The Fearless Hyena (1979) User Reviews (32)

best fight scenes

[J_Charles · 27 July 2005]

Some of Jackie's best fight scenes ever are in this one. Nobody mentioned the one near the end where he's attacked by 3 guys with spears / machetes (you'll see what I mean). The attacks come one at a time, and then all in sequence. The cuts show that there are very few breaks in the action, lots of continuous fighting. Amazing nobody got seriously injured or even killed during the filming.

Another scene of note that everyone talks about is the chopstick scene. But how about the fight against the guy with the two swords? Yet another death defying feat of timing, reflexes and luck.

If you don't enjoy HK humour then don't watch it. But the fight scenes are among the best ever. For those complaining about the dubbing, relax - even the Cantonese version suffers from very poor dubbing. I think it was just the studios at the time trying to save money.

Good film with innovative "emotional kung fu". Watch out for the chopsticks duel n pots sequence.

[Fella_shibby · 9/10 · 25 June 2016]

I first saw this in the mid 80s on a vhs. Repeated it many times in the 90s. It was known by Revenge n Fearless Hyena. Revisited it recently on a blu ray which I own. If u like Jackie Chan movies solely for the entertaining kung fu fights, then this is one movie not to miss. I consider this movie to contain some of his best fights ever. The most impressive thing for me was the brilliant brutal training scenes. This movie also happens to be Jackie Chan's directorial debut. Avoid its sequel like plague. The sequel has nothing but footages of this film.

Spectacular!

[Martialartsfanatic · 10/10 · 23 November 2000]

I'm a huge fan of Jackie Chan, and I've seen over 25 of his movies, and The Fearless Hyena is definently one of the best. Though the humour is pretty dumb, and lots of the characters are un-necessary(Like Stoney Egg, the Great Bear, and Iron Head)the fights are staged beautifully. Especially the ending fight scene!The story isn't so bad either.Even though it's your usual: guy's family memeber gets killed, guy trains, guy gets revenge type of movie, it's still good.Please don't get Fearless Hyena 1 and 2 mixed up. I've heard Two is really bad. So, I definitely suggest that you buy The Fearless Hyena part 1!

You gotta love Jackie Chan... A+ flick

[Blitz-5 · 10/10 · 22 January 1999]

Not only are the martial arts techniques executed with skill. The humor is also top notch. Iron Head, The Great Bear and Stoney Egg are classic! If you like martial arts flicks at all or are a fan of the 3 Stooges. This is a must see for you. I'm already on my 3rd copy:-)

Good fights, and uh... that's about all. Still good though

[EricD-3 · 10/10 · 11 August 1999]

If you like Jackie Chan movies solely for the great Kung Fu fights, this is one movie not to miss. It features about 4 LONG battles and one training scene and they are certainly great. I consider this movie to contain some of his best fights ever, after the final battle in Who Am I and the battles in Drunken Master 2.

It is pretty old but if you don't mind that and if you see Jackie Chan movies simply because he kicks butt, don't miss this.

The plot line is not amazing and the people who translated this movie made an awful job at it (I also watched the French version which is WAY better).

untainted Chan...

[Hi McDonnough · 11 April 2003]

This is one of Chan's best, because as opposed to his recent bloated-budget adventures, he isn't being written buy rich fat white guys who think, "hey let's make that Asian dude sing a funny song with (fill-in-the-blank) American sidekick!" I'm sorry, but as silly and awkward as Fearless Hyena is, it isn't tainted by the Hollywood "fish out of water" premise.

The fighting scenes, while exhausting at moments, are clever and fitting the themes of the film. This is one of Chan's more expressive styles, and his mere body language alone makes up for the horrible overdubbing and juvinile dialouge. Besides, the song at the end when the credits roll is AMAZING. I get chills when I hear it, it's so eerie and atmospheric. I always look forward to it after that final epic fight.

