User reviews

The movie narrates how a Chinese hero (Lo Lieh) tries to retrieve the money that a feudal lord gave up to his uncle for inversion in America . The uncle dies and the only clue to recover it is leading some tattoo messages on the butts of his fours lovers (Erika Blanc, Femi Benussi, Patty Shepard). The protagonist is helped by an American thief named Dakota (Lee Van Cleef) , both of them track down clues until discover the exciting final surprise.

The picture is a collaboration between Italian producer Carlo Ponti and Hong Kong Shaw Brothers , famous producers of Chop-Socky cinema and in charge of distribution on Asian market . The storyline is embarrassing and absurd but has its agreeable moments here and there . The violence isn't crude but slight and predominates the comedy . Lee Van Cleef is very old and with wig , his interpretation is wooden and graceless (Colonel Mortimer and Providence roles were left time ago). Special mention to secondary cast as Julian Ugarte who plays a traveler priest in a church-roulotte ; besides , three Eurotrash babes as Erika Blanc , Patty Shepard and Femi Benussi . The motion picture takes part a little genre in which during the 1970s achieved splendor and blended Spaghetti Western and martial arts with influence of David Carradine-Kung Fu series (1972-1975) , for example : ¨ Red sun ¨ by Terence Young , ¨Karate law in the west ¨ by Tonino Ricci, ¨ My name is Shangai Joe ¨ by Mario Caiano, ¨ The return of Shangai Joe ¨ by Bitto Albertini , and ¨The white , the yellow and the black¨ by Sergio Corbucci . It's a Spanish-Italian production , a Paella/Spaghetti Western , and was shot in Almeria (Spain) where during the 60s and early 70s were filmed uncountable Westerns . The adjusted cinematography was realized by expert cameraman Alejandro Ulloa (Horror express). The film was regularly directed by Anthony M. Dawson or Margheritti . Rating : mediocre but amusing.

The "East Meets West" idea of an Asian fighter in the Wild West was not new anymore (see Terence Young's "Soleil Rouge" from 1971, or "Il mio nome e Shanghai Joe" by Mario Caiano, 1973), but "The Stranger And the Gunfighter" was the first time (1974) that an Asian production company, namely Shaw Brothers, came to Italy for a Western production, bringing Lo Lieh as a seasoned star of their own. The kung-fu fighter has to recover a treasure that once belonged to his uncle and return it to China. The map leading to the treasure is tattooed in 4 parts - on the backs of 4 ladies. Yes, that's a bit of a different idea for once ;-). Lee Van Cleef plays a bank robber who assists very unwillingly, but in the end even enjoys a little trip to Asia.

The movie is nowhere near "Soleil Rouge" and Lo Lieh isn't Toshiro Mifune, but it's an entertaining action movie with a story you haven't seen before. "Il mio nome e Shanghai Joe" is a very violent flick, whereas recent movies such as "Shang-High Noon" are silly comedies. What I like best about "The Stranger And the Gunfighter" is that it's well balanced between action and comedy.

Lee Van Cleef stars as a rugged cowboy who arrives in the town of Monterey seeking the fortune of the Chinese Mr Wang. Blowing open the four safes in the bank, he discovers nothing more than photos of women in all four of them. But Mr Wang walks in on the fourth explosion and is killed. Van Cleef is charged with the murder of Wang and sentenced to hang. Back in China, warlords are furious to learn that Wang's money is missing and send forth Wang Ho Kian, a young warrior and Wang's nephew, in search of it... Wang Ho arrives in time for the hanging and saves Van Cleef from the noose. Together, the two form a friendship and set off in pursuit of the late Mr Wang's bounty...

The film plays as more of a kung fu action than a western, but is none the worse for it. Utilising the acting talents (and one or two other features) of various lovely ladies - and a plot device used in Dick Emery's 1972 film "Ooh... You Are Awful" (namely that the tattoos on four women's backsides hold the key to a fortune) - the film shows that while the golden age of spaghetti westerns was beginning to come to an end, the industry could still produce little gems like this.

While the final showdown isn't exactly a Dance of Death, with both bullets AND karate kicks flying you can't really go wrong, can you? Whilst the music isn't exactly memorable, and at times the dialogue is awful (yea, yea, it's all lost in the translation, I know), the majority of the action scenes are good, although at times the synchronisation of the kung fu kicking and the "Ow!"s are on par with the dubbing of the worst spaghetti western. A decent time-filler.

