Shanghai Joe

Even spaghetti western completists will admit that the genre can get ridiculously repetitive.  But the Italian film industry was nothing if not adaptable.  So when the kung fu craze began to hit hard overseas, they came up with the next best thing.  Shanghai Joe (1973) is an East meets West action combo that finds a Chinese martial arts master wandering the Texas border righting social injustices and defending himself against a vengeful ranch owner. Directed with clumsy enthusiasm by Mario Caiano, by all rights this film should be a mess.  But instead, it winds up delivering everything it promises on the poster…and then some! 

Earning his nickname on a stagecoach ride from St. Francisco (the Italians aren’t particular about details) to the Texas frontier, Shanghai Joe (Chen Lee) attempts to earn as honest living as a cowboy.  But after embarrassing a racist ranch owner, Joe finds himself hunted by a quartet of hired killers all after the $5,000 bounty placed on his head.

 

Shanghai Joe knows exactly what its audience wants and delivers in a series of episodic action scenes that don’t shy away from gratuitous violence.  Star Chen Lee isn’t asked to much more than squint, kick, chop and flip (with some sloppy camera trickery) but the formula works, pitting his Asian superman against arrogant Americans who really have it coming.  There’s even a bullfight and interracial romance tacked on for good measure.

 

But the film’s best moments come from the one-on-one showdowns against four hired guns, including a cannibal, a trapper and Klaus Kinski as Scalper Jack, a knife expert who really gets into his work.  This is unapologetically derivative entertainment, a greatest hits playlist of kung fu and quickdraws that never goes for a cheap laugh.  Shanghai Joe is quirky, clever and a bloody good time.

 

Cauldron Films has a really winner on their hands here.  The Blu-ray features a 2K restoration and looks terrific throughout. Extras include interviews, a commentary track and well-researched and presented featurette entitled East Meets West: Italian Style, produced by film historian Eric Zaldivar, who covers other kung fu oddities in the subgenre.  

 

 

 

 

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