Superior Martial Arts Movie

[Colin-30 · 10/10 · 19 April 1999]

Jackie Chan in "Hsiao chuan yi chao" is Kung Fu's answer to Charlie Chaplan. Yes I admit that some critics may accuse the film of having a flimsy plot line or cheesy dialogue, but my God, the humor and action scenes more than make up for all of the movie's shortcomings! I have two words for anyone who has seen this movie and is on the fence as to whether or not it was the best movie that they have ever seen: Tea Cha. The scamming teacher of the S.S.S. school of kung fu is all that the movie needs. Throw in Jackie Chan's acrobatics and high flying martial arts, and wow! Fans in search of a "good" movie such as Citizen Cane or Driving Miss Daisy should probably stay away, but anyone looking to laugh and be amazed must see The Fearless Hyena starring Jackie Chan.

Don't underestimate this movie!

[[e-mail] · 8/10 · 29 October 2002]

First of all I want to say to the Dutch readers that the Fearless Hyena part I that you poses is Part II in the rest of the world because Prime Time made a mistake switching them around.

Although the story line was bad and some humor was absolutely terrible this movie contains some of the most hard acrobatic skills and it was one of his most energetic movies. I guess that he's been training like a mad person for this movie because it was one of the first movies in which he could do the fighting choreography completely by himself. This made the fighting scenes absolutely awesome and make me want to train myself again.

I saw a comment which says that it looked too much like Drunken Master, but it's Drunken Master that looks a lot like this one because Fearless Hyena was made a year earlier.

If the Three Stooges did kung-fu...

[timrossminister · 7/10 · 9 August 2019]

One of Jackie's earliest films, this already shows the remarkable talent he has for choreography and comic timing. All the more remarkable for the fact that he also wrote and directed this at the age of 25 (Spielberg was 28 when he directed his first film). All the hallmarks of a Jackie Chan are there, though understandably not quite as polished as he later managed to achieve. The humour stands up well too, for its age. I did laugh out loud in a couple of places.

Chopstick Duel of unbelievable proportions!

[smakawhat · 5/10 · 14 May 2000]

Well what can I say about Jackie.. he is a total clown in this film. The movie that i saw was dubbed get this... by ENGLISHMEN! So everyone had a British accent and it was a scream it was like watching Monty Python. The film quality however is pretty poor, and the fight scenes even though well choreographed, don't come out spectacular. However, there is the classic humor of Jackie, which even involves himself dressing up as a woman and beating a guy up with his breasts, and an unbelievable chopstick battle for a piece of meat between Jackie and his teacher (THIS WAS AMAZING HOW THE HELL DID THEY DO THAT you'd HAVE TO SEE IT TO BE BELIEVED!!)

Martial Rating 6.5 out of 10

Overall rating 5 out of 10

Birth of an artist

[winner55 · 10/10 · 27 June 2006]

For me, the absolute best of Chan's earliest 'star' period (that is, not counting early bit-parts), and actually better than "Drunken Master".

Before judging this film, one has to ask after Chan's real goals here. He wants to demonstrate that he can write a whole narrative that flows in smooth linear fashion; he wants to learn all he can about camera placement and editing; he wants to pay tribute to the comic masters of the past that he truly admires, especially buster Keaton and Douglas Fairbanks (the original Zorro); yet he also wants to demonstrate that he can act serious scenes, and that he can direct other actors performing serious scenes. In this way, he identifies himself as real creative talent, and not a Sammo Hung clone, not a Yuen woo Ping clone, and anything but a Bruce Lee clone - which means that he is already thinking of his future, non-Asian audiences.

So the question becomes, first: whether or not he accomplishes these tasks.

Well, obviously, I think he has.

consider this: With a lesser actor and director, the transition from the 'silent comedy' tribute scenes in the martial arts school at the beginning, to the revenge driven training sequences later on, would snap the film in two. But here, when Chan's character discovers the murder of his grandfather, he also discovers that he himself, in however small a manner, has been instrumental in leading the murderer to his grandfather. Thus, the hidden issue requiring resolution is not revenge at all, but guilt and expiation. This reconstructs the Chan character as a young man on the quest for redemption, not just revenge. (A theme brilliantly emphasized by the very last image of the movie.) On top of this, Chan has demonstrated articulate command of medium; he has also directed James Tien, who little older than himself, to appear convincingly as his grandfather; and of course, the comedy is hilarious, especially the fight in drag.

Chan fans, as well as fans of silent comedy, and of chop-sock kung-fu, owe it to themselves to see this movie, enjoy it, and remember it.

