Zatoichi Vengeance is the 13th film in the 26 film series and it came out May 3 1966. Shintaro Katsu is the blind swordsman Zatoichi. He travels around looking for work as a masseur and gambler but he always seems to find trouble in one form or another. The movie is written by Hajime Takaiwa and directed by Tokuzo Tanaka with music by Akira Ifukube. Akira has 274 film scores to his credit on the IMDb. That's pretty amazing.
Zatoichi encounters a near dead man on the road and kills the men who were robbing him. He doesn't know it but he's passed the man who attacked the hurt man. The man's name was Tamekichi and with his dying breath he gives Zatoichi a bag of money and a name. Lucky for Zatoichi he only has to travel a short while. On the way he encounters a blind priest and buys him lunch.
In the next town Zatoichi overhears the name he heard from the lips of the dying man. It's a young boy who lives with an older woman. She's the dead man's mother and the boy is his son. Zatoichi gives them the bag of money and lies about the man being dead. He finds out that the town is being lorded over by the greedy and cruel Boss Gonzo. Zatoichi tries not to get involved but you know that's not going to work.
Zatoichi and the boy go to the local drum festival but Zatoichi has to leave because the drums are too loud. On the way back to the inn they encounter some of Boss Gonzo's henchmen and while he doesn't kill any of them he does show off his sword work and the little boy in impressed. Leaving the boy at the inn Zatoichi goes looking for work and he finds Ocho, a young prostitute that needs a bit of a rub down.
Things play out for a while, until Gonzo pushes too hard, and then it's a battle to the death. Eventually Zatoichi has to battle it out with the hired swordsman who's all in black. That's him below be the gate to the town. He was the man who killed Tamekichi for a bit of cash and he tells Boss Gonzo he wants 50 Ryo to kill Zatoichi. The Boss hires him on.
Too bad he won't get to spend the 50 Ryo. Zatoichi finishes off Boss Gonzo and he leaves a sad young boy waiting at the town gate. It's a lonely life for Zatoichi as he moves along to the next town. I enjoyed the trip, even after repeated viewings. I must have seen the whole series 3 times at least and some earlier films a couple more than that. I have nothing but praise for the series and I'm glad to have the nice Criterion DVDs so I can see them again.
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