Samurai Vendetta
Director: Kazuo Mori
Year: 1959
Rating: 8.0
This is
old school samurai if that term exists. Before they turned to graphic violence
and sex in the 1960s. It feels from a different age than those films that
were soon to come - more driven by character and plot. It is a terrific film
that is partly based on historical events and partly on fiction. There are
two main characters and one was a real person and the other was not. The
director melds their stories together to produce a drama that revolves around
honor, the samurai code, obligations and how this destroys the lives of the
two characters involved. A man has to give up the woman he loves because
of the samurai code and the other has to avenge his Master for the same reason.
The film doesn't rush into any of this and it has enough twists and turns
over the eight years in which it takes place to be a soap - but one with
sharp swords and severed arms. The action scenes are few but with purpose
and one is brilliantly done. The two main actors are two greats - Raizo Ichikawa
who had just gained popularity the year before in a film titled Enjo. In
the 1960s he was to become a huge star in Samurai films and in dramas. The
other actor is a very young Shintaro Katsu who of course became Zatoichi
and had many other well-known roles. To a large degree their stories run
in parallel but are connected by being in love with the same woman.
Yasubei Nakayama (Shintaro) is racing through the streets on the way to a
duel. His school has been challenged by another and he wants to be a part
of it. On the way he passes a government official on horseback named Tange
Tanzen (Raizo) who gives him some advice and then follows him to see what
is going on. By the time Yasubei gets there - a circular area with spectators
watching and cheering - his Master has been badly wounded and he goes after
and kills three from the other side. This has ramifications for both men.
Tange is kicked out of his school for seeing and not assisting the dead men
- and Yasube becomes a rock star - with a fan club of females wanting to
marry him and maybe more. But when his school learns that Tange was kicked
out they feel that the honorable thing to do is ask Yasube to leave. So suddenly
they are both Ronin, but more like free agents as Clans bid for their services.
The two men come to respect one another - in one incident the woman that
Yasubei secretly loves Chiharu (Chitose Maki) is attacked by a pack of wild
dogs and Tange steps in and kills one of them accidentally. Killing animals
is punishable by death by order of the Shogun, the Laws of Compassion decree.
Yasube happens to walk by and sees a patrol coming and is able to hide the
evidence - the dead dog. Not much later Yasube is challenged by a group of
men and Tange takes the challenge in order to pay Yasube back. This leads
to retribution that increasingly gets horrifically tragic. Tange marries
Chiharu breaking Yasube's heart. They both join Clans that oppose one another.
But it doesn't go where you expect it to - it just gets very melodramatic
with everything going wrong. In his new Clan Yasubei changes his name to
Horibe Yasubei. His Master is forced to commit seppuku. His samurai are dispersed.
They gather for revenge. I didn't realize till reading up on this but Horibe
was one of the 47 Samurai and the early duel and the rest is all true. The
last scene is of them entering the gates of the man they have come to kill.
It is fabulous and powerful because though we don't see it, we know how that
will end. Directed by Kazuo Mori.
