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In the later years of the Spaghetti Western genre, there were a number of “hybrids” which fused the spaghetti styles with then-popular kung fu, these include The Stranger In Japan, The Stranger, The Gunfighter and Red Sun. Other renowned Western films include Mario Caiano’s Fighting Fists of Shangai starring Lee Chen which aired in 1972.
Let me be honest with you. While this is not a landmark film in any sense, I actually had a lot of fun sitting through this film. Perhaps it is the novelty of the Kung Fu that, for me, made The Stranger And The Gunfighter pleasurable in all the same ways. Many of the film’s flaws were easily swimming amidst the “fun” factor.
In this particular film, Chen Lee plays an exile from a Chinese place called Jao, who immigrates to San Francisco with the intention of working in Texas. Upon his arrival, he encounters rampant brutality and bigotry. The derogatory slur “chink” seems to be common. When applying for a position at a ranch, he is subjected to some cruel jokes, such as “nailing” a board with a single stroke or gracefully jumping on a horse. They want to see how far he will go and when he shocks them by succeeding, the ranchers refuse to give him the horse. After abusing him and then suffering a severe beating, he is free to claim his horse.
As word of Joe gets out, some human traffickers offer him a job. Much to Joe’s dismay, he finds out they are barbarically executing everyone on their side of the border. Nobody was supposed to survive the pickup joes were sent on, just like those who picked them up. In a bout of desperation, Joe ends up fighting the smugglers and killing his way out. What Joe didn’t know was that the head lawyer for the human trafficking operation was already waiting for him with a plan to kill him. He hired 4 experienced and terrifying hitmen to take care of joe.
These killers are crazy in their own ways, and that fits in well with their crazed violent aesthetics. Regardless, Joe took their lives with absolute ease. Rest assured, I saved the best for last. Out of the 4 hitmen, the last one was the most sophisticated of them all, coming from the same place where Joe trained. Guess what? Joe managed to kill him too.
This movie was not rated positively, which I fully understand. To be honest, it has been a while since watching a spaghetti that I can describe as ‘fun’. I had a good time watching one, but this was on another level. He Chen Lee, whom you will not find a lot of information on in his IMDB page, and is quite limited in terms of movies, plays a very pleasant and forgiving role. While another picture is being painted, the ‘fish out of water’ expectation is fully realized, only this time it’s not the role of an idiot who has no clue what he’s doing. Instead, there is much more composure and control over the situation. And here’s a fun fact a Japanese man is portraying a Chinese man.
The film can be a bit bloody at times, for instance, Joe graphically gouges out an eyeball and drives his hand through someone’s chest. But it wasn’t as shocking as the gore in Cut-Throat Nine. Plus, the cinematography was great for Guglielmo. He is amongst those who film looking at how to best exploit the Almerian landscape, thus giving us a lot of the breathtaking wide angles which I’m fond of. The acting was relatively good and so was the music score from Bruno Nicolai, who did a mediocre but decent score.
Other than the stereotypical traits of spaghetti, the other obvious criticism of the film was how the killers after Joe were managed. These other villains have rather unique, sometimes even comic-style traits, and they are all disposed of almost as quickly as they are introduced. It would have been cool to observe some of this charming and familiar well-liked actors in these odd roles.
I watched the X-rated DVD version of this, and it looked and sounded pretty good. There are several releases of this from various companies which look up at the page on the SWDB here. If you love kungfu movies, or if you are looking for a spaghetti with a twist and not a purist, this one is most certainly worth a watch it was a heck of a lot of fun, and probably one you could watch with people who aren’t necessarily fans of the genre.
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