Product Details

• Actors: Jackie Chan, Siu Tien Yuen, Jang Lee Hwang, Dean Shek, Roy Horan
• Directors: Woo-ping Yuen
• Writers: See-Yuen Ng, Chi Yuan Hsi, Chi-Kuang Tsai, Huo An Hsi, Shiao Loong
• Producers: See-Yuen Ng
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: Cantonese
• Subtitles: English, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
  PLEASE NOTE: Some Region 1 DVDs may contain Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE). Some, but not all, of our international customers have had problems playing these enhanced discs on what are called "region-free" DVD players. For more information on RCE, click here.
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• DVD Release Date: June 18, 2002
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00006672Q
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #15,896 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #30 in	Movies & TV > Action & Adventure > Hong Kong Action > Chan, Jackie
  #31 in	Movies & TV > Action & Adventure > Action Stars > Jackie Chan

• For more information about "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Along with Drunken Master, Snake in the Eagle's Shadow launched a new fusion of comedy and kung fu. And it's easy to see why Snake has been so popular--it's easily the most engaging of Jackie Chan's early films. Everyone abuses and humiliates a downtrodden orphan (Chan) until he befriends an old man, who turns out to be the last master of the "snake fist" fighting style. Jackie becomes the old man's student and finds himself in battle with the master of the "eagle's claw" style, who has vowed to destroy the snake fist clan. Though these plot elements are familiar stuff, they're all executed with outstanding verve; the performances, the fight choreography, and even the obligatory training sequence are unusually complex and well filmed. Jackie is in top form and coming into his own as a star. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you've seen Drunken Master 1, watch this now!, March 7, 1999

By A Customer

This film has Jackie and Simon Yuen Siu Tien (Su Huan Chi from DM)teaming together again. Jackie plays an orphan who is indentured at a kung fu school. At the school he does chores and gets used as a punching bag. One day in the street, he runs into an old beggar who teaches him the Snake Fist style. The Eagle Claw clan wishes to wipe out the weaker Snake Fist style users, so Jackie develops his own style of Cat's Claw. Simon Yuen Siu Tien is great in this movie, possibly better than he was in Drunken Master. There is an incredible scene at the beginning where he balances a bowl on his hands, feet, and head while Jackie tries to grab it. The action in this is great, as well as the plot. Do yourself a favor and watch this. (But don't watch Snake in the Eagle's Shadow II, Jackie's not even in it).

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, June 29, 2003

By	"wu_ming" (Australia) - See all my reviews

It was good to see that Columbia/TriStar pictures had released the 2 movie dvd edition of Jackie Chan's classics. I watched Snake in the Eagle's Shadow since I was a young boy. I remembered watching it many times. This was back in the early 80s. Now watching it again is a delight.

Though, a very important part of the film was cut. This changed the tone of the film since it is the pivot of the storyline. The story was about how Jackie Chan learned the Snake Style from the old beggar, who is the master of the Snake Style. However, a vicious martial art opponent with an Eagle style was determined to wipe out the Snake Style clan. Chan didn't know this was going, and the old beggar was on the run, to escape from the Eagle Style master. Through the middle part of the story, Chan discovered that the Snake style manual that was left to him was torn apart by his cat. He found his cat trapped in a corner of the room confronted by a cobra snake. In the original film, it actually revealed how the cat won the fight against the cobra, with agility and the speed of its claw. The snake failed in its offensive attempts, and in the end the cat killed it. This scene brought an important revelation to Jackie that he could integrate the cat fighting system into his current Snake fighting style. The scene is pivotal because he saw how the cat avoided and faught back the snake. This I believe, is not only important for the film, but also for the audience, who can see logically how Jackie would adapt such style. The fight between the cat and the snake was omitted, where we could only see the confrontation of the snake and the cat, and the next cut was the snake dying on the floor with the cat next to it. I am not sure whether this only happens in the region 4 version, but I suspect its a standard cut. This totally throw me out of the exciting experience of watching the movie since it didn't match the original film. I can't make any sense out of why Columbia/TriStar would want to cut the scene. It degrades the experience of watching a classic movie such as this one.

I would recommend finding another version if possible, released in Hong Kong perhaps.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ultimate Jackie Chan Movie, August 29, 2004

By	F. Khan (So. Cal) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Before I go on I must say that my score is based on a heavy tilt. As a DVD this has nothing to really merit 5 stars in the way of features, extras and the ilk. But you're not buying this movie for features are you? You're buying it because this happens to be one of the finest Kung Fu movies ever made.

There is a plot that revolves around two feuding kung fu schools, the snakefist and the eagle's claw. The eagle's claw has all but won, having successfully killed most of the members of the snakefist. Jackie Chan plays an errand boy working in a small kung-fu school and he happens to come across the last remaining master of the snake fist and provides him out with food and shelter.

That's the plot. Its full of holes but at the same time it is dotted with some hilarious moments, highlighted by excellent fighting scenes, and carried by jackie chan's irresistable charm.

This is old school jackie chan. If you've only seen his new films you will most likely not like this. For people who really enjoy his older work or want to see a classic jackie chan film, this is amongst the best. I also recommend police story which is another jackie chan classic.