Blood Money (1975)

Where to start with this mash up of Spaghetti Western and Kung Fu movie? Carlo Ponti and Run Run Shaw put together a crew of Hong Kong, American, Italian, and Spanish actors among others. Set in America, filmed in Spain and Hong Kong with music that ran the gamut including rock, American Western, and Chinese and Italian influenced. It may not have always made sense but it was never boring.

Lo Lieh's Ho was sent to America to find his recently deceased Uncle's booty that ultimately belonged to the warlord back home. Lee Van Cleef's Dakota was a ne're do well thief that landed in prison for trying to break into the uncle's safe ending in the uncle's accidental death. The clues to where the treasure was hidden were tattooed on the backsides of four of the uncle's, uh, female friends. Ho broke Dakota out of jail where he had been canned and they began trying to get to the bottom of the mystery. They were tailed by a murderous religious fanatic sharing a dark history with Dakota.

The movie was not dubbed well, Lo Lieh's voice-over actor sounded like he took a hit of helium before reading his lines. The music as stated above was all over the place and didn't always match up to the mood of the scene. The fight choreography was bad, with fists and kicks clearly missing their marks and not particularly inspired. Lo Lieh has shown in his other work that he was capable of much more. Van Cleef looked like he was having fun, having done this type of role many times before. He and Lo had good chemistry and made believable on-screen comrades in search of the treasure. Ultimately, it was their friendship that made this movie enjoyable for me.

If you are lactose intolerant, best to skip this movie as it is a 1970's cheese fest of the highest order and bare derrieres abound. Some of the gags were funny, others landed on their rear ends, much like the puns I've used in this review. Despite it's many drawbacks, the combination of Lee Van Cleef and Lo Lieh was enough to keep me entertained from beginning to tail end.

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Brilliant fun

A bizarre concoction of comedy, martial arts, and spaghetti western action, The Stranger and The Gunfighter is hard to fault in terms of sheer entertainment value, one that works because, unlike other Shaw Brothers collaborations, ergo Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, it doesn't take itself too seriously. Most of the comedy is daft, but there are a few inspired jokes littered throughout, even with the rather repetitive script the film never wastes too much time in one spot, leading the two heroes from one fantastic set piece to another with an admirable pace. The film makes the best of the opposition between the polite, dutiful Easterner and the selfish, roguish Westerner, but without making any serious socio-cultural statements. It helps enormously that both Lo Lieh and Lee Van Cleef are the leads, Cleef is especially funny in the film which makes a nice change from his roles as the villains and stoic characters in his earlier spaghetti westerns while Lieh is just as awesome as he always is. Antonio Margheriti's direction is pretty great but the unfortunate grotty transfers this film has been confined to do his work a major injustice at points as his photography of the Almeria locations gives the film a paramount look which works exceptionally well with Carlo Savina's fun score. A well-balanced mix of exploitation comedy, The Stranger and The Gunfighter is well worth a look for aficionados of either genre.

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