The Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe (1973)

Chen Lee plays Shanghai Joe, who travels to Texas in hopes of becoming a cowboy only to find prejudice at every turn. He’s finally hired on at a ranch owned by a man named Spencer.

But he soon discovers the property he’s expected to herd is human — peons from south of the border purchased by Spencer to work as little more than slaves on his ranch.

Shanghai Joe, with a lotus tatoo on his arm to remind him to always try to right injustice, sets out to stop Spencer.

But Spencer has money and can afford to hire the best killers money can buy. One after one, he sends them after Shanghai Joe. None succeed.

So Spencer finds his own oriental, also with a lotus tatoo on his arm, to send after his new arch enemy.

Chen Lee as Shanghai Joe, facing more racism in the West in The Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe (1973)

Carla Romanelli as Cristina, a girl in need of a rescue in The Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe (1973)

Review:

Lots of superhuman martial arts hijinks and lots of violence punctuate a film with the most simplistic of plots. Shanghai Joe crosses Spencer; Spencer sends one killer after another to track down Shanghai Joe.

The brutality might surprise you, until you realize the killers have names like Burying Sam, The Cannibal and Scalper Jack. But the film gets even more violent when a second master of the martial arts shows up for the final showdown.

Carla Romanelli plays Cristina, the woman who falls for Shanghai.

Piero Lulli as Stanley Spencer, a slave trader plotting the demise of Shanghai Joe in The Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe (1973)

Robert Hundar (Claudio Undari) as Pedro the Cannibal, one of Spencer’s hired killers in The Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe (1973)

Directed by:
Mario Caiano

Cast:
Chen Lee … Shanghai Joe
Piero Lulli … Spencer
Carla Romanelli … Cristina
Klaus Kinski … Scalper Jack
Claudio Undari … Pedro, the Cannibal
as Robert Hundar
Giacomo Rossi-Stuart … Tricky
Kassutoshi Mikuriya … Mikuja
Gordon Mitchell … Burying Sam
Carla Mancini … Conchita
George Wang … Yang
Federico Boido … Slim
Francisco Sanz … Cristina’s father

Also with: Andrea Aureli, Dante Cleri, Roberto Dell’Acqua, Alfonso de la Vega, Umberto D’Orsi, Lorenzo Fineschi, Tito Garcia, Luigi Antonio Guerra, Dante Maggio, Enrico Marciani, Osiride Pevarello, Claudio Ruffini, Giovanni Sabbatini, Angelo Susani, Sergio Testori, Pietro Torrisi, Veriano Genesi, Aldo Cecconi, Lars Bloch, Buxx Banner, Giorgio Bixio, Lanfranco Ceccarelli

aka
Il mio nome e Shangai Joe
My Name is Shanghai Joe
The Dragon Strikes Back
To Kill or to Die

Composer: Bruno Nicolai

Runtime: 94 min.

Gordon Mitchell as Buryin’ Sam, one of Spencer’s hired killers in The Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe (1973)

Giacomo Rossi-Stuart as Tricky the gambler, one of Spencer’s hired guns in The Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe (1973)

Memorable lines:

Shanghai Joe to a rancher who says he’s never seen an oriental cowboy: “Live long, and you’ll see everything, Confucious says.”

Shanghai Joe to one of those who would like to see him dead: “If you were a man, I’d kill you. But you’re only a rotten mass of flesh.”

Klaus Kinski as Scalper Jack, one of Spencer’s hired killers in The Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe (1973)

Kassutoshi Mikuriya as Mikuja, one of Spencer’s hired killers in The Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe (1973)

Trivia:

The scene in which Gordon Mitchell’s character sings “Chin-Chin Chanaman” while carrying a shovel was improvised on the spot by the actor. He also made up the song.

If the excellent score by Bruno Nicolai sounds familiar, it’s because it was reused from 1970’s “Have a Good Funeral, My Friend… Sartana Will Pay.”

This was quickly followed by a sequel, The Return of Shanghai Joe (1974). Chen Lee returned and so did Klaus Kinski, even though his character dies in this film.

Francisco Sanz as Cristina’s father, wounded by human traffickers in The Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe (1973)

Giovanni Sabbatini as Spencer’s lecherous one-eyed informant in The Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe (1973)

Carla Romanelli as Cristina, the woman who falls for Shanghai Joe in The Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe (1973)

Chen Lee as Shanghai Joe, about to use acupunture to heal his wounds in The Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe (1973)