One of Tanaka's underlings has stolen a rare statuette that he had planned to use as a peace offering between the local Yakusa and Chinese Tong. He hires two private investigators to exchange ransom money to recover the statuette, but the trade goes down bad and Clay Roth is killed. This angers Roth's brothers and father, all combat veterans, and they go after the people responsible
Acting
Lee Van Cleef's final role—gravelly, tired, somehow still commanding.
Practical Effects
Grenades, car crashes, and squibs filmed on actual Los Angeles streets.
Director
Fred Olen Ray
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Lee Van Cleef filmed this while battling heart disease; he died four months after its release, making his weary final scenes unintentionally poignant.
Fred Olen Ray shot this in eleven days for Concorde Pictures, Corman's B-movie factory, explaining why Chinatown looks suspiciously like the same three blocks rearranged.
US