A safecracker (Van Cleef) sneaks into a building and cracks a safe, only to find another door and a picture of a woman's arse. Behind the next door is a picture of another arse and another door. He's just about to dynamite the fourth and last door when the Chinese owner rushes in a manages to blow himself up, which of course results in Cleef being arrested for murder, and all over four pictures of arses and a fortune cookie.

Over in China (and it looks as if they had the money to go there) distant relative of the dead man, Ho, is tasked by a local Warlord to go to the US and recover a missing fortune that was in the dead man's possession, and thus begins a kung-fu/gunfighting mash-up as Ho teams up with Cleef to basically find four different women and look at their arses.

This action/comedy/martial arts film is rather enjoyable in its own goofy way, even if it does short change the viewer a little bit on the Kung Fu front. The balance of comedy and violence seems to work well because Van Cleef seems to be enjoying himself immensely (as well as looking genuinely drunk in some scenes), plus Patty Shepherd also hams it up as a set of twins and the whole 'let's see your arse' premise is pretty funny.

This is only the second Spaghetti Wester/Kung Fu film I've watched but I'd still recommend The Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe. Now, if only I could track down Hercules Vs Karate!

This obscure, genre-blending Spaghetti Western is hammy and fun, but fails at being very exciting. Nonetheless, it wins points for originality, and the picture is rife with interesting characters and happenings. The print is surprisingly good, considering the film's age and obscurity, and fans of more lighthearted Spaghetti Westerns should be pleased. Lee Van Cleef is star material here, and he hamms it up more in "Blood Money" than anywhere else I've seen. This really is a different performance by Van Cleef, and he lets loose a refreshing side of himself that fans should enjoy. Directed by personal fave Antonio Marghereti, (with help from the Shaw Brothers), "Blood Money" was essentially an exercise in blending a Kung Fu film with a Spaghetti Western, and while the result is still a Eurowestern, the martial arts exchanges and Eastern characters prove amply refreshing. Overall, "Blood Money" is pretty solid, although a bit sloppy, and it reaches a comfortable medium between strangeness and familiarity. The story involves Van Cleef, a safecracker, becoming intertwined in the story of a deceased Chinese aristocrat and his missing estate. After escaping the gallows, Cleef teams up with the Chinese man's nephew, and the two begin their search for the uncle's missing gold. Luckily, the dead man tattooed clues to his riches on the tails of four women, and the unlikely pair must see each girl to unravel the mystery. There were a few parts that dragged, but only briefly, and we left the movie feeling pretty good. This is a solid, if offbeat, comedic Spaghetti Western. ---|--- Reviews by Flak Magnet

Jeez, only in the 70's... Antonio Margheriti brings us this quirky hybrid of spaghetti western and kung fu flick evolving around a treasure-hunt. The spices of this trashy co-production between Shaw Brothers and an Italian one-off company include humorous storytelling, off-the-wall happenings and some very tame T&A. Extra campy moments are being served by Lee Van Cleef's obnoxious wig, leather-clad bible-thumping psycho gunman Yancey Hobbitt (loveably hammed up by Julian Ugarte, the man who should've done way more obscure European genre productions than he did), wanna-be-witty dialogue, hilarious background music and completely laughable sound effects accompanying various little events (especially every jump made by Lo Lieh).

While this little piece of action falls fare and square into the Turkey Territory, it's great to see Van Cleef and Lo Lieh on the same screen, and you can't deny the charisma of this duo. Don't expect too much, and you'll get plenty out of it.

This is my truth. What is yours?

"Là Dove Non Batte Il Sole" aka. "The Stranger And The Gunfighter" is certainly not a very good Spaghetti Western, but it's a very funny one.

A Chinese Kung-Fu warrior named Ho Chiang comes to the American Southwest to find his late uncle's treasure. His Family is held hostage by a powerful warlord back in China until he will return with his uncle's fortune. After Ho Chiang saves a gunslinger named Dakota (Lee Van Cleef) from the gallows, the two keep on searching the uncle's fortune together. The Chinese stranger and the gunfighter soon find out that the tattooed bottoms of four ladies are the key to the secret treasure.

"The Stranger And The Gunfighter" is a Spaghetti Western with a nice touch of Comedy and Action. The characters are quite funny, especially the main villain, a psychopathic religious fundamentalist gunfighter and preacher who comes to different towns to "preach the word of God", and and shoot those whom he considers to be sinners. Lee Van Cleef (one of my personal favorite actors of all-time) stars as the gunfighter Dakota, Martial Artist Lieh Lo plays his ass-kicking Chinese buddy Ho Chiang. This Movie is great fun, especially for Spaghetti Western fans like myself. Definitely worth watching!

