Snake Fist Fighter

This was Jackie's first lead role filmed (partly) in 1971 and originally called The Little Tiger of Canton. Jackie's father is killed in a feud between triad gangs leaving his young orphaned son to grow up, learn kung foo and avenge the death of his father. The problem is half way through the filming the director and producer did a runner leaving the actors unpaid and the movie unfinished. In 1978, after Jackie had become famous with Snake in the Eagles Shadow and Drunken master the film was finished using a dodgy Jackie look-alike. They even go to the extent of fighting blindfolded in order to hide his face. It's a shame because to spite the obvious low budget and poor script I found it fairly entertaining up to that point. So be warned unless your happy with half a Jackie Chan film (and not his best by any means)I wouldn't recommend paying the price of DVD to see it.

First off this is jackies first staring role. Secondly the producer quit the whole movie and left all the actors without a producer which means no movie. So if you add both those into account you have to finish the movie with what you have. This is a old movie and a young jackie.. Jackie does pull off a few good moves near the end on the dock fight if you watch closely and he's very agile. They added a lot of scenes after drunken master made it big. The blindfold fight, the training katas (drunken master clips) and a few other extras thrown in. Anything with the teenage jackie is jackie chan which most people know and the children and parent part is also part of the movie. The fighting in this is average but I found it pretty entertaining and the jackie double can movie quite well. There's a special edition of this movie with the real ending but I've never seen it. So try and get that version!

Apparently Jackie himself, merely 17 when this film was made, says to stay away from this movie. I shoulda learned that earlier. It's at least two movies Frankensteined together, and new footage (with the old master beating up the flamboyantly gay landlord, farting in his face and avoiding his Popeye-themed attack (complete with Popeye's theme music - calling all lawyers)) was added years later to complete the "film", such as it is.

Plot? Barely there. Jackie plays an evil warlord who kills one of his men (who squirts blood out of his mouth in an unintentionally hilarious scene reminiscent of Monty Python's Black Knight), whose young son (Jackie again) is raised by another former henchman, who does not want Jackie to be a fighter. "You want to destroy life? Well, kill flowers!" he yells, tossing potted plants at his wayward stepson. However, Jackie's been training in secret with a crazy old guy in the woods since he was 6 (in a series of disjointed and somewhat creepy flashbacks), and there's only so much he can take before springing into action, especially since people attack him and his sister on a daily basis. He fights through a bunch of generic thugs as the camera whips around randomly, the canned soundtrack saws away pompously and dubbed threats ("I will take care of you now! Hum!") assault the viewer's ears. Characters mostly pop up to get killed (foster dad, a young pickpocket), or disappear after a few scenes (Jackie's uncle and sister).

The editing is such a mess it's usually impossible to tell exactly what's going on. When Jackie's pickpocket "friend" (I put that in quotes because they only met three times beforehand) is threatened by being tied up high on a pole, Jackie fights off the thugs around him. We cut to a thug falling into the water, and then the pickpocket just falls from the pole he was shown to be snugly tied to (shown by a dummy falling towards the camera), a musical sting, and Jackie looking... kinda bummed. "Goodbye, my little friend." Then a suddenly shirtless Jackie points at the villain (actually, he points at the camera - most of the dialogue scenes are played in separate shots) and declares "YOU killed him. YOU are responsible for his death." I dunno, Jackie. Was he the one who made the ropes magically disappear?

The dubbing is horrid, the characters either having British accents or Brooklyn accents, neither of which match the tone well at all. It sure is weird hearing Jackie's voice dubbed over by somebody else, and the endless "Ho! Hah! Huuuh!" during the fights is the fine line between hilarious and unbearable. Every blow, even light smacks, get a loud *CRACK* sound effect, and at one point Jackie holds a conversation with a villain while we hear a hilarious number of loud *CRACKS* in the background!

And then there's the final battle with the warlord, now elderly and played by a tall actor who looks nothing like Jackie (same dubbed voice, though) and a fat guy who follows the Way of the Fish, which Jackie easily disposes of, Old Master cheering from the sidelines. Jackie and the warlord blindfold themselves, which is cool, but it mostly is a desperate attempt to hide the fact that even Jackie is played by a different actor now. The bad guy whips around and whinnies like a horse. It's that kind of movie.

Don't fret though, fans. Pseudo-Jackie beats the villain by knocking him over, breaks his neck by turning it slightly to the right - complete with spaceship sound effects - and Old Master says Jackie has earned the right to carry a blue flag. Jackie waves it triumphantly, the movie ends five seconds later, and the soundtrack grinds to a halt.

Only for people who want to see Jackie's first starring role. Other than that, you won't find any of the elaborate choreography and set-pieces you'd expect from Jackie, although some of the hand-to-hand stuff is pretty well done, from what you can see of it through the insane editing. You'll likely have more than a few laughs as well, albeit the uneasy kind.

Rated R for God knows what reason. The violence, save the blood squirt, is clean, there's no swearing, and a really cheesy attempted rape scene involves a fully clothed couple wrestling while the woman screams. Norway banned it, although in retrospect that was a really good idea.

Rated R for Violence and Brief Sexual Content. Quebec Rating:13+(should be G) Canadian Home Video Rating:PG

I got Master With Cracked Fingers along with Fantasy Mission Force on VHS about five years ago.This is Jacie Chan's first starring role in a film.It was originally an incomplete film but after Chan got famous it used footage from the film Drunken Master and they filmed some more footage for the final scenes.I was not really impressed by this film.Its just like the millions of other cheap kung fu films from 1970's Hong Kong.The only thing stopping it from being your average Kung Fu film that plays on Drive In Classics occasionally is that Jackie CHan who is very famous in America now stars in the film.The film is about a young boy who learns Kung Fu from an old man(Jackie Chan and the old man who teaches him were both in Drunken Master together).The young boy grows up and completes his kung fu training.He works in a restaurant but a couple of thugs start wrecking havoc so Chan stops them.However his father punishes him for fighting and when he doesn't fight his master punishes him for fighting.MAster With Cracked Fingers isn't excellent but its a good cheap kung fu film and you will like it if you like these types of movies.

Runtime:80min

7/10

Teen age Jackie Chan stars in this exciting kung fu action movie.

Jackie Chan (Jackie Chan) has been practicing kung fu under the tutelage of his old master since he was young. He works hard both at his work, and on his kung fu. One day he meets a girl, and he's smitten right away. Bully tries to rape her, and Jackie intervenes. This sparks a feud between the gangs and Jackie. It's a duel to the death between the gang boss and Jackie while being blind folded for both of them.

Young Jackie Chan looks soooo good. He's a handsome young man. His good personality also shows in this movie. His moves are very polished for a 16 year old teenager. No wonder he became the premiere action star. This is an old school kung fu movie but is refreshing to see young Jackie doing his moves. He already looks like a master at 16.

Some of the action sequences are amazing in this movie.

Good if not great kung fu movie from the early '70s.