Chien Fu is the lowest of the low at a run-down martial arts school, a sweeper used as a practice dummy by the instructors. When he helps a ragged old man, he discovers he has found Pai Chang-tien, the last surviving master of the Snake Fist, who is being hunted by the Eagle Claw clan and its deadly leader. The old man secretly trains him, and Chien Fu adds a twist of his own, inspired by watching a cat fight a snake. This was Yuen Woo-ping's first film as director and the breakthrough for Jackie Chan, whose mix of acrobatic kung fu and slapstick comedy took shape here. Its success led the same team straight to Drunken Master the same year, and Yuen later choreographed The Matrix.
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