This film begins late one night with a notorious gunman by the name of "Dakota" (Lee Van Cleef) breaking into a bank vault where a fortune is believed to be stored. Oddly enough, rather than finding any money, he comes upon 4 pictures of attractive women instead. To make matters even worse, while he is in the process of lighting a stick of dynamite to open the last vault door, a Chinese gentleman by the name of "Mr. Wang" (Tung-Kua Ai) rushes into the bank--and he is subsequently killed by the dynamite blast. Minutes later, Dakota is arrested by the town sheriff and taken to jail to stand trial for murder. The scene then shifts to a young man in China by the name of "Ho Chiang" (Lieh Lo) being told that his recently deceased uncle owes a vast sum of money to a local warlord and that, if he doesn't recover it by a certain time, his entire family will be put to death. That said, he immediately sets off for the United States in search of the 4 young ladies in the photographs who each have vital information tattooed on their bottoms which will reveal the location of the fortune--and he needs the services of Dakota to help him find them. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was a rather strange picture which combined the elements of a kung fu movie with that of a comedy framed within a Western setting. And while the acting of Lee Van Cleef and the presence of some beautiful ladies certainly helped the film to a certain degree, neither the overall plot or the humor was really that good, and for that reason I have rated this movie accordingly. Slightly below average.

Blood Money is a spaghetti western/Kung Fu buddy comedy. While this is far from the best movie, it is the only chance to see genre icons Lee Van Cleef and Lo Lieh in the same movie. As a big fan of both westerns and Kung Fu movies, for me this should be the best movie ever. Unfortunately for me it isn't, the comedy isn't funny, the fight choreography sucks and Lo Lieh and Lee Van Cleef don't have much onscreen chemistry. The film looks really choppy with bad cinematography and lousy editing to boot. The Shaw Bros/Hammer crossover film The Legend Of The 7 Vampires is really good and fun in my opinion. This however is not very good. I did like it, when I first saw this, but in rewatching this I had a much harder time getting into this. For cheapish, exploitation trash like this, Blood Money could be much worst. Blood Money is still somewhat watchable, but is far from being a great as this could have been.

It looks and feels more like a western than a chop-socky movie, but THE STRANGER AND THE GUNFIGHTER is worth the admission in the sea of obscure cinema. Those who like the Shaw Brothers martial arts movies will notice that the western setting is a drawback, but thanks to star Lo Lieh, it won't be all too disappointing. He provides enough blow-by-blow techniques to make it worthwhile. Actually, the studio known for Asian martial arts films teamed up with another company in the making of this. It may be the raciest western I've ever seen as the pair must search for clues in finding the treasure by.....looking at the butts of beautiful broads!!! Somehow, it all makes sense with the story. The mighty Lo Lieh is funny at wanting to see a female's backside, but it's Lee Van Cleef who keeps his personality as a solid spaghetti western star, and both pair well. Plenty of gunslinging, kung fu, cheesecake, and laughs await in this odd, unusual, but greatly entertaining western. This one is getting too tough to find nowadays as it hasn't been currently available again in years. I'm willing to cross my fingers on a re-released special edition that could come up any time soon (i.e. FIVE DEADLY VENOMS). Highly recommended!

"Blood Money", also known as "The Stranger and the Gunfighter", is an interesting combination of gun play and flying fists. Lee VanCleef may not be at the top of his game, but the unusual and entertaining story makes up for any edge he might have lost. I found more humor here than in any of the "Trinity" films. If you look at the entertainment value alone, I would say this is about on a par with "Death Rides a Horse" or "Kid Vengeance". It is definitely inferior to "The Good the Bad and the Ugly", "For a Few Dollars More", and "The Big Gundown". Overall, I would recommend "Blood Money" as a must see for Lee VanCleef fans. - MERK

"Blood Money" (that's the title under which I saw this movie) could have been a good movie but it's not. It's a combination of a bad karate flick and a bad spaghetti western. It does has a few campy moments but not enough to make the movie fun. The idea of having treasure maps tattooed on prostitutes' asses is a fun but they just tease us with it. They get a demerit for never even bothering to show us any of the maps (I mean come on, it's 1974 already). Lee Van Cleef is fine in this movie but his karate partner Lo Lieh is dull as dishwater. I was hoping "Blood Money" would be a goofy way to kill some time. It ended up being not worth the trouble.