Now you're a rotten egg!

[SamuraiNixon · 7/10 · 29 June 2005]

Jackie Chan had just established his Hong Kong popularity with Seasonal Pictures Snake in Eagles Shadow and the sublime Drunken Master. With the success of those films Lo Wei, who lent him out to Seasonal, let Jackie have complete control over his next picture. Fearless Hyena would be Jackie's directorial debut – though he would be working with a much smaller budget than his Seasonal experience. He would also stunt coordinate and write this film too. This movie would out gross the stellar receipts of Drunken Master and help earn Jackie 6000 HK dollars (his pay was 3000 per film; though he made over 50000 on Drunken Master). This measly pay helped exacerbate the rift between him and Lo Wei which led to his departure and the infamous sequel. Jackie reprises his goofy student role that he played in Drunken Master. This time he is Shing Lung, a talented but capricious student and grandson of Chen Ping Fe (the ubiquitous James Tien). Lung would rather gamble or goof off then study his forms. Little does he know that his Grandfather is marked for death by Yen Ting Hua (the underrated Yam Sai-kwoon aka Yen Shi Kwan) who is trying to destroy the Sien Yi clan founded by Hiu Fei (I just love keeping track of these names, I do not know why). Though Shing is forbidden to teach (or show) the Kung Fu his grandfather teaches him he (of course) does it anyways.

Shing tries to make his grandfather proud by getting a job selling coffins. The coffin dealer played by Dean Shek is an unscrupulous merchant who even sells secondhand coffins. This cameo plays to the strengths of Dean and is quite an interesting and hilarious scene. Hapless Shing blows this opportunity by trapping Dean in one of his favorite coffins. He runs away and while walking the public he is confronted by three ruffians (Great Bear, Stony Egg and Ironhead) he beat up earlier. They want him to teach them Kung Fu.

Shing meets their Master Ti Cha who is in charge of the Everything Clan who has no actual skills except for scheming. Ti offers Lung a position and lots of money to help there school learn effective fighting techniques. Ti uses him in the old ploy as a lowly laborer to fight heads of other schools (so if the lowly laborer is that good, just imagine how good Master Ti is.) This leads to several excellent fight scenes that are incredibly fun to watch. I especially like when Shing fights the Lu Ying and the Willow Sword (using the Pink Panther theme as background music) as a cross-eyed beggar. He then fights a large albeit slow man as a woman (yes, Jackie in Drag and no he is not cute).

Shing then makes a huge mistake by naming the facility under the Sien Yi name. Now the rest of the film is very predictable with the ultimate showdown between Shing Lung and Yen Ting Hua. The way it is handled though is quite sagacious. The training scenes are Jackie at his masochistic best. With him pulling huge sacks, doing amazing upside-down sit-ups with his new trainer the Unicorn having a sadistic gleam in his eyes. Shing is even taught Emotional Kung Fu (which Jackie made up for this film) using Joy, Anger, Sorrow and Happiness to focus on one's enemy "emotional" weak spot.

One of my favorite scenes is the Dueling Chopsticks scene in which the Unicorn prevents Shing from eating by using his chopsticks (of course.) Unfortunately it has influenced me to be quite annoying and apply this whenever applicable.

I would not rate this film as highly as Drunken Master. There are problems with the plot that takes too much from Drunken Master. However, I feel that this is an unheralded martial arts piece that is funny and exciting with excellent ideas and stunt choreography by Jackie Chan. This is also a must see if you want to watch Jackie in drag.

High quality kung fu fightings

[verano2 · 9/10 · 3 March 2003]

This film is a ´must´ for all fans of high quality kung fu fightings. It represents the variety of of kung fu more than all other films with Jackie Chan. The story comes fairly simple and is mainly focused on the best fighting action scenes in addition to the legendary scenes with bruce lee.

