My review was written in April 1985 after a Times Square screening.
The 1985 return of theatrical Western releases begins inauspiciously with the goofy "Manchurian avenger", a martial arts cheapie shot in Colorado two years ago.
Bobby Kim, a diminutive, craggy-faced type, toplines as Joe, returning to his hometown to avenge the mureder of his father many years ago. Racism is rampant there, with both orientals and Mexicans victimized (there are no Indians in this picture).
With everyone trying to find some hidden gold, Joe protects an attractive young woman Booyong (Leila Hee) and teams up with the kindly bartender Harry (Bob Coulson) and outlaw Diego (Michael Stuart) to fight the evil Cheng (Y. Tsuchimoto) and his many henchmen.
Hurt by choppy editing (there apparently wasn't enough coverage of transition footage shot), pic becomes absurd during the frequent chop-socky scenes, in which it is contrived (unbelievably) that Kim can kick any number of baddies before they shoot him down with pistols or rifles. Second-billed martial arts champ, Bill (Superfoot) Wallace has no dialog and little screen time to demonstrate his own fancy footwork.
Rich Lerner's auburn-filtered visuals occasionally suggest a period look, but over-reliance by director Ed Warnick on wide angle and lwo angle shots is distracting and amateurish. Acting is weak, with everybody having different sorts of accents and Michael Stuart extremely hammy as a stereotyped Mexican bandito.
Final reel attempt at mystical fantasy (Cheng conjuring up the wind machine with hand gestures and Kamikaze disappearing after his defeat in a cloud of smoke) is pointless and lacks special effects.
