1973's film 'Shanghai Joe' is no, 2000's 'Shanghai Noon'. It's not even in the league of 1975's TV Show 'Kung Fu' with actor, David Carradine; in my opinion, this Italian Wuxia Western movie was below average. Don't get me wrong, "Shanghai Joe' is no average Joe Schmoe. It's entertaining, but it's just, wasn't that good. Directed by Mario Caiano, 'The Fighting Fist of Shanghai Joe', also known as 'My Name Is Shanghai Joe', 'The Dragon Strikes Back', 'To Kill or to Die' and 'Karate Jack' tells the story of a Chinese immigrant, Shanghai Joe/Karate Jack/Chin Hau (Chen Lee) seeking a new and peaceful life in America, only to find out that he's not exactly welcomed with open arms, by cattle ranchers led by owner, Stanley Spencer (Piero Lulli), who using Mexican slaves as cattle. Without spoiling the movie, too much, I have to say, Chen Lee isn't a good actor. A 'deer in the headlights' boring performance. His acting is so mundane by his emotionless delivery. Yes, I guess, he supposed to be rather calm, cool, and collected, but he doesn't show, any range to anything that is happening on screen like people dying. What happen!? Did he went to the Tommy Wiseau's school of acting!? Not only that, but his character is such a Gary Stu! He seems seemingly perfect in every task, he does. It doesn't make sense. Like how, in the world, did he get so good in playing cards, while training in martial arts!? Also, how did Shanghai Joe able to walk after getting shot in the legs, after a few days of healing!? It doesn't add up! Also, Chen Lee's badly made choreography fight scenes were just as bizarre and silly with his unrealistic slow-motion flips, mediocre hits/kicks and awkward cries. I was laughing my head off, when action scenes like the bull-chopping, fancy jumping a horse and bullet catching scene were on screen. It was so over-the-top! However, the gore and visual effects were alright for the time, even if they didn't film it that well. I was really confusing on how Shanghai Joe went to eye gouge and heart pull, his enemies, because of that. Despite that, I have to say, the music score by composer Bruno Nicolai is a notable asset that really help set the tone of the film, even if it's recycle from 1970's western film, 'Have a Good Funeral, My Friend... Sartana Will Pay'. While, the picture quality is decent, some speckling and the colors are indeed washed out. Also the sound is sometimes rather indistinct but all of the English dialogue is understandable, no gaps in the Italian translates. Yet, by far, the best thing in this movie are the supporting cast that plays the series of villains that Spencer hires to take down Shanghai Joe. Actors like Gordon Mitchell and Klaus Kinski really made their characters, Burying Sam & Scalper Jack really stood out, by their cunning action. Even, the over the top gory, unrealistic fight sequences with Japanese fighter, Mikuja (Katsutoshi Mikuriya) & Tricky the Gambler (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart) were memorable. Yet, I wish, they could had done more with Pedro the Cannibal (Claudio Undari). His scene was a bit disappointing. Talking about disappointing. I really don't like how Carla Romanelli's Cristina was just there to be the force love interest and damsel in distress. Her character really didn't add anything to the film, at all! Another problem with this film is the pacing. Honestly, did we really need to see, his journey from California to Texas, or his scenes with previous ranchers!? It takes forever for the main plot to start. Also, for a few dollars more, they really could had, work on the production value, a little more. First off, the Almerian locations look so small and ugly-looking. San Francisco is a good example. It doesn't look or feel like San Francisco at the time. Also, the subtitles really got it wrong with St. Francisco. It wasn't never call that!? Another problem is the costumes; some of the characters look like, they're wearing clothes from a 1940's gangster movie rather than more western-looking costumes! It was very jarring. Anyways, while this film gives us a rather bleak view of the United States as an intolerant country, uneducated, racist and violent which still traffics humans that might offend some viewers. As an American, I kinda like this movie, despite its flaws. After all, the film was enough of a success to boast a sequel, 1975's 'The Return of Shanghai Joe'. Overall: Enjoyable east-meets-west fare that is a little bit awkward. Still, highly recommended.

"The Fight Fists of Shanghai Joe" (1973) sounds like one of those awful genre bending films that repeatedly crop up over the years; however this kung-fu Spaghetti Western is actually pretty decent and has certain similarities with the television series "Kung Fu" with David Carradine. It is directed by Mario Caiano, who made a number of Spaghetti Westerns, and stars Chen Lee as the eponymous Shanghai Joe.The story is straightforward, almost verging on the simplistic. Joe is a recent immigrant from China to San Francisco, where, in search of work, he heads to Texas. Here he gets on the wrong side of a powerful, racist rancher, Stanley Spencer (Piero Lulli), after he witnesses the massacre of Mexican slave labourers.This Western tries to say some interesting things about the West, and how Chinese immigrants helped do a lot of the "dirty" jobs that Whites wouldn't do. Sadly, most of this is drowned under its comic book style and some pretty bad kung-fu. Yet it does have some good parts: most of the action scenes come with Peckinpah-esque slow motion and exploding, bloody squids. Some of the violence is pretty strong too, with Lee pulling a bad guy's eyes out on screen. But due to its light-hearted mode, it never feels dark or repellent. In fact, it is all rather comic, lacking the seriousness as "Django Kill, If You Live, Shoot!" (1967) has from its strong violence.Acting wise, Chen Lee is probably as wooden as his martial arts, but Piero Lulli makes a fine villain and Klaus Kinski's virtually cameo-like role is memorable. The scene where the Mexicans are killed is well-directed, as are a number of other action scenes, sufficient enough to make sure that the Western is at least fast paced.It isn't a brilliant piece of cinema, but as the Spaghetti Western genre went down the drains, it is refreshingly old fashioned in a way, occasionally recalling the past Golden Era of the late sixties that makes it worth checking out for the Spaghetti Western enthusiast.

