Bullet Points: Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow
When you think of Jackie Chan movies, you think of Golden Harvest. And why not? Some of Jackie Chan’s most popular movies were produced by Golden Harvest including Wheels on Meals, Police Story and Armour of God to name a few.
Before his Golden Harvest days, Jackie Chan signed a two picture deal with Seasonal Films where he had his first major hit, Drunken Master, and prior to that the subject of this edition of Bullet Points, Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow…
- Eagles vs. Snakes: The Eagle Claws and Snake Fists rivalry puts the Cobra Kai/Miyagi-Do rivalry to shame… led by Master Shang Kuan Yin (Hwang Jang-Lee, Secret Ninja, Roaring Tiger), the Eagle Claws have closed down all the Snake Fist school, killing 3,000 Snake Fist students in the process. Master Chao Chi-Chih of the Snake Fist confronts Master Shang at the start of the movie and challenges him to a fight… Master Shang ends up killing Chao, but as Yoda one said “There is another” and his name is Pai Chang Tien.
- Your Rent’s Due Mother F#@%er: Pai Chang Tien was played by none other than Simon Yuen of Sleeping Fist and Blind Fist of Bruce fame. When we first see Pai he is dealing with mosquitos and eviction from his home… but his evictors find out that Pai Chang Tien is not going to go easy and they experience the Snake Fist style first hand. He may be homeless, but Pai Chang Tien can kick some ass and is there anybody that could play an old beggar than Simon Yuen?!?!
- Hard Knock Life: There’s one more major character to introduce and that is Chien Fu (Jackie Chan, New Fist of Fury)… Chien Fu was an orphan who was taken in by a martial arts school, where he has always been treated as a second class citizen. Chien Fu finds himself scrubbing floors and being the literal and figurative punching bag for Teacher Li (Dean Shek, Call Me Dragon). Not only is Teacher Li not a great person, he’s not much of a teacher either.
- Do the Right Thing: There is another martial arts school in town, run by Teacher Chui (Fung Ging-Man, Way of the Black Dragon)… one day Pai Chang Tien decides to have a rest outside the school, this doesn’t sit well with Chui and some of his students… the students attack Pai Chang Tien. Chien Fu is happening by and sees numerous guys beating up an old man and he speaks up… when they recognize Chien Fu from the other school in town, they go after him, but Chien Fu and Pai Chang Tien, prove to be a formidable team, even if Chien Fu doesn’t realize it at the time… Chien Fu then takes Pai Chang Tien to the school he calls home for some tea and to introduce him to his pet cat.
- Higher Education: Pai Chang Tien decides to take Chien Fu on as a student after Chien’s kindness and after learning about how Teacher Li treats him. Lesson one… is grab the bowl and it is a scene that really showcases the skills of both Jackie Chan and Simon Yuen…. the next morning Chien Fu finds that Pai Chang Tien (or Old Man as he calls him) has left him some instructions and that means a practice montage! The bond between Chien Fu and Pai Chang Tien grows as does Chien Fu’s mastery of the Snake Fist style.
- Unwanted Attention: Chien Fu is able to display his newly acquired Snake Fist skills and that gets him some attention around town… including some unwanted attention from Master Shang. Shang follows Chien Fu out to the country in hopes Chien will lead him right to Pai Chang Tien… but Pai Chang Tien has left town on urgent business. Shang claims he is a colleague of Pai Chang Tien but Chien Fu isn’t buying it (perhaps he heard the ominous music that plays whenever a bad guy shows up on screen). The two fight, with Shang outclassing Chien Fu every step of the way… when Chien Fu has finally had enough, he promises he’ll let Shang know as soon as the Old Man is back in town (not knowing Shang is out to kill Pai Chang Tien).
- Cat Scratch Fever: Pai Chang Tien does return (after dispatching of one of Shang’s associates on his way back) and when he learns from Chien Fu that there was a man looking for him, Pai Chang Tien senses it is Master Shang.so he literally scales a wall to get as much distance between him and Shang as possible, Shang shows up and scales the wall right after Pai. Chien Fu follows after both Pai Chang Tien and Shang, but before he can help his teacher in the final battle, he has a surprise opponent hired by Shang to help wipe out the Snake Fist style to deal with. But once Chien Fu gets over that hurdle, he has a surprise of his own for Master Shang!
The story in Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow was not groundbreaking but it was executed by the best people possible… With his charisma and skills on full display, Jackie Chan was starting his rise in the world of martial arts cinema at this point and was proving he was a quality action hero… As I said earlier there is really nobody better than Simon Yuen for the role of the old beggar, who ends up being much more than a beggar… And then you have Hwang Jang-Lee as the main villain, who the movie immediately established as a killing machine and a man hellbent on erasing the Snake Fist style from existence.
One thing I hope is never erased from existence are Bonus Bullet Points…
- Training Montage: There’s a great training montage, with Chien Fu and Pai Chang Tien, that I couldn’t help but think was the inspiration for another training montage we’d see years later when Seasonal came to Hollywood and produced No Retreat, No Surrender.
- Directorial Debut: Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow was the first movie directed by Yuen Wo-Ping.
- AKA: Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow is also known as Eagle’s Claw, Snake’s Fist, Cat’s Paw.
- Sequel?: There was an in name only sequel, Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow Part II starring Don Wong and Carter Wong.
