Six-Gun Samurai 3: Gundown at Golden Gate by Patrick Lee

Six-Gun Samurai 3
Gundown at Golden Gate
by Patrick Lee (W.L. Fieldhouse)
1981 Pinnacle

Tom Tanaka goes to San Francisco where corrupt politicians are warring with Chinese organized crime. Tom gets captured and escapes like three times and ends the story raiding a cathouse to rescue a young woman.

So far each of the installments has had a different author, but this one had a greater departure in tone, almost a Joseph Rosenberger feel with every punch or kick given a Japanese name as he mows down his opponents.

There's a thread of Tom fighting against intolerance in the form of racist white politicians and him softening his negative Japanese attitude towards the Chinese, and then proceeds to spit on Koreans, so no real good guys in this one.

Felt more Men's Adventure than Western, and lost some of the chanbara feel of the first books.

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Six-Gun Samurai 2: Bushido Vengeance by Patrick Lee

Six-Gun Samurai 2
Bushido Vengeance
by Patrick Lee (Patrick E. Andrews)
1981 Pinnacle

After finding one of the men who killed his family, Tanaka Tom Fletcher uncovers a plot to manipulate two Apache tribes into fighting each other so a phony reservation agent can steal the gold from their land. Tom unites the tribe to face off against the US Army before the plot screeches to a halt for a courtroom scene.

Not as sleazy as the first, but plenty of heads being lopped off and Apache torture. Lee has cultures, from Japanese to Apache to Mexican to American, take turns competing to see who treats women the worst, but for a Piccadilly Western they could have fared much worse. There's a theme of the Apaches and Japanese having a system of honor that places them above the Americans, but mostly it's about how much someone should be tortured before they die.

The plot was a bit unlikely as well, but that may be more a function of Tom being an idiot. He seems to have a plan to kill his enemy without raising the ire of the US Army, then depends on the Apaches getting a fair trial, then depends on the Americans chalking up a bunch of dead soldiers to a misunderstanding and leaving the tribes alone.

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Six-Gun Samurai by Patrick Lee

Six-Gun Samurai
by Patrick Lee (Mark Roberts)
1981 Star

Tanaka Tom Fletcher was a westerner raised in Japan after being orphaned. He was trained as a samurai and returned to America to avenge the brutal massacre of his family.

We get the usual "Kung Fu" style of fish out of water culture clashes, with a text that alternatively decries and revels in casual racism. Tanaka comes across more ninja than samurai, though he quickly adopts Western firearms.

It more than delivers in violence and sleaze. Fletcher's swordplay is straight from a chanbara film, slicing up the baddies and having their various chunks slide off like a cartoon cat running through a harp. The villains are some of the worst  - their scam is to find landowners who have a gold claim and rape their children until the owners sign over the deeds.

The plot unravels a bit towards the end, with the story making some stretches to make sure some baddies live to be killed in further installments, but a fun ride overall.

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