Snake in the Eagle's Shadow

Snake in the Eagle's Shadow
Original Hong Kong film poster
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese蛇形刁手
Simplified Chinese蛇形刁手
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinShé Xíng Diāo Shǒu
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingSe4 Jing4 Diu1 Sau2
Directed byYuen Woo-ping
Written byNg See-yuen
Choi Gai-gwong
Tsai Chi-kuang
Produced byNg See-yuen
Chen Chuan
StarringJackie Chan
Yuen Siu-tien
Hwang Jang-lee
CinematographyChang Hui
Edited byPoon Hung-yiu
Music byChou Fu-liang
Distributed bySeasonal Film Corporation
Release date
  • 1 March 1978 (1978-03-01)
Running time
98 minutes
CountryHong Kong
LanguageCantonese
Box officeUS$3 million (est.)

Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (Chinese: 蛇形刁手) 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 Siu-tien), 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 slapstick 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.