Around the time this movie was made, the spaghetti western was just about on its last legs. Also, the craze for kung fu movies was starting to die out as well. So it must have seemed logical for the Italians and Hong Kongers to team up and make a movie that mixed both genres (though this movie was not the first to do so.) Though it's perhaps inevitable that a mix of genres would have mixed results. Certainly, the movie has solid production values, and its light-hearted nature is welcome after so many serious spaghetti westerns and kung fu epics. There's also some nudity, unusual for both genres at this time. But the movie feels kind of drawn out, taking its time when the pacing should have been a bit more snappy. Even more surprising is that there isn't a terrible amount of kung fu in the movie, though this may have been because the choreography and direction of the martial arts fights are sub par. Also, the two leads don't manage to generate that much chemistry, though the language barrier might explain this. I'm not saying this is an awful movie, but it is disappointing. If you want to see a good spaghetti western / kung fu mix, watch "The Fighting Fists Of Shanghai Joe" instead.

When Dakota(Cleef) blows open a bank, Wang, the man whose riches were supposed to be there is killed in the explosion... and the vault is empty, other than pictures and papers. The nephew(Lo) is sent to recover the treasure by a warlord, and thus we have our two leads united to seek out... I kid you not... the writings on specific girls asses(did I mention there's a little female nudity in this? And crude material). This is in the middle of the three movies with this plot... well, *I* know of at least two others, one that I've watched myself from this period, a Danish one, Me and the Mafia(the other being the one that it was a remake of, the British Ooh... You Are Awful). Ah, but what about an antagonist? Fear not, an Al Pacino-look-alike Jesus freak comes to the rescue. This self-righteous dude allows them to make fun of Christianity(...I honestly didn't realize that happened much in these). He is also on the lookout, or one could say, on the leerout. This combines spaghetti Western with martial arts, though since the blows don't seem to actually connect, I'm going to have to assume that what is knocking them out must be the wacky sound FX or disorientation from the camera which tends to be too close or excessively far away during fight scenes(in general this is poor, such as the framing(maybe this has been altered for the release) and how tight the shots are). The climax is pretty cool. This is funny in how bad it is, other than that, the humor is really goofy and overdone. We get forced obligatory "jokes" about cultural differences. It does confront racism some. The version I watched of this is 95 minutes long. There is bloody violence and disturbing content in this. The DVD comes with the entire shorts of The Tree in a Test Tube and Malice in the Palace(that I have reviewed on their separate pages here on the site), a trailer for The General and one for other works from the period. I recommend this lukewarm(in more ways than one) piece to fans of the two sub-genres. 6/10

Aug 21

So here we have a comedy spaghetti western with legend Lee Van Cleef and a martial arts film with Shaw Brothers legend Lo Lieh.

Fortunately for me i like all genres involved and i am familiar with most the cast, i know the Italian actors such as George Rigaud and Femi Benussi as well as Patty Shepard who was it several Spanish films.

On the whole this works well as a comedy and a spaghetti western but not so much for the martial arts .

Shaw Brothers also tried there luck mixing genres with another film called Legend of the seven golden Vampires, which successfully mixed martial arts with hammer horror.

I like it.

7.5 to 8 out of 10.

(1974) Blood Money/El kárate, el Colt y el impostor DUBBED SPAGHETTI WESTERN/ COMEDY

A chop sockey and Spaghetti Western crossover- sort of! Lee Van Cleef as Dakota who's a thief, attempting to break open a safe belonging to a Chinese person who also happens to be a tattoo artist. Within that safe are 4 different kind of doors with a photo of some girls and their rear ends. The last door happens to be the only one Dakota decided to use some explosives. And the Chinese guy ended up getting himself killed as a result. And when the final door was finally open, there was no gold nor money to be found. Dakota still gets arrested, and he is sentenced with noose around his neck. Meanwhile, back in China, on some Chinese Dynasty, the emperor announces an execution of Ho Chiang(Lieh Lo) and his family just because it was his relative, the emperor entrusted some gold bullions with, and upon the other Chinese guy's death back in the US, no gold was ever found, even though it was supposed to be used for some investments in the US. Out of chance, Ho Chiang is given the option to go back tot he US, to track down the gold bullion. He does this but with Dakota's help. One of the major obstacles are the Christian fanatic, which as soon as he hears about it, he immediately wanted to pursue that gold before Ho Chiang get it first. Intriguing premise that kept me glued, even though the comedy routines fall flat.

As others have said this is a fun little film made late in the Spaghetti Western era and combining the traditional Ravioli oater with the then popular kung fu movie. Spaghetti Western legend Lee Von Cleef plays a gunfighter and bandit who teams up with a martial arts master to recover some gold hidden by the latter's uncle before a Chinese triad or other bandits can get it. To do this they need to put together a map the uncle left which is tattooed on the backsides of his four beautiful wives(thus the Italian title which translates to something like "Where the Sun Doesn't Shine"). This is the funniest part of the movie because all four of the women are sexually frustrated and bitterly disappointed that the heroes are only interested in their "map" (none of which, of course, is very believable). Paul Bartel would later use this exact same hilarious concept in his comedy "Lust in the Dust", but his actresses, played Lanie Kazan and Divine, were of course a little less attractive.

