Bezenby Shanghai Joe is just a regular Chinese guy who has moved to America to get a good job and live the dream. Sadly for Joe everyone he comes across is a racist moron who don't want Joe to get anywhere. Sadly for them Joe tends to lose his rag and beat everyone who crosses him into submission.This film is a lot of fun. A lot of fun. For the first half of the film Joe just goes from job to job being harassed and doling out justice, but then he crosses the wrong guy (a slave trader) and from then on the heat is on, in the form of ugly Gordon Mitchell and uglier Klaus Kinski! Basically just one action set piece after another, this film does not disappoint. Its a nice merging of spaghetti western and martial arts and Mario Caiano isn't daft, as he gives us loads of both in an overtly violent way.Honestly, for a spaghetti western this one is really high on violence. Wrists are broken and bones protrude, folk are drowned in boiling water, hands are cut off, torsos punctured by fists and Joe even manually removes a guy's eyeball! Entertaining stuff.I had this in my collection for years and now wish I'd watched it sooner. It's on YouTube if you don't own it.Also - Joe screams Eeeeeaaaaeeaagh before braining someone. Watch out for that.

spider89119 This is a very entertaining spaghetti western. It is funny, cool, and ridiculously over-the-top.Shanghai Joe has inhuman physical abilities, so if you like all of your characters to be realistic, this one might not be for you. The over-the top fight scenes are priceless, and wildly entertaining. This movie blends the spaghetti western and martial arts genres seamlessly. It is a cheesy blend for sure, and that is a big part of the film's charm and entertainment value. Besides spaghetti western lovers, I think this movie would also appeal to fans of Tarantino or Jackie Chan movies.Bruno Nicolai's music score is awesome, and it has one of the coolest and most memorable theme songs of the genre.As is the case in a lot of other great spaghetti westerns, the west is depicted as a godforsaken, unforgiving hell-hole full of psychopaths and bastards. Gotta love it. One of those psychopathic bastards is played by Klaus Kinski, and his portrayal is marvelous. Kinski is one of those actors that was born to be in spaghetti westerns. He is second only to Lee Van Cleef, in my opinion.I have no complaints or criticisms regarding this western. I highly recommend sitting back, relaxing with a few beers and enjoying this crazy flick.

FightingWesterner In 1882, spunky Chinese man Shanghai Joe hops atop a stagecoach from San Francisco (subtitle says St. Francisco!) to Texas in order to become a cowboy and ends up having to defend himself against a seemingly endless stream of trash-talking rednecks.Soon Joe runs afoul of a group of nasty human smugglers who send four colorful hired killers to do him in, including Gordon Mitchell, a cannibal, and scalp-collector Klaus Kinski!Coming out on the heels of the hit television show "Kung Fu", The Fighting Fists Of Shanghai Joe is a lot better than it's Italian knock-off status would suggest.It's almost all non-stop action with loads of flying fists and flying lead. Blood, a bit of gore, and a great Ennio Morricone sounding score by Bruno Nicolai all fit the comic book nature of the film quite nicely!In the title role, Chen Lee is really good and should have been in more movies than he was.

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.