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Released by: Cauldron Films
Released on: May 16th, 2023.
Director: Mario Caiano
Cast: Chen Lee, Klaus Kinski, Roberto Undari, Katsutoshi Mikuriya, Gordon Mitchell, Carla Romanelli
Year: 1972
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Shanghai Joe – Movie Review:
In Mario Caino's 1972 east-meets-western film The Fighting Fists Of Shanghai Joe (or just plain old Shanghai Joe if you prefer), Chen Lee (who was actually a Japanese actor named Myoshin Hayakawa) plays Joe, a Chinese immigrant who has recently arrived in the USA and is on his way from San Francisco to Texas where he hopes to find a job as a cowboy. Along the way he has to deal with racists, bigots, and just some generally all around stupid people, but not before he helps some kids crack open a coconut. It seems that every time Joe tries to get a job at a ranch, someone starts a fight with him or doesn't like him because of his skin color and Asian heritage. Well, luckily for Joe when the going gets tough, he's got his mad Kung Fu skills to fall back on.
Eventually Joe is given a shot at some work but he's duped and it turns out that he ends up involved with an illegal slave smuggling ring that is bringing in migrant workers from Mexico. When the local authorities bust up the trade, the smugglers make a run for it and try to kill off all the Mexicans so that none of them will talk. Joe helps one of them escape but not before the ringleaders decide that he's got to be taken down.
The bad guys send all manner of bounty hunters after him - Pedro The Cannibal (Robert Hundar), Burying Sam (Gordon Mitchell) and Scalp Jack (Klaus Kinski of Nosferatu fame) and eventually they even kidnap his Mexican lady friend, Cristina (the lovely Carla Romanelli). Will Joe be able to kick the bad guys' collective asses and save his senorita or will he end up on the wrong side of a six shooter? And what's with that guy who looks like a samurai named Mikuja (Katsutoshi Mikuriya)i?
The Fighting Fists Of Shanghai Joe is not on par with the epic Spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone or the more nihilistic works of Sergio Corbucci. The camera work isn't as consistent or well thought out and the performances are very cliché and almost slapstick in spots. But you know what? None of that really matters. The reason anyone in their right mind would want to check this movie out is to see a Kung Fu guy beat the snot out of some cowboys and save the day, and on that level, this film totally delivers.
Chen Lee flies over tables, flips through the air, jumps off of bunks and rips out evildoers' eyeballs as he punches, kicks and whirls his own bad self through the wild west of frontier era Texas, all the while whooping and shrieking like a bat out of Hell. Kinski, though given top billing in the films credits is only on screen for about five minutes in total, but when he does appear, he and Lee engage in a great slow motion battle that would have made Sam Peckinpah proud. Gordon Mitchell pops up in this picture as well.
If you're in the mood for something a little less serious and a little less grim than your average Spaghetti Western or Kung Fu film but don't want to sacrifice any of the action or violence that those genres are so well known for, you can do a lot worse than The Fighting Fists Of Shanghai Joe. Mario Caiano paces the picture nicely with an emphasis on the action set pieces, and it's got a pretty great score from Bruno Nicolai as well. Lots of fun to be had here.
Shanghai Joe – Blu-ray Review:
Taken from a new 2k restoration of the original 35mm negative and presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition on a region A locked 50GB disc framed at 2.35.1 widescreen, Fighting Fists looks very good on this Blu-ray from Cauldron Films. Detail is pretty strong across the board and colors are reproduced nicely, the reds of Mikuja’s robe popping nicely against the dusty, brown backdrop of the town setting where the final fight takes place. Compression artifacts are a non-issue and the image is free of any noticeable noise reduction or edge enhancement. There’s minor print damage here and there but it’s just small white specks and the like, nothing too serious. Overall, this looks really solid.
Audio options are offered in English and Italian language in 16-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Mono tracks with optional subtitles available in English only for the Italian track and in English SDH for the English track. Both tracks are dubbed but the dubbing on the English track might be a bit more fun, even if the Italian option is the cleaner sounding of the two. Both tracks are properly balanced and sound decent enough, but the English option is a bit thinner sounding than the Italian alternative.
Extras start off with a commentary with film historian Mike Hauss from The Spaghetti Western Digest. He speaks about the film's score by Bruno Nicolai and why some of it might sound familiar, how Joe is pursuing the American dream in the film and the importance of this to the plot, where some of the bloodier scenes come close to horror, some of the more cliché aspects of the plot, details on the different cast members including Chen Lee, Gordon Mitchell and Klaus Kinski, details on Mario Caiano's life and career, the possible influence of Peckinpah's work on this film, other kung fu/western crossover movies made around the same time, why Chen Lee didn't appear in the film's sequel and quite a bit more.
Samurai Spirit is an interview with Master Katsutoshi Mikuriya running nine minutes. He talks about his background in martial arts and his work as a teacher, how he came to appear in Fighting Fists Of Shanghai Joe, working with Mario Caino, what the filming schedule was like, how much he enjoyed working on the movie, memories of shooting certain scenes and of his co-stars and why he never acted again after making this movie.
East Meets West: Italian Style is a visual essay by film historian Eric Zaldivar running twenty minutes. It covers the 'East Meets West' subgenre that was popular for a while as well as some of the more notable entries in the genre like Red Sun. He also details the box office success of Spaghetti Westerns and how studios tried to put a different spin on things, how Samurai On A Horse became The Silent Stranger a few years later, details on the plot and making of Fighting Fists Of Shanghai Joe and its episodic nature, how the film compared to other violent westerns, details on Chen Lee's life, the film's sequel Return Of Shanghai Joe, films that came after it like The White, The Yellow And The Black where Tomas Milian played the Japanese character, where Chinese characters have appeared in other westerns and how the westerns fell out of favor in the late seventies.
Finishing up the extras on the disc is an amazing theatrical trailer for the feature, menus and chapter selection options.
Shanghai Joe - The Final Word:
The Fighting Fists Of Shanghai Joe is a real kick (ha!), a seriously entertaining, if more than a little goofy, mix of western tropes and martial arts action. Cauldron Films’ Blu-ray is a definite upgrade over past editions and it’s got some pretty strong supplements on it as well. Recommended!
