The Stranger and the Gunfighter (1974) User Reviews (24)

Average but funny and comical Spaghetti Western with Kung-Fu

[ma-cortes · 5/10 · 7 July 2005]

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.

Well balanced between action and comedy

[unbrokenmetal · 7/10 · 4 January 2004]

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.

El kárate, el Colt y el impostor is like unwash buttocks. Kinda crappy.

[ironhorse_iv · 5/10 · 5 November 2013]

This Spagnetti Western treasure hunt movie hit the bottom. By bottom, I meant the whole plot of this movie by Antonio Margheriti with help from the Shaw Brothers is having a gunfighter Dakota (Lee Van Cleef) and a martial artist Ho Chiang (Lo Lieh) search for treasure by searching for tattoos marking on the bottoms of naked women. I would tap that ass of a movie! How weird is that! Still, it's one over the top entertaining movie, just a little crappy. That's if you can find this rare film. The movie goes by many titles from "The Stranger and the Gunfighter", 'East meets West" to "Blood Money" due to the movie being translate from Italian to whatever language, its being shown. The English dubbing isn't that great in my opinion. I know some of it was lost in the translation, but gees, the synchronization is bad. Also, some of the characters English names is pretty laughable. Ho Chiang's fat bald uncle name happens to be Wang, and he has four mistresses that hide his hidden long treasure. How can you not find something funny about that!? Anyways, the 1970's Kung Fu craze was still in high gear, but Lo Lieh isn't no Bruce Lee. The fight scenes are just awfully choreographed with over the top rewind film jumping and not even near close kicks and hits. Lo Lieh is nothing special playing the stereotypical Chinese guy who happens to be a kung-Fu master. At less, he's a bit charming, even if I can't understand what he is saying in some scenes. While, not fighting random people. Ho Chiang and Dakota are chased by over the top Bible-quoting madman Yancey Hobbitt (Julian Ugarte) and his Indian sidekick. Julian Ugarte reminds me of Roger Rees from 1993's Robin Hood: Men in Tights with his delivery. He was just interesting to watch. Dressed all in black with a long leather duster, gloves, and wide brimmed hat, looks like mix with Al Pacino and Jesus. The character is just as quick to use a gun as quote passages from the bible to any sinners, he seek unfit to live his lifestyle. He has cool bad guy written all over him. While, Lee Van Cleef looks pretty old in the film, as his hair plug is barely hanging on his head. It really does like Lee Van Cleef is just having fun overacting. What other Western movie has the main character autograph a woman's butt? The women in the film, Erika Blanc, Femi Benussi, Patty Shepard and Karen Yeh were pretty sexy in their roles, but this film doesn't had anything, more to the female characters than parading their sexy butts and had the girls sexually frustrated that men only have interest in the map. The movie makes them into young, dumb, female with little to no personality. If you like pointless nudity, you might like this film. The music is by Carlo Savina, nothing interesting. It gets annoying when the same theme plays over the action. The music sounds like some type of Blaxploitation film. The sound effects like whistles, bells, and whip cracks seem really canned. The print is surprisingly good, considering the film's age and obscurity, and fans of more lighthearted Spaghetti Westerns should be pleased. Still, in some versions of the film depending if you're watching it on DVD, on the internet, or just had on VHS. A few scenes are missing like the basement distillery fight. Most DVDs should have this scene. Still, if you don't. You're not missing much. It was badly shot, anyways with it being too dark. The running time is only 102 minutes, but after a while watching it; it does get kinda boring due to the hammy material. The humor is hit and miss. We get forced obligatory jokes about cultural differences and confront the racism at the time. I do like, the dog scene a lot. Overall, this was Shanghai Noon (2000) of its day. Just a little bit more obscure low-brow tongue-in-cheek comedy western.

Neat little film - a combination of the spaghetti western genre and the chop socky.

[johnwaynefreak · 24 September 2002]

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.

An Arse Full of Dollars

[Bezenby · 6/10 · 30 December 2018]

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!

Offbeat, original, and not altogether forgettable

[Flak_Magnet · 6/10 · 10 September 2009]

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

Not much of a Kung Fu nor Spaghetti Western epic, but quite a ride

[The_True_Meller · 4/10 · 14 October 2008]

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?

Fun Spaghetti Western With A Touch Of Martial Arts

[Witchfinder-General-666 · 6/10 · 3 August 2006]

"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!

The Stranger and the Gunfighter

[Uriah43 · 4/10 · 12 July 2023]

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.

Putting "Blood Money" in perspective .................

