns to avoid being hurt by the school’s bumbling teachers. When the school is invaded by the Mantis school, to everyone’s amazement Chien easily defeats their master using the snake style. Unfortunately, one of the passing wanderers who witnesses the fight is the high master of the Eagle Clan, Sheng Kuan, who recognizes the style at once and decides to tail Chien.
Chien meets Shang Kuan, who inquires about the old beggar, claiming that he was a colleague of Pai’s. As a show of ‘proof’, he easily fends off Chien’s attacks. Chien realises that his Snake-style fighting is no match for the style practiced by the stranger, and thus creates a new style from watching his pet cat kill a cobra.
Later on the Eagle Claw conspirators track down Pai, who manages to kill Su Chen. He returns to Chien for hiding, but it is then shown that Ah-Wu is also an Eagle Claw conspirator as he puts poison into their tea.
Chien rushes to fetch Sheng Kuan, but sensing danger, Pai flees, with his enemy in pursuit. As Chien hurries after them, he finally learns the truth behind the conspiracy, and eventually challenges Sheng Kuan to single combat after Pai is brought down. Apparently at a disadvantage in the initial phase, Chien brings his new ‘Cat Claw’ technique—against which Sheng Kuan knows no defense—to bear, killing him. When Ah-Wu shows up after the fight and reveals his true allegiance, Chien and Pai trick and slay him, as they have by chance avoided ingesting the poison. Afterwards, the two friends wander off to refine Chien’s new technique, giving it its titular name.
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Production.
Prior to Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow, Chan had worked for director Lo Wei who wanted to make him into the new “Bruce Lee” in films like New Fist of Fury. However, those films yielded relatively poor box office returns. When producer Ng See-yuen decided to make a comedy with Chan as the star, the concept did not initially meet with approval from the film distributors. However, Ng and Chan persevered and together with Drunken Master, this film launched Jackie Chan into national stardom. The combination of comedy, martial arts, stunts and acrobatics had been done before, in Lau Kar-leung’s 1975 film Spiritual Boxer. However, the release of Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow heralded a new direction for Hong Kong action movies.
Ng See-yuen and Yuen Woo-ping checked over many actors for the part of the old, eccentric, wandering Kung Fu master, before Ng suggested casting Yuen’s own father, Yuen Siu-tien. Yuen would continue to reprise the role of Beggar So several more times before his death in 1979.
According to his book I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action, Chan lost a tooth after Hwang Jang-lee kicked him in the face during a fight scene. His arm was also accidentally slashed by a sword that was supposed to be blunt, but while he was screaming in pain, the camera kept rolling.
Box office.
At the Hong Kong box office, Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow earned HK$2,708,748.20 (US$578,792), becoming the 13th-highest-grossing film of the year. In South Korea, it was the second-highest-grossing film of 1979 (behind Jackie Chan’s Drunken Master), with 765,930 box admissions in Seoul, equivalent to an estimated gross revenue of approximately ₩1,148.9 million (US$2,373,760). Combined, the film grossed an estimated total of approximately US$2,952,552 in East Asia, equivalent to US$12 million adjusted for inflation.
Sequel.
In 1979, a film titled Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow II a.k.a. Snaky Knight Fight Against Mantis (or Snaky Knight Fights the Mantis) was released. It was directed by Chang Hsin-yi and starred Wang Tao. However, the film was not a true sequel, rather it was an attempt by the studio to capitalise on the success of the original film. Footage including a montage and a fight scene from Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow were spliced into the film. Chan’s image was also used on the cover of some versions.
Home releases.
On 7 February 2000, Hong Kong Legends released a DVD containing a number of extras, including a photo gallery, Jackie Chan and Hwang Jang-lee’s biographies/filmographies, the English export trailer, and an interview with producer Ng See-yuen. However, it contains a cropped 2:35:1 to 1:78:1 image and the incorrect Mandarin dub with dubtitles. This DVD contains compulsory BBFC cuts amounting to roughly 45 seconds due to animal cruelty. The Chinese credit sequence is used (reverting to 2:35:1 during this section). The English dub is one created by US studios during the film’s release there (under the title “The Eagle’s Shadow”) to avoid copyright issues with music, but everything else is the same as the export dub commissioned by Seasonal Films. On 18 June 2002, Destination Films released the first legal DVD in the United States. Despite having uncut status and a full 2:35:1 image in the correct Cantonese language, it still contains dubtitles. The English dub (and credit sequence) is the export one and intact.
On 16 February 2004, Mei Ah Entertainment released a remastered DVD in Hong Kong. It has uncut 2:35:1 anamorphic video. Audio include Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1, Cantonese Dolby Digital 2.0 Dual Mono and Mandarin Dolby Digital 2.0 Dual Mono. Subtitles include Traditional, Simplified Chinese and English. Special features are limited to Cast and Crew Info and Synopsis.
In May 2021, 88 Films released the film on Region B Blu-ray in the UK. This edition presents the film in 2.35:1, and features Cantonese, Mandarin, and English audio tracks. Bonus features include two audio commentaries (one by Mike Leeder and Arne Venema; the other by John Kreng and R.P. “Kung Fu Bob” O’Brien), an hour-long interview with Roy Horan, and an interview with George Clarke.
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