Customer Reviews

Blood Money

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Being a fan of both Lee Van Cleef and Red Sun I was quite surprised when I found out a movie such as this existed. I'm not sure why they decided to call it Blood Money though. There's no money and hardly any blood (but plenty of action). It's alternate title "The Stranger and the Gunfighter" would've been more adequate. Still, this movie is pretty darn good (and fun) if you like to mix things up a bit.

The DVD itself has no special features or subtitles. The language is in English though. Amazon states that it's in Italian. The cover includes a nice dust jacket as well. Great film at a great price!!!

I first saw this when I was about 12 at a double feature in our local cinema. I hadn't seen anything like it. Mixing the Kung Fu and Western genres must have started with this movie. The story line is still one of the most original for a western. The director has a brilliant sense of humour as well, using not only one-liners and humorous scenarios, but camera and editing techniques that spice up the story telling.
My favourite character, outside of our heroes, is the religious zealot "Yangtze Hobbit" (sic). Dressed all in black with a long leather duster, gloves, and wide brimmed hat, Yangtze is just as quick to use a gun as quote passages from the bible. He has cool bad guy written all over him.
I would rate this film in my top 5 Spaghetti Westerns, alongside all the Sergio Leone titles. It's primarily a comedy but it's all solid Italian/Spanish Western with all the dirt and grit that makes a Spaghetti Western what it is. I was thrilled when I discovered it had been released on DVD.
For those, like myself, who already own a VHS copy you will notice one scene is missing. There is no "basement distillery" fight. The original scene appears poorly shot in the first place anyway so is no great loss. When you watch the DVD version, and I hope you purchase this gem, you'll see that the "distillery" fight is clearly tacked on. As the titles on the DVD are in Italian and are English on the VHS I take it the tacked on fight has something to do with the American and UK markets at the time. The price for this sharp quality widescreen DVD is also really affordable.

This movie suprised me. It was really good. Lee Van Cleef is great in this movie(as he is in everything he's done). The video and sound quality are pretty good, not great but better than average. A must see for any western fan.

Here's an example where Euro and American filmmakers were blending successful box office genres to make the ultimate money maker. This joint Italian/Hong Kong co-production merged the newly arrived Kung Fu chop-socky action after the success of Run Run Shaw's 'FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH'-1971 with the failing Spaghetti Western genre by including 'FINGERS' star Lo Lieh teamed with EuroWestern star Lee Van Cleef and produced 'BLOOD MONEY' aka 'THE STRANGER AND THE GUNFIGHTER' aka 'LA, DOVE NON BATTE IL SOLE' or in this print from VideoAsia 'LA BRUTE, LE COLT ET LE KARATE'-1973. The film is an enjoyable romp with a complicated storyline involving a fortune of a deceased Chinese businessman who tattooed the clues of his treasure on the butts of his four mistresses. Van Cleef and Lieh are brought together by chance where they must team up to return the treasure back to China. In between gun battles and martial arts sequences, the women are represented by beauties Erica Blanc, Patty Shepard, Femi Bemussi and Karen Yeh and provide a nice sidelite to the hokum. The film is directed by genre auteur Antonio Margheriti who's first Spaghetti, 'VENGEANCE' aka 'INVOCA DIO...E MUORI'-1968 is a minor masterpiece of the genre. Actually, you can tell where he turns the film over to Shaw's action crew but the photography by Alejandro Ulloa fills the screen with beautiful images and makes it look more expensive then it probably was. The music score by Carlo Savina is not one of his best but keeps the film moving with rapid fire. VideoAsia culled this beautiful 2.35 transfer from a French print so the quibbling of the films running time included in one of the reviews contained within is ridiculous, it certainly beats the horrible pan and scan VHS transfer that Columbia Pictures released many years back and was most certainly edited. Margheriti would go on to direct Lee Van Cleef in 'TAKE A HARD RIDE'-1974 which blended the Blacksploitation genre with the Western and culminated in the American made 'EL CONDOR'-1970 also with Van Cleef. All in all, a welcome purchase for all fans of early Kung Fu and Euro Western films and great for a hot, Saturday afternoon.

Blood Money or also known as "Stranger And The Gunfighter", 1974, starring steely-eyed western legend, Lee Van Cleef, and Shaw Brothers star, Lo Lieh. This film is a Shaw Brothers production, and this film is not what you would expect it to be with these two mega stars, with the concept and idea of splicing a martial arts and western film together. The plot is a crazy ride of women chasing, each woman is a mistress of a dead master and carry a puzzle of a map tatooed on their beautiful behinds as Van Cleef and Lieh try to fit the pieces together to solve the mystery of the lost treasure. This movie concentrates more on the plot and seems to be lacking in the action department, - gunplay and martial arts - that is needed in an Italian western like this, although this film does have an extraordinary classic moment making the film worthwhile, for Lee Van Cleef collectors "Blood Money" is a good additive. The DVD I've viewed is the RED SUN version, excellent transfer, Videoasia has never been reliable for picture quality. The "Fighting Fist Of Shanghai Joe" leans more on the right concept of a western/martial arts film, or "Once Upon A Time In China And America" with Jet Li.

Cool flick. Interesting fusion of martial arts and western genres. There are some great karate sequences combined with wild gunfighting that make for a solid classic. I'm glad BM has been re-released. Do yourself a favor and give "Blood Money" a try.

The above mentioned running time of 107 minutes (which would be the correct length for the US version, according to IMDB) ist NOT correct! It runs only 95 minutes and 42 seconds.
I dumped it. I do not watch cut films.