Fella_shibby Saw this first on a VHS in mid 80s. The fighting really never stops, and we see Jackie fight groups of people numerous times. This is also one of the few Jackie movies where he fights women. In this film, Jackie has attitude and confidence and he kicks butt from scene one. This is easily one of the best old style Kung Fu movies. It has bad editing, bad cinematography and bad audio quality. Watch out Jackie showing of his skills with various weapons - absolutely amazing. There is an epic fight involving the Snake and Crane style in the end. Fans may recognize the opening credit's music as the same piece that graced the credit sequence from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

BA_Harrison An old-school Jackie Chan chop socky flick from prolific producer Lo Wei, Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin sees the star playing Hsu Yin-Fung, a skillful martial artist (what else?) who attracts the attention of several clans when he reveals that he is in possession of 'Art of the Snake and Crane', a rare book written by the eight Shaolin Masters.After lots of not particularly memorable bouts of fighting between Hsu Yin-Fung and various clan leaders (JC is both athletic and acrobatic, but the choreography lacks the inventiveness and attention to detail that can be found in his later HK work), it is revealed that our hero is deliberately flaunting his book in order to try and discover the identity of a man with a scarred shoulder who was responsible for killing all but one of the eight masters.After much mayhem, and some rubbish about a dirty faced ragamuffin who turns out to be the daughter of one of the clan leaders, the villain's identity is finally revealed, and Hsu Yin-Fung does battle against the bad guy and his hired killers—a trio of tough nuts wielding a variety of weapons. The action in these closing fight scenes is terrific, and makes ploughing through the earlier rather repetitive action and weak comedy worthwhile.

cloudhands_1 To start with, this is one of the best old skool Kung Fu movies out there! and now to the nitty gritty...Every year, the Masters of all the Shaolin divisions gather for combining and developing the best technique based on their supreme kung fu knowledge & experience, now they have formed the ultimate kung fu technique making "The Book of the Eight Steps of Snake & Crane".but mysteriously hereafter, the 8 Masters of Shaolin disappear along with the most valuable book, and chaos reigns in South China Until one day, when a young stranger comes to town named Hsu Yin Fung, or better known to us as Jackie Chan, carrying the precious book. Now this definitely means action, and in big quantities - all the kung fu clans want this book for themselves, but Hsu Yin Fung has mastered the art which is written there! even more, not only that Hsu Yin Fung does not keep the fact that he has the book very secret as you would expect him to do, he also has a bad habit: he likes fighting people who fight well, as he puts it in the movie.yes ladies & gentlemen, this movie is loaded with fighting scenes! there are heaps of them to surely satisfy any kung fu movies fan, while the plot itself is also interesting, it is not the usual formula of kung fu movies, a lot of colorful characters appear in this film, and there are no dull moments, the story keeps it's rhythm fluently.There is also some humor weaved in the story although not exactly the kind of humor you might be used to from other Jackie Chan's movies, note this - Jackie does not do any slapstick like humor by himself, here he is the toughest guy around and he has no problem showing it. most of his films, Jackie is not reluctant to kick ass, nor to straight forward declare that he can, but here it's a whole different tale...one last thing, in the opening scenes of the movie (and later on) The Dragon Spear is mentioned: a weapon which is given to The ShaoLin Master Lin who was given the book at first to assist him in this, but we never get to see this spear in the movies it is only mentioned so don't build up expectations.

dragon ma young while not playing the likeable ass kicking fool we all know and love, there is something missing from the film, you know? in this movie jackie is an unlikeable ass kicking man in control. not his worst film by far, just not that good. and i hate the crane style of shaolin,my favorite is the lizard style. but thats not really the point. this movie just seemes too regular, just like all the other 1970s kung fu flicks that came ouyt. thats too bad, because jackie really did have the same charm back then, as shown in drunken master.