Tremendously inventive tour de force for Jackie - both in front of and behind the camera

[Leofwine_draca · 9/10 · 11 July 2016]

This film from 1979 marked Jackie's first venture behind the camera as director. FEARLESS HYENA is a traditional, period-set kung fu flick that closely resembles other Jackie Chan films made around the same time: the focus is on comedy followed by revenge, and these elements, in combination with the sheer screen presence of the young star, make it well worth watching. It begins with a chase scene in which the ruthless Yen (who half resembles Christopher Lee) murders a number of rivals using his kung fu skills. The story then cuts to more familiar territory as we are introduced to Lung, Jackie's character. Lung is learning kung fu skills from his grandfather (played by the familiar and reliable James Tien).

The first hour of the film follows the comedy-kung-fu mould as we watch Lung train his kung fu as well as interact with various characters in the village. These range from a crazy undertaker (a cameo from Dean Shek) to three gamblers, who eventually persuade Lung to come and work at their kung fu school. Jackie proves his worth by beating a number of rivals. The final half hour of the film concentrates on revenge as Lung discovers a new mentor (a crippled beggar nicknamed 'the Unicorn') and undergoes some gruelling training before taking on the bad guys in a violent showdown.

Essentially FEARLESS HYENA is a film made up of two separate parts, with the first hour concentrating on comedy, and the latter part building up to a vengeance-fuelled showdown. The comedy is of the slapstick variety that Jackie loves, and there are some obvious nods to the likes of THE THREE STOOGES as our hero joins up with a trio of gamblers and engages in some cartoonish battles with them. Love it or hate it, this type of slapstick comedy was beloved by Chinese audiences and always pops up in these types of films.

Better still are the 'comedy fights' in which Jackie battles his opponents in various amusing ways. These fights are centred at the kung fu school, as Jackie dons a variety of disguises to battle a series of hardened kung fu masters. It's easy to dismiss these scenes as childish or time-fillers but in fact they display some highly impressive acrobatic skills from the star, whose split-second timing is impeccable. The scene where he dresses as a cross-eyed janitor and fights an opponent using benches and a table, for instance, is wonderful, expertly choreographed and full of fluid action that only seasoned performers could have pulled off.

This wouldn't be a traditional kung fu film without any training sequences, and these are also some of the best put on camera. Jackie proves himself to be at his physical peak as he performs upside-down sit-ups over and over again and drags weights across a field, every muscle and tendon on his body straining. The opening and closing fight scenes get pretty violent – the blood runs freely – and the finale in particular is edge-of-the-seat stuff. A new type of kung fu is introduced into the film; it focuses on the emotions (happy, sad, angry, etc.) and with it Jackie is able to take down his opponents in various painful ways.

Watching Jackie fight in new, unique ways is always a pleasure and the fights here are no exception; trust Jackie, he's even able to inject some humour into these moments, with his 'sadness' kung fu resembling drunken boxing as he falls over and against his opponent. As the villain, Yen, Yam Sai-kun may not be as skilled as Hwang Jang Lee, but his kung fu skills are pretty spectacular, especially his deadly 'eagle claw' strike. The film ends on a real high with Jackie excelling both in front of, and behind the camera. His fellow cast members all put in good performances and the martial arts is tremendous as usual.

Authentic, old skool Kung Fu movie but it does have some silly scenes. 7/10

[leonblackwood · 7/10 · 30 November 2015]

Review: I really enjoyed this authentic Kung Fu movie but a lot of time is wasted on silly jokes and unnecessary scenes. At the time of it's release, I was totally amazed with this unknown Kung Fu world, were a man trains to be an expert and he uses his skills to kill the baddies, so this film definitely brought back some memories. This film sees Chan play a young Shing Lung, who lives with his grandfather and makes money any which way he can. Whilst staying in his grandfather's house, he's taught different styles of Kung Fu and he uses his skills against the bullies in his remote village. His talents soon get recognised by a money making con artist, who opens Kung Fu school were Chan takes on everyone that comes to take-on there pupils. When his grandfather finds out how he's been making money, he gets very upset because he doesn't want there Kung Fu to become known to others. After a while, the schools name spreads across the village and his grandfather's enemy tracks him down kills him after a lengthy battle. Chan then seeks revenge for his grandfather but his Kung Fu isn't up to scratch to challenge him, so he learns new styles from his grandfather's friend, which lead to a showdown that is definitely worth watching. Its your usual, "You Killed My Master" type of concept which I have grown to love in this genre. The only problem is that it takes a long time to get going but it's worth the wait. The funny dubbing really made me laugh and some of the fighting scenes were a bit over the top but that was expected because of the age of the movie. Chan does give his all throughout the movie and the different costumes that he put on during his time at the school were amusing but the true action should have started a lot earlier in the movie. With that aside, I still enjoyed the film and I'm glad that I was able to get my hands on it. Enjoyable!