[merklekranz · 6/10 · 17 February 2010]

"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

A good idea, but poorly executed

[dworldeater · 5/10 · 21 August 2020]

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.

Entertaining combination of all sorts, though not KUNG FU.

[emm · 8/10 · 6 December 1998]

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!

The search for 4 tattooed sexy butts: kung fu-spaghetti western action-farce-irony

[weezeralfalfa · 7/10 · 21 December 2013]

No buts about it! Wang was sent by a rich Chinese warlord to California to make good investments with a large amount of gold. In the interim, having acquired 4 mistresses: of American, Russian, Italian, and Chinese descent, respectively, he decides to tattoo partial instructions to the hidden location of the gold or whatever investments he made with the gold, on the buttocks of each mistress! Thus, anyone else wishing to know this location would have to obtain access to all 4 buttocks! The message within a fortune cookie later found in Wang's safe: "The bottom of every woman is fortune", suggests that old Wang had a buttocks fetish, so why he came up with this bizarre method of hiding instructions for locating his treasure. But, he forgot that 4 is an unlucky number for Chinese, associated with death. When safe cracker Dakota(Lee Van Cleef) is caught ready to blow open his safe, he dies in the explosion, which yields only photos of the backsides of the 4 women plus the fortune cookie. As you will see in the finale, old Wang was devious with respect to this fortune in more ways than one. A huge hole in the plot is the lack of a clear connection between the women's buttocks and the location of the fortune. It's merely guessed that there is, based on the suggestive, but far from clear, message in that fortune cookie.

As in a typical kung fu film, there is a large surreal element, with the hero(s), at times, taking on supernatural powers, and with many unlikely coincidences to aid in accomplishing their goals.

Having learned of the death of Wang, the warlord holds all his extended family accountable for the recovery of his fortune. The responsibility for recovering it within a year is thrust upon young Ho Chiang(Lieh Lo),kung fu expert, demonstrating his skill for the warlord. Upon contacting Wang's lawyer, Ho obtains $1000. inheritance, plus the 4 photos with the women's addresses on the back, plus the fortune cookie. Learning that the safe cracker(Dakota) responsible for his uncle's death is in the local jail, Ho enters a saloon with a clear 'no Chinese' policy and is arrested for disturbing the peace, in order to be put in jail so he could talk to Dakota. Released a few days later, he saves Dakota from a hanging, in dramatic surreal fashion, and they decide to become partners in the search for the women, and thereby Wang's fortune.(Given the extreme anti-Orientals attitude in CA in this era, it's difficult to believe that Dakota would be hung for the accidental death of a Chinaman, even a wealthy one!)

The search for the women and access to their buttocks is seldom straight forward. To find the American mistress, they must track down the horse-drawn traveling church-house of charismatic arch -villain Yancey Hobbit. Typical of classical villains, he's dressed all in black ,including a wide-brimmed hat, moustache and beard. He has come to this town to extol the promotion if sinful activities, then shoots several men dead as punishment for their sins, while quoting bible passages! The heros gain entry to his mistress by intimidation, then have to pick the lock on her chastity belt to read her message! Unfortunately, this induces Yancey to question his mistress why they are interested in her bottom. She guesses it has to do with Wang's fortune. Unable to read Chinese, Yancey copies down Wang's tattoo, then teams with his giant Native American friend Indio to look for the other 3 mistresses. This is another huge hole in the plot. How does his mistress know there are 3 more(scattered) mistresses, with tattoos, and where they are likely found??

Our heros manage to stay one step ahead of the evil duo for a while. Ho wins much money from the house, gambling in the saloon where the Russian mistress is. Instead of bankrupting the owner, be asks to be allowed to examine the bottom of the owner's wife. But, he finds nothing remarkable, as she is the twin sister of the woman he is looking for, who is also present. They accomplish their goal, despite the fact that her bottom is covered with autograph tattoos. To find the Italian mistress, they must catch a moving train with a private car, and Ho masquerades as a doctor, treating her ailment with acupuncture needles in her bottom. The Chinese mistress is easy to find, but Ho hesitates to ask her that day, as her father is present. This gives Yancey an opportunity to kidnap her, with the help of acquaintance Calico's Mexican bandit gang. Dakota is later captured trying to recover her and, while locked in a room, she is suspended in a cage over a fire to induce her to translate all the Chinese characters. Ho arrives later and frees Dakota for a final drawn out confrontation with the collective villains, Ho taking on Indio, and Dakota dealing with Yancey to finish things.