Lee Von Cleef is pretty good here as is the unknown Chinese actor who plays his partner (thankfully, he's not someone like David Carradine but an actual Asian actor). The four women include Erica Blanc, Patty Shepherd, and Femi Benussi. Blanc was kind of wasted as usual (as an actress anyway), but the enigmatic Patty Shepherd, an American who made her entire career in Spain and Italy, always made the most of these small, cameo roles (her most memorable appearance was as the villainess in Paul Naschy's "Werewolf Shadow" where she barely logged more screen time than she does here). Femi Benussi strangely enough is the only one of the quartet who keeps her clothes on, even though taking them off was pretty much her main talent. The fourth wife was played by an attractive but unknown (by me, anyway) Chinese actress. If nothing else though all these actresses can say that in this movie they literally were just a piece of ass.

Really though this movie is pretty tame and innocent both with respect to sex (of which there really isn't any) and violence (especially compared to say Fulci's "Four of the Apocalypse" made a year later). I'd let my kids watch it (if I had any). Definitely recommended, especially to fans of Spaghetti Westerns, kung fu movies, and 70's Eurostarlets.

In early seventies starting pop up some fusion of genre like Spaghetti and martial arts from Hong Kong with the Bruce Lee's advent, it's spreading around the globe as gunpowder fuse, then the Italians start producing some movies as "Red Sun" importing the samurai Toshiro Mifune, Antonio Marguerite one of my faves Italian directors dared make a well-crafted story on "El Karate el Colt y el Impostor" leading by charismatic Lee Van Cleef already stablished on Europe in plenty way, also pick up the star Lieh Lo from Hong Kong, those leading actors expose a clashes of cultures in a picture at American ground.

The story is at least clever and auspicious due offbeat nature about a successful Chinese businessman Mr. Wang that has a bank among others profitable investments, however he has a peculiar interesting over their mistress, make a tattoo on their glutes, often take a look in so soft place, in a night his bank is about to be robber by the gunslinger Dakota (Lee Van Cleef) when Mr. Wang reaches in the bank he gonna die by heart attack, in the safe instead has money Dakota finds just three photos of nude ladies which had their name at opposite side, all them are their mistress, Dakota in sent in jail to be judge by a supposed murder of Mr. Wang.

Meanwhile in China the fighter Lo Lieh is called for a powerful warlord due Lo Lieh's uncle Mr. Wang died before give back his money, just sent a wooden Indian statue, He demands that Lo Lieh travels to America to recover the money, the wiser Chinese approaching of Dakota in jail about to be hang on next morning aiming for withdraw what he knows about the matter, firstly Lo Lieh needs finds a way to save Dakota of the gallows, done it together they will follow the tracks of those mistress whose their bottoms are the treasure map where the money is hidden, in this hard journey through many brothels where Lo Lieh will read the tattoos on those marvelous glutes, although the news spreading all around and self-called Preacher that follow them to catch the money.

A spicy storyline is the highlights of the offer over those gorgeous widows that expose their beautiful bottoms as true monument, letting the audience slobbering, a mixing two opposite genres is another high point, a flying kick here, backflip there among Lee Van Cleef singing guns, many fights over the two top billing actors, the final outcome is astonishing, the sin I shall say about so contrived absurd conceived fights on those martial arts coming from Hong Kong, it somehow didn't matched with the standard spaghetti western, still it has great moments!!

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 1983 / How many: 3 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 6.5.

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.

I might have to place this in the top 10 of my spaghetti westerns. Maybe somewhere around 6-8. Lee Van Cleef looks like he was having a really good time filming it. I had never heard of Lieh Lo before, but it sounds like he was Bruce Lee before Bruce Lee. One of the first kung fu movie stars. Did a fine job and seem to have good handle on English as he was born in the philippines.

Good action, pretty good writing. Interesting plot with interesting characters. A little skin teasing in there didn't hurt. I like the other comment of "an arse full of dollars". If you watch the movie you'll see what that means.

I would watch this one again without batting an eye which is more than I can say for a lot of them. It was refreshing to see Van Cleef not only as a good guy but as the star.

I thought I recognized the fight promoter in the movie and sure enough it was Gene Collins. I recognized him from Kelly's heroes.