Round-Up: This movie was directed and written by a young Jackie Chan, who done a great job at such a young age. The choreography throughout the movie was also done by Chan so he really put a lot of time and energy into his directional debut. At the time, Chan was only 25 so you have to give him recognition for his first attempt behind the camera. Anyway, if your into your Kung Fu movies then you definitely need this film in your collection.

I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/martial arts/comedies starring Jackie Chan, James Tien and Dean Shek. 7/10

Nothing to fear here...

[paul_haakonsen · 4/10 · 4 July 2013]

As much as I enjoy Jackie Chan's movies, acrobatics and martial arts, and despite how much people keep saying that "Fearless Hyena" is a martial arts classic and gem, then I found it rather difficult to sit through this movie and take it seriously.

First of all, the version I got was an English dubbed version, without the option to switch to the original language. And as if that wasn't bad enough, it sounded like a single, constipated guy was making all the voices for all characters in the movie. It was just awful.

But the movie was also incorporating a bit too much slapstick comedy and really bad sound effects in an attempt to emphasize on the comedy on the screen.

Despite the above-mentioned things, then there are good things to the movie as well. The main thing being the acrobatic and physical performance that Jackie Chan delivered. It was just impressive. And you also get to see Jackie Chan dressed up as a woman, which was just hilarious, and that scene alone makes it worth to sit through the entire movie.

Story-wise, then "Fearless Hyena" ("Xiao quan guai zhao") is fairly simplistic and easy to follow, even as the movie doesn't require any real brain activity from the audience.

This is not amongst the best of Jackie Chan's earlier movies in his otherwise impressive movie list. And I must admit that I thought this movie would be more than it turned out to be, as I had heard nothing but praise and great things about it.

classic jackie chan flick, up there with drunken master and snake in the eagles shadow

[daworldismine · 8/10 · 19 May 2010]

the fearless hyena is a classic of martial arts cinema as jackie chan takes everything that made 'snake in the eagles shadow' and 'drunken master' big hits, and directed his own martial arts comedy, plot line sees jackie chan out for the revenge of his grandfather's murder and there are fight scenes and laughs aplenty as jackie chan does his things, but the most impressive thing for me was the brilliant training/workout scenes, witch really show the physical strength of jackie chan. as a first time director chan is easily as good as yuen woo ping, while the movie does lack the polished look of drunken master. the fearless hyena is definitely the second best jackie chan movies of the seventies but i think it's also one of the best martial arts movies of all time as well.

The Chan man at his jaw dropping best!

[Space_Lord · 7/10 · 5 July 2005]

All I'll say about this movie is sit back and watch the mayhem!!! Featuring a young Jackie Chan in his prime, this film contains some of the best choreographed fight scenes you will ever see!! Highlights include an awesome stick fight between Jackie and his grandfather; a gender-bending, cross-dressing female-impersonating Jackie dealing to a muscular chinaman; kung-fu fun with bowls and finally a climactic kung-fu ass kicking fest!! All part and parcel of the insanity we can expect from this period of Jackie's career! Sure, the dubbing is terrible, but who really cares what they're saying with Jackie kicking ten kinds of ass all over the shop!! A must see for kung-fu movie fans!! WICKED!!!

First..Drunken Master..Second..Young Master..Now Fearless Hyena..

[Nick_Vorobyov · 26 June 2001]

I thought "Drunken Master" and "Young Master" had it all. But this film is great like always. What can I say this movie has more comedy but still some good action. And the end battle was really good showing Jackie fight without fear. This film doesn't show Jackie really series till the end that's were they got the name from. This film is a lot funnier that "Drunken Master" but doesn't reach out to the level of "Young Master" in action. Also the story of this film is quite good. And this is a great film so go see it.

