Jackie Chan's first few starring roles didn't exactly set the world on fire. Chan was under contract to producer/director Lo Wei, who tried to make Jackie into the next Bruce Lee, both through his stage name Chen Lung ("dragon") and casting in films such as New Fist of Fury. Jackie's style never meshed with Lo's intentions, making for a string of box office duds, and the two clashed both on and off the set, so when Seasonal Films asked to borrow Chan for two films, Lo readily gave him up. Chan's first release from Seasonal would prove to be a major breakout role, the martial arts/comedy hybrid Snake in the Eagle's Shadow.

Though it has come to be overshadowed by Drunken Master, which was also released in 1978, and (perhaps incorrectly) regarded as Jackie Chan's first hit movie, with Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, Jackie Chan -- under the direction of his Peking Opera classmate, Yuen Woo-Ping, in his first time helming a film -- was given free reign to display the acrobatic moves and generous doses of comedy that would become his trademarks in subsequent years. Local audiences responded well; long tired of dour movies featuring Bruce Lee lookalikes, they flocked to this fresh breath of cinematic air.

There is not really much to the story. Hwang Jang-Lee is the main baddie; he practices the Eagle's Claw style and wants to (for an unknown reason) kills everyone that uses the Snake's Fist style. Simon Yuen plays a beggar who is the last practitioner of the style. Jackie is a sad-sack kung fu student who begins to learn Snake's Fist after he saves Simon from a group of thugs. Hwang eventually comes calling, and it's up to Jackie to defend his teacher.

Also, the comedy hasn't aged all that well -- a lot of dopey stuff, complete with cartoon sound effects -- but the film still shines. Jackie and Simon have great chemistry together, and the training scenes, accompanied by a soundtrack stolen from other sources, including Oxygene (Part II) by Jean Michael Jarre are great fun to watch. And when it comes to the fights, Jackie and company are in fine form, in particular the final three-way battle between Hwang and Jackie/Simon remaining an all-time classic of the genre.

RATING: 7