Zatoichi - Films 6- 10
Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold (1964)
- 8.0
Dir: Kazuo Ikehiro
This sixth in the series is so far the best as far as I am concerned. It
is stylish, beautifully photographed and has a narrative that has an emotional
core. This was the director's first Zatoichi film and he brings a real energy
to it and ups the death count but still retains many of the series' s trademarks.
He was to make a few more as well as some of the films in the Sleepy Eyes
of Death series. The final encounter is astonishing in the physicality that
Shintaro Katsu goes through. And once again Katsu's real life brother Tomisaburo
Wakayama is the brute villain.
Zatoichi is in a solemn mood. He has come to a small village graveyard to
pray for a man who he killed two years ago in an incident of confusion and
misunderstanding. It turns into a complicated plot when Zatoichi finds himself
sitting on a chest of gold that was raised by the villagers to pay their
taxes. Their caravan had been attacked by thieves and the chest rolled down
a hill to where Zatoichi was resting. Later he is accused of stealing the
chest and other narratives enter into the story that lead to a great conclusion.
Zatoichi’s Flashing Sword (1964) – 8.0
Dir: Kazuo Ikehiro
This is a stunning Zatoichi film - the 7th in the series. The photography
is gorgeous, the action set pieces are imaginative and well done and it has
a terrific story that underlies it all. The story unfolds slowly - really
no action to speak of till about the 50 minute mark and then all hell breaks
loose with the final fight just dazzling.
Zatoichi gets wounded by a rifle but a passing lady pays for him to get better.
He tracks her down to thank her and as usual falls into a gang rivalry -
her father being the head of one. Zatoichi has to take on some bounty hunters,
a group of samurai out to stop him and God knows how many in one of the gangs
- it is a bloodletting of beauty and sadness.
Fight, Zatoichi,
Fight (1964) – 7.5
Dir: Kenji Misumi
Six years before the Lone Wolf and Cub manga and eight years before the series
of films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama that were produced by Shintaro Katsu
is this little gem - the 8th in the Zatoichi series. This may have sparked
the idea for the Lone Wolf films. Tomisaburo was also Katsu's real life brother.
In this one, a woman is mistaken for Zatoichi in a covered carriage and killed
protecting her baby. Zatoichi takes on the responsibility of getting the
baby to the father some 60 miles and what turns out to be a long string of
dead bodies away. Zatoichi as is often the case has bounty hunters and other
various gangs out for his head. He fights through them with baby in his arms.
The Zatoichi films continue to increase the body count as they go along.
This one has a tragic karma fatalism all around it and ends with a note of
poignant pessimism that floods through Zatoichi. Everything he tried to fix
ends up broken and destroyed.
The Adventures
of Zatoichi (1964) – 7/10
Dir: Kimiyoshi Yasuda
This is the ninth in the Zatoichi series starring Shintaro Katsu as the blind
masseuse/ swordsman extraordinaire. It treads on the backs of all the films
that came before it with elements that they all share. One might think this
would get too repetitive and tedious, but at least so far not at all. You
may know where a Zatoichi film is headed but it is a great pleasure getting
there in so many ways. In fact, the familiarity of it is comforting.
The production values of these films are topnotch with vivid colors and sets
and costumes that recreate the period wonderfully well. These small towns
with their varied shops, inns and sake bars all tended to by a myriad of
extras feels so genuine that you feel transported back a bit. The inevitability
of Zatoichi coming to the aid of a pretty face and then having to cut down
the villains never feels stale. It builds up slowly and then there is the
bloodletting that every Zatoichi film has to end with.
In this instance Zatoichi has come to a small village below Mount Myogi.
It is a few days before the New Year and winter is setting in. Zatoichi wants
to greet the New Year giving prayer and thanks at the top of the mountain.
But every town in Japan at the time seems to have a Mr Big and his ruffians
to run things and usually sooner rather than later they come into conflict
with Zatoichi as he always feels the need to intervene when the weak are
preyed on. Especially if it is a young and lovely damsel (he can judge a
woman's looks by her voice). Here there are two women in trouble with the
gang - one looking for her father; the other trying to help her brother.
It turns out his path to Mount Myogi is littered with the bodies of the men
he has to kill.
This is a terrific addition to the series - letting the drama play out for
about 50 minutes before Zatoichi has to draw his sword and a few other plot
lines that tag along are of interest - a man who might be his long lost father
and a young fast swordsman (Mikijiro Hira) who wants to prove his mettle
by drawing on a reluctant Zatoichi.
Zatoichi’s Revenge
(1965) – 7.5
Dir: Akira Inoue
The killing takes its time to arrive in the 10th film in the Zatoichi series,
but arrive it does in a large set finale that has become a tradition in the
series. The film slowly builds up towards this like a boil ready to be lanced.
With Spanish guitar clanging on the soundtrack like a Spaghetti Western,
Zatoichi faces off against what seems like an entire town of hooligans with
the camera closely tracking him as he slices and dices his way through them.
It feels as if every town in Japan that Zatoichi travels through is ripe
with corruption - thieving government officials, a grinning cruel Yakuza
boss, crooked gambling establishments, brothels and hordes of thugs extorting
the town folks and harassing the women. Zatoichi is no crusader - he in fact
considers himself a lowly wandering yakuza who loves gambling and the occasional
woman - but when he comes across an injustice that he can't ignore; that
goes beyond the corrupt norm, he steps in and the plot kicks in.
Zatoichi in his travels realizes that he has come to a crossroad that is
near the town of his old masseur Master and the Master's daughter. Zatoichi
has not been back for a decade and so decides to visit, but upon arriving
he discovers that his Master has been murdered in an unsolved crime and that
the daughter he knew as a child when they sang together has been forced into
a brothel where she is imprisoned till she services customers. This is clearly
an injustice that Zatoichi won't let go by; that before all is said and done
many will bleed.
This is a slower almost moody film with only a few spurts of violence along
the way - a Shane like young girl, a Samurai with a need to challenge Zatoichi,
the brutal treatment of the trafficked brothel girls, the dice-thrower who
repents all build a dramatic scenario. Beautifully photographed starting
with the rice ball in the middle of a lonely road to the terrific street
fight that ends the film.