I will stop here in my brief summary. I don't want to reveal the rather unexpected, ironic, and dramatically-presented finale. Currently, you can discover this for yourself by obtaining a copy of the 8 westerns DVD pack by Echo Bridge; well worth it for a number of the films. I should add that I'm not normally a fan of Kung fu-type films, other than Jackie Chan's, nor a big fan of spaghetti westerns. However, I found this hybrid of the two intriguing, with a good blend of intrigue, humor, action and irony, despite the holes in the plot.

Mediocre mix of two genres

[Wizard-8 · 20 July 2013]

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.

Lee Van Cleef Teams Up With Lo Lieh in this Serio-Comic Kung Fu Western

[zardoz-13 · 7/10 · 29 June 2010]

This lightweight international co-production between Hong Kong's Run Run Shaw and Italian producer Carlo Ponti amalgamates chop-socky martial arts combat with gritty Spaghetti western violence. An Asian kung fu master teams up with an American gunslinger to find his uncle's treasure. Variously known as either "Blood Money" or "The Stranger and the Gunfighter," this tame 'East Meets West' oater is predictable but amusing nonsense. The humor that lies at the bottom of the plot is that four women have tattoos on their backsides that reveal the whereabouts of a fortune in gold. "Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye" director Antonio Margheriti and scenarists Miguel De Echarri and Barth Jules Sussman have incorporated a sex comedy in this Kung Fu/Spaghetti western. The running joke is that our heroes must obtain permission from four women to eyeball their butts. Veteran western villain Lee Van Cleef twirls his six-gun, while the often outnumbered Lo Lieh performs gravity-defying kung fu. Incidentally, Lieh emerged as the first martial arts superstar before Bruce Lee.

Martial arts movies were increasingly going mainstream by the early 1970s, and "Blood Money" exemplified one of a handful of Italian westerns with Kung Fu. Not only did producer Run Run Shaw co-produce this hybrid horse opera, but he also co-produced the Hammer vampire epic "The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires" during the same year in 1974. Mind you, "Blood Money" premiered in Spain in 1974, but illuminated American screens two years later in 1976. Initially, the Tony Anthony western "The Silent Stranger" should have qualified as the first 'East Meets West' Kung Fu/Spaghetti western. Produced in 1968, "The Silent Stranger" was not released by MGM until 1975, so it beat "Blood Money" to the draw. Earlier, James Bond director Terence Young had helmed a European western with Charles Bronson as an outlaw who reluctantly joins up with Japanese samurai warrior Toshirô Mifune to recover the Nippon ambassador's valuable ceremonial sword. Director Mario Caiano's "Shanghai Joe" (1972) followed "Red Sun" and concerned a Chinese immigrant Chin How (Chen Lee) who helps Mexican laborers from their sadistic boss. Sergio Corbucci even got into this genre in 1975 with "Shoot First... Ask Questions Later" (1975) as a samurai warrior helps a lawman find a treasure.

Dakota (Lee Van Cleef of "Barquero") arrives in Monterey by train. A conductor confronts our protagonist as he slips out from under the passenger coach. Before the conductor can do anything to him, Dakota escapes in a cloud of steam. Breaking into the local bank, Dakota picks the lock to the safe but he finds only photographs of women. Meantime, one of those women alerts Wang (Al Tung), a short fat Asian fellow that somebody is in the bank. Wang scrambles over to the bank. Dakota relies on explosives to blow the vault. As the dynamite explodes, Wang is blown off his feet. Dakota finds a fortune cookie and the photographs. He queries Wang about the contents, but Wang has died. The authorities arrive and arrest Dakota. Meanwhile, in Asia, kung fu teacher Ho Chiang (Lo Lieh of "Five Fingers of Death") is escorted by the warlord's troops to his headquarters. The warlord questions Ho's father about his deceased brother who left behind nothing valuable. The warlord confronts Ho. "I was tricked by your uncle. Unwisely, I entrusted him with a vast fortune and all he did to repay me before he died was to send me that wooden figures." The warlord indicates the statue of a noble Plains Indian chieftain. Since nobody can satisfy the warlord's curiosity, he gives Ho's sister to the guards. Ho intervenes but to no avail. Nevertheless, Ho's martial arts skills impress the warlord. "You're brave and intelligent and I believe you can be useful in recovering my fortune," he informs Ho. "Find my gold in one year or all of you will --," the warlord completes his sentence with a slashing motion at his throat.

