Film review: The Fearless Hyena (1979)

They've added a few Jackie Chan films to the Criterion Channel, and this was one of the very few we hadn't seen already.  Verdict: not the worst of his early efforts!  Apparently it's his first directing job, and the plot is indistinguishable from most of his other late 70s efforts.  In fact, it's almost identical to Drunken Master: Jackie plays impish young student of strict, grandfatherly Kung Fu tutor, gets into trouble, learns unique fighting style, then has to put it into action to save/avenge his master from evil Kung Fu master.  In Drunken the fighting style requires him getting plastered.  Here, the fighting style involves showing various emotions, one of them being manic glee (hence the Hyena, because you unnerve your opponent by laughing as, in this case, he gauges chunks out of you with his pincer-like fingers). 

Notable scenes include him disguising himself as an idiot cleaner and a woman

to fight people for the blow-hard head of a fake Kung Fu school in the first half of the film and in the second, a scene where his second tutor (who shows up after his first, his actual grandfather, gets killed by the baddie) keeps stealing his food with chopsticks before he can eat it.  This was lifted completely by Kung Fu Panda.  The Channel also added Fearless Hyena 2, so we'll definitely be checking THAT out.  However, if you're choosing between this and Dragon Lord, Drunken Master, or Young Master, those should come first.