Il mio nome è Shangai Joe

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.

Fast action , one-dimensional characters in a Spaghetti Western with gunplay and kung fu . It is a thrilling and violent Italian Western with ordinary ingredients as a courageous , honest antihero searching justice and vengeance , Karate fights , duels , extreme outlaws wishing gold along with regular final confrontation . Concerning a Chinese young traveling to a foreign and far country : USA .The immigrant recently arrived in America , he is named Chin How or Shanghai Joe (Chen Lee) lands in a small Texas town inhabited by bigot enemies . As Chin leads his way by violent means , as if they don't succumb to his demands they normally end up dead . The town folk soon realize that Chin is no usual adventurer and he quickly gains a perilous reputation . When Chin's skills spread to Stanley Spencer (Piero Lulli) , the owner of the states largest cattle ranch, Chin lands a job working for snake-oil Spencer as a fellow cowboy. Friend soon becomes foe when Chin realizes he is working for a cattle smuggler bent on brutalising Mexican farmers and anyone else who stands in his way .The sinister town boss called Spencer has exploited almost everyone Mexican countrymen in the region as our hero Shangai Joe fights to free Mexican slaves from his ruthless master . Chen Lee , the real Brother In Arms of Bruce Lee . He took on the toughest white gang in America. With bare hands World Champions - Chen Lee (Karate) Gordon Mitchell (Pistol) , Pancho del Rio (Knife) .

This Pasta picture contains the ordinary plot about ¨One Man Stands Alone In His Fight For Justice¨ , as a valiant drifter who must move fast to struggle their way through unbearable risks and twisted difficulties . Including Western action , shootouts , violent fights with gore and blood , as well as a little bit of campy and refreshing humor . It's an improbable blending of standard Western , struggles, violence , gory scenes and chop-socky . An enjoyable premise , gunslingers against Karateka, and agreeable Italian cast make this oater well worth the watching . In Shanghai Joe or Il mio nome è Shangai Joe (1973) shows an understanding of both the western and the kung fu genres . Resulting to be perfect example of the late declining years of the spaghetti western . Stars the unknown Chen Lee who's acceptable as Kung Fu expert , testing his unbeatable fighting skills , as he takes on hard-nosed cowboys who don't take kindly to outsiders . As Shangai Joe confronts the greatest criminals in the West played by a top-notch plethora of secondaries of the 60s and 7os , such as : Klaus Kinski as Scalper Jack , Gordon Mitchell as Burying Sam , Robert Hundar as Pedro, The Cannibal , Giacomo Rossi Stuart as Tricky the Gambler . Along with these notorious secondaries, appearing here and there others Italian actors as Carla Mancini , Andrea Aureli , Pietro Torrisi , Lars Bloch , George Wang , Roberto Dell'Acqua and Rick Boyd . And being shot in Almeria, desert of Tabernas , some uncredited Spanish actor showing up , such as : Francisco Sanz, Alfonso de la Vega, Tito Garcia , all of them usual in Spaghetti/Paella subgenre .

It displays a considerable Spaghetti musical score by composer Bruno Nicolai in Ennio Morricone style , in fact Bruno was his main musical disciple . The motion picture was professionally directed by Mario Caiano , and it turned out to be entertaining enough . The picture takes part of a sub-genre in which during the period of the 70s combined Spaghetti Western and art martials with original influence from ¨David Carradine's Kung Fu ¨ series , and mostly focusing on the dumb spaghetti western comedy sub-genre , for example : ¨Karate law in the west ¨(Tonino Ricci), Tiger from River Kwai (Franco Lattanzi) , ¨The Karate , the Colt and the impostor¨ (Anthony M Dawson) . Adding this ¨ My name is Shangai Joe¨ (Mario Caiano) and its sequel , a poor knock-off titled¨Return of Shangai Joe¨ (Bitto Albertini) with Cheen Lie , Klaus Kinski , Karin Field , Carla Mancini , that focus on lame comedy rather than action : furthermore ¨The white, the yellow and the black¨(Sergio Corbucci) that bears remarkable resemblance to deemed to be the best : ¨Red sun¨ by Terence Young with Charles Bronson , Alain Delon , Toshiro Mifune . ¨Il mio nome è Shangai Joe ¨(1973) it's an offbeat , muddle and uneven Western but will appeal to Spaghetti Western fans fans.

This one is a real oddity, a martial arts western, with a small role for the ever evil Klaus Kinski as the bounty hunter set to go and kill our Hero Joe.

Joe arrives in San Francisco, and instead of meeting the people of the land of the free he meets the land of the racists, and his troubles only just start to begin.

Joe is far to nice for his own good, polite and well-mannered, thats until he needs to defend his life and then his fists of fury unleash some retribution.

A lot of fun.

Shanghai Joe is a Chinese martial arts master who somehow finds himself in the racist Old West. Of course, Joe is pushed to his breaking point by them racist white folk, so he starts kicking honky ass left and right. Fast-paced and incredibly violent, 'The Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe' is the kind of mindless entertainment that Spaghetti Western fans love. Klaus Kinski shows up to get his ass handed to him and add some star power to the proceedings...well, star power in our minds. Bruno Nicolai rips off his score to 'Have a Good Funeral, My Friend' but it's so good you won't care.

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.