Ho arrives in Monterey. He meets with Wang's lawyer and learns his uncle left behind a $1000 and four photographs of women. According to the lawyer, Wang's death was ruled accidental. Nevertheless, the authorities sentenced Dakota to swing. The lawyer (Paul Costello of "Cannibal Apocalypse") adds that Dakota's trial lasted several months. Not surprisingly, Ho encounters racism in a saloon and defends himself against two gunslinging bouncers. The sheriff (Barta Barri of "Horror Express") arrests Ho for hitting him. Ho lands in a cell next to Dakota. Dakota assures Ho that he didn't murder his uncle. Moreover, Dakota acquired no fortune. The sheriff releases Ho. Later, the Asian rescues Dakota as he stands poised on the gallows' trapdoor with his noggin in a noose. Together, Dakota and Ho embark on an unusual search for Wang's four mistresses. Along the way, they incur the wrath of a hypocritical preacher, Yancey Hobbitt (Julian Ugarte of "Autopsy"), who wears a long, black duster with a ridiculous hat. Yancey quotes scripture and wields a devastating six-gun. Yancey abducts the Chinese mistress (Karen Yeh of "The Iron Dragon") with the aid of a Mexican bandit (Ricardo Palacios of "Return of the Seven") and his gang. They take her to an old mission. Dakota and Ho follow. Calico captures Dakota and whips him to get information about Ho. Ho helps Dakota escape, and Dakota appropriates a Gatling gun to exterminate half of Calico's gang, while Ho releases the Chinese mistress. Yancey has tried to torture her to translate the tattoos.

Margheriti directs with customary aplomb. Everything unfolds fluidly. Clocking in a 107 minutes, "Blood Money" looks like a Spaghetti western, but the sex comedy often undercuts the usual high body count violence. The ending may surprise those who aren't expecting it. "Goliath against the Giants" lenser Alejandro Ulloa gives everything a larger-than-life grandeur. "Secret Agent Fireball" composer Carlo Savina drums up a snappy, non-western orchestral score. Savina's music has nothing in common with the quintessential Ennio Morricone Spaghetti western music with whistles, bells, and whipcracks.

This really isn't very dark... given the tone, maybe it should be called Milk Money

[TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews · 6/10 · 31 December 2010]

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

A spicy story over the treasure map split in soft beautiful ladies bottoms, on mix of two opposite genres by the craftsman Antonio Marguerite!!

[elo-equipamentos · 6/10 · 3 July 2023]

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.

Moderate entertaining despite it being a spaghetti western quickie

[jordondave-28085 · 6/10 · 29 April 2023]

(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.

A funny & enjoyably silly spaghetti Western kung-fu comedy

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 23 March 2006]

Okay, here's a delightfully oddball and inspired handy-dandy combo genre hybrid: a totally goofy and cheerfully low-brow tongue-in-cheek comedic Italian spaghetti Western romp crossed with a swiftly chopping and kicking martial arts fight-ridden Hong Kong actionfest, shot on location in Spain, done in collaboration with the Shaw Brothers and directed by tireless exploitation flick director supreme Antonio Margheritti.

The blithely dopey plot centers on an amusingly unlikely partnership between boozy ne'er-do-well drifter outlaw Lee Van Cleef (doing a disarmingly dippy send-up of his redoubtably stern'n'steely Sergio Leone tough guy sharpshooter persona) and smart, amiable Chinese fish-out-of-water karate master Lo Lieh (the star of the original breakthrough chopsocky hit "The Five Fingers of Death"), who trek across the wild'n'woolly Old West in search of a fortune in gold. Naturally, there's a catch -- and it's a hilariously bawdy one at that: individual parts of the treasure map are tattooed on the lovely bottoms of four luscious young ladies. The fact that three of said beauteous damsels are played by sexy Eurobabe scream queens Erica Blanc of "The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave," Femi Bunussi of "Strip Nude for Your Killer," and the always enticing Patty Shepard of "The Witches' Mountain" -- the latter portrays a couple of radically contrasting Russian twin sisters (a classy rich woman and her kittenishly lascivious prostitute sibling, respectively) -- only makes matters that much more entertainingly tacky and raunchy in comparable measure. Funniest scene: Van Cleef croaks out "Rye Whiskey" in a hoarsely off-key voice as he's about to be hung in the town square. Sure, it's really dumb and unsophisticated, but the energetically asinine fun's still quite enjoyable all the same.

martial arts vs spaghetti western

[gorytus-20672 · 7/10 · 25 August 2021]

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.

Spaghetti, kung fu, and four easy pieces

[lazarillo · 4 September 2007]

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.

