SHANGHAI JOE (1973)
Label: Cauldron Films
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 98 Minutes 4 Seconds
Audio: Italian or English DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Mario Caiano
Cast: Chen Lee, Gordon Mitchell, Klaus Kinski, Mario Caiano, Robert Hundar, Giacomo Rossi Stuart, Carla Romanelli, Piero Lulli
In the East-Meets-Western kung fu actioner Shanghai Joe (1973), directed by Mario Caiano (Nightmare Castle), Chinese immigrant Chin Hao (Myoshin Hayakawa, who is Japanese playing Chinese) arrives in America via "St. Francisco" in 1882 on his way to Texas looking for honest work and a better life, but his journey is fraught with racism from the start, faced with locals that don't take kindly to foreign outsiders of a different skin-color.
Soon after arriving in Texas Chin is at first put through the paces by racist ranch hands looking to test his mettle, but when the foreign drifter surprises them with his physical prowess and horse-riding skills but they still send him packing, but not before attacking him and forcing him to defend himself with his kick-ass fighting skills, putting the racists in their proper places, on their asses in a bloody heap. He is eventually recruited at a ranch after word gets around about his fighting-skills, only to find that the rancher Stanley Spencer (Piero Lulli, Kill Baby... Kill!), is a racist cattle-smuggler who slave-trades Mexican laborers. The moralistic Chin is not down with human smuggling and finds the treatment of the Mexicans abhorrent, and after Spencer's hired-hands cold-bloodedly massacre a group of Mexicans to keep their mouths shut about their human smuggling operation Chin embarks on a ass-kicking mission to free the slaves and put an end to Spencer's slave-trading ways.
Spencer worried that Chin knowing about his illicit business is bad-news puts a heft bounty on Chin's head, summoning a series of brutal bounty hunters to kill him; among them we have the unpleasant Pedro The Cannibal (Robert Hundar, The Cynic, The Rat, and The Fist), Burying Sam (Gordon Mitchell, Frankenstein '80), Tricky the Gambler (Giacomo Rossi Stuart, The Crimes of the Black Cat) and Scalper Jack (played by cinema-madman Klaus Kinski, Jack the Ripper), with Kinski pretty much stealing the show with his turn as the sadistic scalping bounty hunter. Chin survives their traps and gunshot wounds, but must eventually face-off against a former ally named Mikuja (Katsutoshi Mikuriya) who has also been recruited by Spencer. Also in the mix is Chin's newfound Mexican lady friend, Cristina (Carla Romanelli, Una cavalla tutta nuda) whom he must also protect from the sadistic killers, who is nabbed several times by the baddies.
This is a bloody and action-packed East-meets-west spaghetti westerns with loads of pulpy gore effects and bone-snapping fight kung fu fight choreography. I was quite surprised just how bloody this one went, with dismembered limbs, eye-plucking, a heart-ripping scene, squibby gunshot wounds, and of course plenty of high-flying wire fight sequences that truly dazzle. Some of it comes of as more slapstick than visceral, particaurly a bar room fight sequence with three lowlifes early on, but that didn't detract from it for me, this was just a blast from start to finish, so much so that I didn't mind a few ropey severed limb prosthetics and that the wirework wires are clearly visible. The western elements are solid while not nearly as polished or epic in scope as the Leone/Corbucci spaghetti classics, but it's done well enough and it's rough-hewn genre charms show through, plus it's benefits from a pretty terrific score from Bruno Nicolai (Eyeball).
Audio/Video: Shanghai Joe (1973) arrives on Blu-ray from Cauldron Films in 1080p HD widescreen (2.35:1) sourced from a 2K restoration from the negative. The source is in great shape, there's a few minor nicks and faint vertical lines but overall it looks great. There are some soft spots and areas where contrast is not ideal, but these appear to be organic to the source and not any transfer related issues. Audio comes by way of Italian or English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles, both options sound quite good, dialogue and music is delivered clean and free of distortion, and the Bruno Nicolai (99 Women) score has some decent range to it.
New Cauldron Films produced extras kick-off with an Audio Commentary with film historian Mike Hauss which is in-depth and well researched, I learned a bunch about the western kung fu film cycle and the cast and crew, and the particulars of the making of this film, and the recycled music cues. In the newly produced East Meets West: Italian Style - Visual Essay by Film Historian Eric Zaldivar, which runs 20-minutes, Zaldivar discusses the early precursors to the East Meets Western cycle including some early Nakatsuka programmers, the heyday of these crossovers, and later films that were not so great, as well as the modern entries. Of course there's plenty of talk about this film in particular, including it's inferior sequel, even talking about the director, how this was his last western, and his claims that they had film a more graphic heart-ripping scene not included in the finished film. As someone who is not too familiar with the East Meets Westerns I thought that his was terrific, I was definitely jotting the names of films down in my to-see note app on my phone, some of these looked great and the ones that didn;t looked curiously interesting at least, especially the oddball western-comedies starring Tomas Milian. Also new is the 9-min Samurai Spirit: Interview with Master Katsutoshi Mikuriya who played Mikuja, he discusses how he came to work on the film, creating the choreography for the fight scenes, his thoughts on his co-stars including star Hayakawa, shooting the wire work, his death scene, and why he never acted again again after this film. He seems like a super-cool and down to earth guy, and I'm glad they tracked him down for an interview. The disc is buttoned-up with a 2-min Image Gallery with posters, press kits, and promotional images, plus a 3-min Trailer for film. The sing-disc release arrives in a clear keepcase with a reversible sleeve of artworks featuring both Italian and English language illustrated original posters, both kick-ass.
Special Features:
- NEW! East Meets West: Italian Style - Visual Essay by Film Historian Eric Zaldivar (19 min 48 Seconds)
- NEW! Samurai Spirit: Interview with Master Katsutoshi Mikuriya (9 min 12 sec)
- NEW! Audio Commentary with film historian Mike Hauss of The Spaghetti Western Digest
- Trailer (3 min 30 sec)
- Image Gallery (1 min 49 sec)
If this kung fu spaghetti western sounds like your cup o' ass-kicking joe it is currently available from directly from Cauldron Films and DiabolikDVD.com as well as most other decent online retailers. I'd highly recommend this one, it's violent, gory and action-packed, and has plenty of crossover appeal for fans of action, westerns and kung fu cinema.
Screenshots from the Cauldron Films Blu-ray:
Extras:
