Snake in the Eagle's Shadow

Se ying diu sau

Hong Kong

1978

98 Min

Color

2.35:1

Cantonese

Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
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SCR Ng See-Yuen, Chi-Kuang Tsai

CAST Jackie Chan, Yuen Siu Tien, Jang Lee Hwang, Dean Shek, Roy Horan, Fung Hark-On, Chan Lung, Tien Lung Chen, Yao Lin Chen, Kam Chiang

Toward the end of the Ching Dynasty in China, a 200 year old clan known as the deadly Eagle Claw society has eliminated every martial art style except for the Snake Fist. An evil Eagle Claw master known as Lord Sheng Kuan (Hwang Jang-Lee- DRUNKEN MASTER, HIT MAN IN THE HAND OF BUDDHA) is obsessed with eliminating any member of the Snake Fist schools. Sheng Kuan and his clan go out to hunt down the last practitioner of the Snake Fist, Grandmaster Pai Cheng-Tien (“Simon” Yuen Siu-Tien- DRUNKEN MASTER). Pai Cheng-Tien goes into hiding disguised as a beggar while searching for his last surviving student (Fung Hak-On- WARRIORS TWO, John Woo’s LAST HURRAH FOR CHIVALRY) not knowing that he was killed by Sheng Kuan. Pai Cheng-Tien is also unaware that the town he’s hiding in is infested with Sheng Kuan’s men. One day, an abused poor orphan named Chien Fu (Jackie Chan- RUSH HOUR, OPERATION CONDOR) “who can’t fight and has no friends except for his cat” finds Pai Cheng-Tien being bullied around by rivals of the Eagle Claw school. He tries to help this seemingly defenseless beggar but doesn’t know any martial arts which leaves room for him to witness the effective style of combat Cheng-Tien uses against the foes. After that incident, Pai Cheng-Tien decides to teach him the Snake Fist style so he can defend himself when trouble arrives but will that be enough to stop Lord Sheng Kuan and his clan when they track them down? —IMDb

Director

Yuen Woo-ping

Yuen Woo-ping (Chinese: 袁和平; pinyin: Yuán Hépíng; born 1945 in Guangzhou, China) is a Chinese martial arts choreographer and film director, renowned as one of the most successful and influential figures in the world of Hong Kong action cinema. He is one of the inductees on the Avenue of Stars in Hong Kong. Yuen is also a son of Yuen Siu-tien, a renowned martial arts film actor.

Yuen achieved his first directing credit in 1978 on the seminal Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow, starring Jackie Chan, followed quickly by Drunken Master. The films were smash-hits, launching Jackie Chan as a major film-star, turning Seasonal Films into a major independent production company, and starting a trend towards comedy in martial arts films that continues to the present day.

Yuen went on to work with such figures as Sammo Hung in Magnificent Butcher (1979), Yuen Biao in Dreadnaught (1981), Donnie Yen in Iron Monkey (1993), and Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh in Tai Chi Master (1993) and Wing Chun… read more

Yuen Woo-ping (Chinese: 袁和平; pinyin: Yuán Hépíng; born 1945 in Guangzhou, China) is a Chinese martial arts choreographer and film director, renowned as one of the most successful and influential figures in the world of Hong Kong action cinema. He is one of the inductees on the Avenue of Stars in Hong Kong. Yuen is also a son of Yuen Siu-tien, a renowned martial arts film actor.

Yuen achieved his first directing credit in 1978 on the seminal Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow, starring Jackie Chan, followed quickly by Drunken Master. The films were smash-hits, launching Jackie Chan as a major film-star, turning Seasonal Films into a major independent production company, and starting a trend towards comedy in martial arts films that continues to the present day.

Yuen went on to work with such figures as Sammo Hung in Magnificent Butcher (1979), Yuen Biao in Dreadnaught (1981), Donnie Yen in Iron Monkey (1993), and Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh in Tai Chi Master (1993) and Wing Chun (1994).

Yuen’s works, particularly his action choreography on Fist of Legend (1994), attracted the attention of the Wachowski brothers, who hired him as the martial arts choreographer on The Matrix (1999). The success of this collaboration, plus his action choreography on the following year’s hit Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, made him a highly sought after figure in Hollywood. He went on to work on the Matrix sequels and Kill Bill (2003).

More recent action choreography duties in Hong Kong cinema have included Kung Fu Hustle (2004), starring Stephen Chow, and Fearless (2006), starring Jet Li.

Yuen also choreographed the action sequences in The Forbidden Kingdom (2008), a Hollywood martial arts-adventure film. It is the first film to star together two of the best-known names in the martial arts film genre, Jackie Chan and Jet Li. He worked as a stunt coordinator for his first Indian film, Enthiran, directed by S. Shankar, which released in 2010.

In late 2010, Yuen released his first film as director since 1996, True Legend, starring Vincent Zhao and Jay Chou. He has recently worked as a fight choreography consultant on Ninja Assassin (2009). —Wikipedia

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