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Rating: 7 stars

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Japan sequel chanbara

All movies seen on 04/04/2013

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Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo (1970)

Directed by Kihachi Okamoto

Action | Drama | Adventure

Overview

With a price on his head, Ichi seeks tranquillity in a favorite village. Since his last visit, it has fallen prey to Boss Masagoro, the son of a merchant rumored to have stolen gold from the shogunate. The boss has hired Yojimbo as his hard-drinking enforcer, but Yojimbo is both a spy for the shogunate, trying to find the gold, and in love with the merchant’s unwilling mistress, Umeno. Ichi hires on as the merchant’s masseur and buys Umeno’s freedom with his employer’s own money. This embarrasses Yojimbo who withdraws from a pact with Ichi to stir up trouble between father and son and their gangs. As the two sides fight, Ichi finds the gold and sets up a final set of confrontations.

Length 115 minutes

Actors

Shintarō Katsu | Toshirō Mifune | Ayako Wakao | Osamu Takizawa | Masakane Yonekura | Shin Kishida | Kanjûrô Arashi | Toshiyuki Hosokawa | Shigeru Kôyama | Hideo Sunazuka | Daigo Kusano | Fujio Tokita | Gen Kimura | Hiroshi Tanaka | Hiroto Kimura | Ryutaro Itsumi | Yûji Hamada | Kazu Echikawa | Gen Kuroki | Junshiro Araseki | Yoko Netsuda | Minori Terada

Viewing History (seen 1 time)

Viewing Notes

Zatoichi is really like the Sherlock Holmes of Japan. Or Charlie Chan. Or a mix of those. These later films seem more like novelties to keep the series of films going basically as a cash-grab for Daiei that was facing hard times entering the 70s, IIRC.

This is worthwhile entry simply to see Mifune and Shintaro Katsu mix it up on screen. The story is a little bland as our two “heroes” get caught up in a small town mystery of hidden gold and crooked officials governing the town. At some point I should probably do a Zatoichi project since I’ve only seen a couple of the films and that was a long time ago.

Crazy that there are 26 films in the series!

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