Storia di karatè, pugni e fagioli (1973) Poster

User Reviews

Review this title
3 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
4/10
A funny but silly Spaghetti/Paella Western spoof co-produced by Italy/Spain with amusement enough
ma-cortes22 January 2023
Sam (Dean Reed) and Buddy (Cris Huerta) are two highway robbers, being relentlessly pursued , as they take refuge at a monastery , there they steal a sacred relic : a golden hand . After that, they join with Colonel Quint (Alfredo Mayo) , a big crook, who sold his services to Morgan, the banker, in order to free Baby, the banker's daughter, kidnapped by Espartero (Fernando Sancho) and his killers gang. A plan to 'sell' fake dollars to Espartero goes wrong, but the two sons of the forger join Quint, and so does Mokaiko, a brave Japanese cook. Quint's first plan is to have an old friend counterfeit the ransom money and give it to Espartero. To that end, the three have to save the Goldenhand brothers (Angel Aranda , Sal Borgese) from the noose condemned by a stiff judge (Gustavo Re) and a sheriff (Luis Induni) at Yuca Flats . Also to be executed that same day is an effeminate Japanese cook named Mokaiko (Iwao Yoshioka), condemned for killing and cooking the sheriff's dog. A big fight breaks out at the execution and our three heroes rescue both the Goldenhand brothers and Mokaiko, the latter of whom starts following Buddy around as if he were his master. When the counterfeit plan goes awry--the lead counterfeiter gave Abraham Lincoln a bald head--they decide to trick the rowdy Espartero into leaving his stronghold so they can get Baby Morgan out themselves. The rag-tag band of Quinlan meets Espartero in several scraps, and then a climactic confrontation take place . All are ugly, bad, and dirty , except Baby, and fight accordingly, and along the way they save the damsel in distress.

Amusing but disconcerting Western lowbrow parody following the style of the famous Terence Hill and Bud Spencer films that at the time achieved lots of hits with their peculiar movies .It's an action comedy and a martial arts movie, although it certainly fails at the former . The story is pretty simple and plain providing a little bit of entertainment and fun. This funny picture contains thrills , laughters , slapstick-style action , slapdash, several fights with no sense as well as decently choreographed and a large number of ironical sketches . The flick is set in the turbulent little town Yuca Flats and it becomes yet another action/adventure in a cheap production that doesn't delivers what it should . The main novelty and actual curiosity results to be the introduction of a Chinese cook : Yoshioka who was a real-life Kung Fu legend and he had a short stint as a support actor by using his Karate skills to take down villain enemies . However , this issue about botcher karate men in past times attempts to capitalize on the Martial Arts craze in the Seventies , was already treated in Spaghetti Westerns as: "Red Sun" , " My Name is Shanghai Joe" , " The Return of Shanghai Joe" , "Karate, colt and Impostor" and this "Robin Hood, Arrows , Beans and Karate" 1973 directed by Tonino Ricci and starred by Yoshioka, Cris Huerta , Dean Reed , in fact this one turns out to be the successful precedent to failed "Storia di Arcieri, Pugni E Occhi Neri" 1976 with Alan Steel , Cris Huerta , Victoria Abril . Stars Dean Reed who had some successful appearances as a good-looking hero in a number of Spaghetti Westerns he played in the decades of the Sixties and Sixties .Dean was a successful singer and activist . His politics moved to the left but he never joined the Communist party . He was deported from Argentina in 1966 and ended up in Rome , where he made "spaghetti westerns" , such as : ¨Adios Sabata¨, "Buckaroo: The Winchester Does Not Forgive" , "God Made Them... I Kill Them" , "Challenge of the Golden Fist" , "Robin Hood, Arrows, Beans and Karate" for several years . He continually got into trouble with US State Department for protesting Vietnam War and attending International Peace Conferences . He moved to East Germany (GDR) in 1973, made numerous albums, starred in several films such as : ¨Sing cowboy sing¨, ¨Blutsbruder¨ , ¨Kit and Co¨ and wrote and directed his own . But in 1986 , Dean Reed's body was found in the lake near his home outside of East Berlin . Many close to him suspected suicide ; his family and friends in America believed he was murdered. Being a Spanish/Italian coproduction , here shows up Spaniard support actors , such as : Cris Huerta , Gustavo Rea , Angel Aranda, Gaspar 'Indio' González , Juan Torres, Luis Induni , and , of course , Fernando Sancho playing his usual role as a quarrelsome Mexican bandit ; many of them performed as secondary cast in the usual European genres in the 60s , such as Spaghetti Western , Eurospy movie , adventures and thrillers .

It displays a commercial and anticlimatic musical score by regulars Guido and Maurizio de Angelis , in their ordinary style and composed by means of synthesizer . As well as atmospheric cinematography by cameraman Jaume De Casas and shot on location in Barcelona surroundings , Natural Park of Montseny , Bigas , and a Western village located in ¨Spugles De Llobregat¨ built by Balcazar Productions and in studios Rome, Lazio, Italy . This mindless motion picture was middlingly directed by Tonino Ricci , packing several shortcomings , gaps and flaws . The recently deceased Ricci was an uneven and below par filmmaker getting hits and flops , he began his career as second unit director and assistant director and writer , providing ordinary cheesy entertainment value , being his first movie a wartime : The Liberators , following a series of pictures in all kinds of genres, such as Terror : Panic . Giallo : Cross Current . Western : The Great Treasure Hunt , Bad Kids in the West . Adventures : Buck , Buck and the magic bracelet , White Fang to the Rescue , Arrows Beans and Karate , Robin Hood , Thor Il Conquistatore , Raiders of the Magic Ivory , Bermudas the cave of Sharks . Action : Rage , Rush , Day of Sharks , Days of Hell . Sci-Fi : Encounters in the Deep . Mafia film : The Big Family , among others .
2 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
5/10
SPAGHETTI-KARATE MOVIE WITH A REAL MASTER!
deluca.lorenzo@libero.it3 January 2021
If you aren't a too demanding viewer, you may can see this joke of a movie and find some fun in it: it's just a cheap spaghetti-western plus karate they made fastly to capitalize on the Martial Arts craze in 1973. The only real curiosity is the presence of real-life Karate legend Iwao Yoshioka, who had a brief stint as an actor in Italy. All in all nothing special but nothing too boring also. It made money at italian box-office.
0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
3/10
Mindless and lowbrow
Leofwine_draca25 May 2017
Warning: Spoilers
The title of ROBIN HOOD, ARROWS, BEANS AND KARATE gives you some idea of the ingredients to expect from this silly, lowbrow, and somewhat mindless Italian historical costume adventure comedy, shot in Spain. The film was made by Tonino Ricci, who started his career making war movies and ended it shooting science fiction pictures, and it's far below par compared to his normal cheesy entertainment value. The story sees Robin Hood and an increasingly odd group of companions striving to rescue a kidnapped girl from a gang of killers, and it has plenty of the slapstick-style action familiar from the Terence Hill and Bud Spencer movies. However, it's nowhere near as funny or as well choreographed as those movies, and the random inclusion of a Japanese character leads to some of the most racist English dubbing I've ever heard.
1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

See also

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews


Recently Viewed