Very good Jackie Chan directed movie

[Russ-72 · 8/10 · 24 December 2000]

I really recommend this movie. If you like Jackie Chan, and you liked Drunken Master, you will like this one too. The fighting scenes are greatly choreographed and the story combines the fights in an easy to watch movie that entertains from the beginning to the very end.

If you like martial arts movies: Watch it.

Tone deaf laughing

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 26 October 2020]

I'm not sure if this movie will be seen kindly by anyone who is very strict when it comes to political correctness. And I'm not talking about how Jackie (or Jacky as the opening titles say) Chan is handling certain situations - almost acting like a villain and bullying people left and right - but since it is meant as comedy it is ok to do that.

You may get from that, that I do not condone the tone or rather the tone inconsistencies the movie depicts. From hardcore (blood and all that) to silly fun. Some movies are able to switch between those, I think this fails most of the times. Still as you can see by my vote, I liked this overall. And it is because of the action and the stunts. While this isn't yet the Jackie Chan we'll get to know or who he becomes later, which makes him a bona fide super star, you can see a lot of things in this one too. Using his surroundings to fight, the humor and all that.

While it's not long running time wise, there are certain sequences that could have used some trimming to say the least. So while I can see the flaws, I was also strangely excited how this reminded me of the Shaw Brothers movies I loved to watch in a way - I didn't look closely but apparently there are many continuity errors. If those bother you, you are certainly not enjoying yourself with this as much as you should - which would be a shame.

Punch him balls to death

[garazsklub · 7/10 · 3 October 2020]

Jackie Chan Balls of Steel célokból Jesus is grandfather tud f In The Park at night

Jackie love

[rashidsaifudheen · 6/10 · 12 September 2020]

You will Love this one. Nice movie nice stunts Directed by JC

Who's laughing now?

[Pjtaylor-96-138044 · 7/10 · 24 July 2020]

Though 'The Fearless Hyena (1979)' has many similarities to 'The Drunken Master (1978)' and, indeed, many other martial arts movies from the era, the piece sets itself apart with some absolutely phenomenal choreography and a flashy focal style that really comes through in an explosive one-on-one finale. The story centres on a revenge plot that doesn't really begin until well over half way into the runtime, yet the plot never feels poorly paced because it's peppered with set-pieces and establishes that its lead character's choices have tangible consequences. It starts to lag ever-so-slightly in its mid-section but it is entertaining throughout, a funny and exciting adventure that constantly surprises with just how good its fight scenes truly are. Seriously, there are a couple in here that easily sit among the best of all time - including a sphincter-tightening, three-on-one sword fight - and they deserve to be recognised as such. It's a testament to the thing's quality that its downright awful dub (subs aren't available on Amazon Prime) doesn't really dampen its effect. The dub is certainly its worst aspect, though, with voice work that sounds like something from a Monty Python sketch and one character in particular who sounds like Richard Ayoade. Despite this, the film is really fun throughout. It's easy to recommend to any fan of martial arts cinema. 7/10

I Don't Know What Hyenas Have To Do With It

[boblipton · 7/10 · 9 May 2020]

Jackie Chan and his grandfather live alone, while grandpa trains Jackie in kung fu. Eventually the big bad guy, who dresses and has hair like Lucius Malfoy comes along and kills the old man. Jackie wants to run after him and fight him, but a little man with a crutch stops him, then begins to train Jackie in more kung fu so he'll have a chance.

Chan's first movie as director (although he has Richard Lo credited as "Executive Director") is a pretty standard plot, with the young disciple who slipped, seeking vengeance against the chief baddie. It's the handling that is a bit different. The second quarter of the movie has Jackie as the head teacher of a martial arts school, and he has to fight a bunch of people. It's all circus clowning, with Chan whipping people while dressed as a feeble-minded individual, in drag, and so forth. It's positively cartoonish, and the sound choices emphasize this: there's the introduction to "The Pink Panther" and sound stings that sound like they came out of Treg Brown's library. Plus for the big finish, he invents new, ridiculous styles of fighting that are, of course, successful.

in the meantime, it's a fine movie that combines silliness and seriousness, despite a few glitches in He would get better and better, peaking in the middle of the 1990s. However, everyone has to start somewhere, and this is a very good start.