Ahhhh, the Kung Fu Spaghetti Western, a weird hybrid that existed for a brief flash in the world of exploitation cinema. This film, known by various titles including DRAGON STRIKES AGAIN and most commonly THE FIGHTING FIST OF SHANGHAI JOE, came out in 1974, probably the zenith year for such attempts. (FYI, 1992 was the peak year for the Cyborg/Kickboxer mash-up--but that's another story.) Directed by undistinguished Italian genre hack Mario Caiano, the pic presents the tale of a Chinese loner ambling his way through the American Old West. The lead is played by the little-seen Chen Lee. Lee has only three movie credits to his name, each in an Italian film, which begs the question of whether he is an actor per se or merely a expert martial artist that happened to be living in Italy at the time. But whatever the explanation, Lee manages to acquit himself rather well in this performance. He has an easygoing, laconic presence that is pleasantly free of the stiffness sometimes on display among non-acting fighters. (Of course his dialog is dubbed, but so is everyone else's here, so it's hard to judge him in that respect.) After a few vignettes depicting Lee's troubles in finding transportation, food, and ranch work due to the locals' bigotry and bullying, we settle in to the main thrust of the story, wherein Lee aims to help liberate Mexican peons who are being enslaved by evil rancher Spencer, played by the familiar Piero Lulli. Along to help him is the pretty Mexican Cristina (Carla Romanelli), and she turns into a sort of love interest for him.There are a few weird quirks about the pic that are worth noting. First, our hero goes unnamed for about the first 3/4 of the film--no one asks his name an he is never addressed by anyone. Then out of the blue, he offhandedly refers to himself as "Shanghai Joe" in a chat with Cristina. OK, after 80 minutes we learn his name... the in the very next scene, Spencer calls for "Joe" to be killed and shouts, "Go get Chin Hao!", a name by which "Joe" is referred for the final few minutes. What the heck? How did Spencer learn this guy's Chinese name? Is this a sloppy scripting gaffe, a botched dubbing mistake, poor exposition? Whatever the reason, it's weird.Another oddity is the plot twist where, late in the story, Spencer and his men meet to decide how to deal with Joe. They opine that four notorious hit men would each be perfect for doing away with the Chinaman. What follows is a quick series of pretty ridiculous vignettes as colorful baddies with names like "The Cannibal" are dispatched by Joe. Among these hit men are top-billed stars Gordon Mitchell as "Buryin' Sam" and Klaus Kinski as "Scalper Jack". Their scenes are so brief, basically cameo appearances, that neither of the two have a real chance to flex their wild, woolly acting chops. A wasted opportunity.The hit men sequences display another unusual aspect of this picture: a great number of grotesque, gory and explicit wounds and deaths. Kinski's character, obviously, relishes cutting his victim's scalps off; Mitchell builds a spiked grave-trap for his victim to fall into. Also seen elsewhere in the film are an eyeball gouged out, homemade acupuncture on a bullet wound, and a man's hand shot off. Gruesome stuff and oddly disconcerting, these shots don't give a visceral thrill or gasp, rather, they make you do a double-take in disbelief, like, "what was *that*?" Also unusual to the modern viewer are the camera tricks and staging used to suggest Joe's jumping and fighting prowess. Quite a few times we see the ol' "reverse footage" trick to depict someone jumping from a standstill up onto a tall perch. In '74 that might have wowed 'em, but by now we can see right through that trick.In the end, the various exploitation elements can't make this a cohesive, engaging feature. Caiano's pacing is suspect, as little momentum carries over from one scene to the next, giving the 93-minute picture quite a plodding pace. And with no protagonist other than the stone-faced Joe, there is no charismatic heart to the story. As capable as Lee is, an effervescent sidekick or partner might have livened things up. What we do have to stir the soul, however, is the absolutely BRILLIANT theme music by Bruno Nicolai, which plays several times throughout. As great as the Morricone-trained Nicolai is, I will without hesitation call this the greatest theme (that I've heard) of his career. It is a rousing, epic delight that will stay with you long after the flick is done.In all, I think the idea of this film is better than the actual finished product. Kung Fu, cowboys, cartoonish violence and gore, eastern philosophy, gunfights ... it ought to add up to a better picture that what it is. Not on anybody's must-see list, but a watchable curiosity. Call it a C+, or 6/10 stars.

This one is a real oddity, a martial arts western, with a small role for the ever evil Klaus Kinski as the bounty hunter set to go and kill our Hero Joe.Joe arrives in San Francisco, and instead of meeting the people of the land of the free he meets the land of the racists, and his troubles only just start to begin.Joe is far to nice for his own good, polite and well-mannered, thats until he needs to defend his life and then his fists of fury unleash some retribution.A lot of fun.