Although it seems a bit curious at first, the blending of the traditional Shaw Brothers style kungfu film with the American western seems obvious. After all, the Chinese played a major part in the history of the American West, and Americans love kungfu and cowboys.

Unfortunately, the melding of similar genres was never given much of a chance. The television show Kungfu pretty much obliterated the genre right out of the starting gate, as fans were forced to watch David Carradine walk in slow motion across the desert, occasionally stopping to slap a cowboy and speak in that cheesy mystical Chinese tone no real Chinese people use, including monks.

In Italy, where they make the best films about the American west, they opted for the less mystical, more violent approach, which resulted in films that were much more enjoyable to watch and much more in line with the feel of a kungfu film. After all, would you rather hear David Carradine paraphrase Confucius or watch David Chiang punch someone's head off?

Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe is the most successful kungfu western I've seen so far. It's really quite a good film. A young kungfu hero arrives in San Francisco, but soon sets out to Texas to make a name for himself as a cowboy. He doesn't want to wash dishes, work as a servant, or do laundry.

Of course, the Old West is full of grumbling racists in long johns, so it's up to Shanghai Joe to kick their asses, which he does frequently. Eventually he gets quite a reputation as a bad-ass.

When Joe foils the plot of a rich land baron who smuggles in Mexican slaves and treats them ruthlessly, the land owner hires four of the best guns in the West to kill Joe, who also hooks up with a beautiful Mexican woman, making this one of the few international films where an Asian male gets a little action from a non-Asian woman.

But when the decision has to be made between lovin' and blood-spurting violence, the film opts for the red stuff, and Shanghai Joe delivers it in abundance as he kungfu's the shit out of evil-doers across Texas. Whether he's scalping the guy who likes to scalp people, boiling the face of Pedro the Cannibal, throwing people on spikes, or pulling their eyes out, Joe offers up no mercy in his quest to liberate the migrant workers and put right what is wrong. He's no Kwai Chang Caine preaching peace and love. Shanghai Joe says, "Fuck your hippie shit! I'm pulling your eyes out!" And then he jumps across the room and does it, and you will thank him for it!

The land baron eventually brings in the one man who can match Joe--another kungfu expert who studied at the same temple. This guy looks Japanese, probably because of his Japanese clothes and hairstyle. So the final duel is between fists, as it should be in a kungfu film.

Decent acting and choreography, a good script, ample attacks on racism and exploitation, and plenty of chest-smashing kungfu gore make this a top-notch way to kill some time. Good soundtrack, too. This film does right all the things that were messed up in Once Upon a Time in China and America and made that film such an embarrassment. It's a shame they didn't study films like Shanghai Joe closer. They may have been half as good as this is.

Oh yeah--rampant use of the phrase "Chinaman," but "He ain't human!" is kept to a minimum. Joe spouts no ancient Eastern wisdom, but he does know acupuncture.