Silly Fun

[FightingWesterner · 6/10 · 25 February 2010]

Lo Leih's uncle apparently swindles a Chinese warlord and heads to California, where he's accidentally killed trying to stop Lee Van Cleef's after hours bank robbery of his safe. Leih saves Van Cleef from a hanging in order to help retrieve the stolen fortune, using parts of a treasure map tattooed on the backsides of several prostitutes!

One amusing scene has one of the tattooed girls, European sexpot Erika Blanc, revealed to be wearing a chastity belt put on by her puritanical husband, forcing Lee Van Cleef to pick her lock!

An international co-production between Hong Kong's Shaw Brothers, along with Spanish, Italian, and American producers, Blood Money is a sometimes funny, sometimes pretty silly, and all-around okay film, though not nearly as good as other east-meets-west flicks like The Fighting Fists Of Shanghai Joe, Red Sun, or the TV series "Kung Fu".

The films where the Shaw Brothers worked with studios in the west to introduce Kung Fu elements to different settings and genre's were always pretty neat, the most famous probably being The Legend Of The Seven Golden Vampires, made with Hammer Films.

Perfect!

[BandSAboutMovies · 7/10 · 15 November 2023]

Also known as The Stranger and the Gunfighter, Là dove non batte il sole (Where the Sun Doesn't Shine) and El kárate, el Colt y el impostor (Karate, Colt and the Imposter), Blood Money comes from the era where Shaw Brothers was working on other genre mash-ups as part of international co-productions like Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires.

Ho Chiang (Lo Lieh) must go to America and find his uncle Wang's missing fortune and return it to a warlord or his entire family will be executed. His only clue is that a thief named Dakota (Lee Van Cleef) accidentally killed his uncle when he blew up his safe and he knows where Wang's uncle is buried.

Ho Chiang takes Dakota there and they learn that the map to the treasure appears on, well, four asses of Wang's mistresses. Those girls include Patty Shepard (Hannah, Queen of the Vampires; The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman), Femi Benussi (Bloody Pit of Horror, The Bloodsucker Leads the Dance), Karen Yeh (Super Stooges vs. The Wonder Women) and Erika Blanc (Kill, Baby, Kill, The Devil's Nightmare).

Yes, a movie where Lee Van Cleef and Lo Lieh fight people and are on a quest to see Patty Hsepard and Erika Blanc's butts. Did I manifest this movie into being? And it's directed by Antonio Margheriti?

Sometimes, life can be perfect.

Trashy exploitation genre-splicer, but fun if you meet it on that level

[bob the moo · 1 January 2014]

If numbers of titles is a good sign then things look promising for this film since I picked it up as "The Stranger and the Gunfighter" but when I pressed play it said "la brute le colt et le karate" as the title but then also said "Blood Money" in brackets as an alternative title but on IMDb I found it as "El kárate, el Colt y el impostor". I came to this film because I was watching random titles from the Shaw Brothers back catalogue and suddenly found this western crossover which didn't even feature their distinctive shield on the titles even though they are listed as one of the (many) production companies behind it. The plot is a typical exploitation one which is trying to make the most of the popularity at the time of spaghetti westerns and also of kung-fu movies; in this case Ho Chiang comes to America from China to get his late uncle's money but when he arrives all he finds is some smutty photographs which gunslinger Dakota tried to rob, also thinking there was money. Ho realizes that the photos are a map, or rather photos of women who have the map tattooed onto their bottoms. Needing local help, Ho and Dakota team up to seek the bottoms and the treasure, although a deranged preacher is on their trail seeing the same thing.

On the face of it, this film is easy to dismiss as a cheap rip-off just looking to grab as many viewers as possible by combining genres that were selling at that time but there is nothing new under the sun and it is really no different from films like Rush Hour or Shanghai Noon with Jackie Chan partnered to an American star to bring several audiences and style together. Yes it does feel cheap but it is actually quite a lot of fun simply because it doesn't take itself too seriously. The plot is the first very obvious clue (it is a hunt for bottoms) but generally the tone is one of silly fun and the material generally supports this. How this humor would have played to Chinese fans I can only imagine but for me it worked pretty well as trashy entertainment. The martial arts action is very limited and they don't make the best of Lo Lieh in that sense but he is actually very good with his delivery and has good chemistry with Van Cleef. Van Cleef buys into it well even if some of his stuff is a bit silly, but again he seems to be having fun.

The Stranger & the Gunfighter (call it what you will) is not a great film. It sets its sights low but generally it does produce some genre- splicing trashy fun even if it never captures what makes both genres good in their rights – this is particularly evident in the low level of martial arts action. Ultimately it is a trashy exploitation film but, if you meet it on that level, it is a quite fun one.