Leofwine_draca Probably one of the oddest sub-genres in cinema is the kung fu spaghetti western. THE FIGHTING FISTS OF SHANGHAI JOE is one of the best and most popular of this genre, which saw Italian producers deciding to combine the then-popular martial arts film with the spaghetti western, which like the peplum ten years previously, was crying out for fresh ideas and imagination. The result was about half-a-dozen productions which mixed chop-socky action with grizzly cowboys and desert town locations to unique effect. THE FIGHTING FISTS OF SHANGHAI JOE is actually a very well-made movie, benefiting from strong direction from Mario Caiano, a rather overlooked genre personality from the period, who could usually be relied upon to deliver a watchable movie. The plot is simple and straightforward and a basis for the never-ending scenes of action which are hard-hitting and often violent.Although the premise is silly and could be played for laughs, this is actually a very dark film in which the hard-edged action is often punctuated by merciless violence and surprising gore effects. The main themes that the film explores are racism and oppression; our hero Shanghai Joe must suffer both of these throughout the film. First come the expected encounters with racist cowboys, whose vocabulary usually seems to contain only racist taunts, before Joe teaches them a lesson in manners. Later, he defeats a gang of slave labourers quite happy using Mexican peasants to do their dirty work, thus invoking the wrath of a criminal boss and setting the latter half of the film in motion.Whereas the first half of the movie spends a fair amount of time developing Joe's character and the new landscape in which he finds himself, also exploring his relationships with other people, the second half loses all exposition in favour of a series of fight sequences against increasingly difficult opponents (thus reminding one of a computer game). The first baddie for Joe to fight is a guy named Cannibal! The second villain is Italian regular Gordon Mitchell in a blond wig. The third villain is all brains and no brawn, as played by Giacomo Rossi-Stuart. The final villain is a scalp-hunter played by the inimitably sleazy Klaus Kinski at his manic best.The final battle of the film is the only one with any memorable choreography, seeing as Shanghai Joe gets to fight a fellow martial artist instead of an unskilled cowboy. Caiano throws in some good use of slow-motion leaping (not as silly as it sounds), some creepy music which comes as a surprise after the rest of the jolly Morricone-style score, and a wonderful 360 sweep around Joe as he searches for his opponent. The film's hero is played by Chen Lee, who is pretty decent in the part and succeeds because he's actually an actor as well as a martial artist, and seems charismatic in his role. Tons of action, arm-lopping gore, memorably deranged characters, and steadfast direction combine to make this one a whole lotta fun.

Michael_Elliott Fighting Fist of Shangai Joe, The (1972) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Extremely weird blend of the Spaghetti Western and Martial Arts genres has a Chinese immigrant (Chen Lee) showing up in Texas where he receives all sorts of racial slurs as well as people trying to mistreat him. He breaks up a slave ring but then finds himself being hunted by professional killers including one played by Klaus Kinski. I'm rather new to both of these genres but I must say I really enjoyed this film for the most part even though you can never really take it too seriously. This movie seems to get a lot of mixed reviews, which is understandable because if someone comes into this movie expecting a serious western then they're going to be disappointed because there's more camp than anything else. The film is strange on so many levels but we can start with the violence, which starts off rather weak and standard but quickly turns violent and over the top. There's one sequence where a man has his hand blown off and this here leads to some really graphic violence as an eyeball is ripped out as well as a heart. Lee is pretty good in his role as is Kinski but for some reason he's only in the film for less than five minutes so if you're tuning in to see him then you're going to be disappointed. The American version I watched had some very bad dubbing, which included a white man doing the voice of Shangai Joe but this did deliver a few laughs. Caiano is best known for his Italian horror film Nightmare Castle but he does a good job with the material here and delivers a memorable if quite silly film.

MARIO GAUCI Minor, enjoyable and surprisingly violent Spaghetti Western, one of a clutch of such efforts embellished with an Oriental touch in the form of a martial-arts exponent hero (as can be gathered from the title). The film was enough of a success to boast a sequel – THE RETURN OF SHANGAI JOE (1975).Chen Lee is the typical meek Oriental who becomes deadly when provoked; we're given plenty of opportunity to see him at work here, particularly after he falls foul of a slave trader. The latter despatches four ruthless assassins to exterminate the Chinaman – three of whom are played by well-known actors and popular Euro-Cult figures of the era: Gordon Mitchell, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart and Klaus Kinski, the other by Robert Hundar (ill-fated hero of CUT-THROATS NINE [1972], which actually preceded this viewing!). Kinski receives second-billing but his contribution lasts all of 7 minutes (and he only turns up 68 minutes into the film!).Eventually, we learn that the title character is one of only two masters of a specific martial arts technique – so, naturally, the boss eventually calls on his equal to fight the hero! The most violent moments occur when Joe gouges the eye of one of the hired killers – a scene which surely must have inspired Quentin Tarantino for his KILL BILL (2003/4) saga – and the confrontation between the two Orientals, which involves dismembered limbs and busted torsos! As usual for films of this genre, the music score is a notable asset which is here provided by Bruno Nicolai.

winner55 very weird European take on the Spaghetti western-Kung fu connection that has haunted Hong Kong cinema since Shaw Bros. started using borrowed Ennio Morricone music for their films in the later '60s.There is much to be said of this weird connection; but for now, let's remark that while "Shanghai Joe" shows really very little understanding of Kung Fu, it shows considerable savvy about Spaghetti Westerns; the action rarely lags, and the heros are heroic, the villains are villainous - yep, a good B-movie all around, perfect Saturday Matinée fare from its era.(Cinephiles - note the tribute to Sergoi Leone at the end - a definite plus for me.) I agree -fun film of its type & date.