"That technique! That isn't Snake Fist style! What is that?"

I totally forgot about the sudden fight between a cat and cobra that leads to Chien Fu (Jackie Chan) getting the idea of the Cat Claw.

Anyway Snake in the Eagle's Shadow is one of the better earlier outings of Jackie Chan. His first step to stardom and one of his two great movies released in the same year. Because only half a year later the legendary Drunken Master was released. With most of the same cast and same story beats. But that didn't matter, both were smash hits at the time and luckily for us made a big deal out of Jackie Chan.

Here he is a Kung Fu noob. He's a friendly punching bag of one of the two kung fu school present in the movie. He befriends a beggar and becomes a deadly user of the Snake Fist. The natural enemy of the bad guy's Eagle Claw. I still think Snake Fist is superior because Jackie literally kills a Russian by hitting him in the balls. Amazing stuff.

Snake in the Eagle's Shadow has a lot of ingredients of Jackie Chan's later films. Great martial arts, kung fu action, slapstick humor, the use of weapons (not much but you see his epicness with a stick) and the same structure in story. And always ending the movie after the final boss has been defeated.

If you like Jackie Chan or Kung Fu films in general, watch Snake in the Eagle's Shadow and I promise you that you won't be disappointed.