Sleepy Eyes Of Death 5: Sword Of Fire 1965 Novel by Renzaburô Shibata, screenplay by Seiji Hoshikawa, directed by Kenji Misumi.
On a road Kyoshiro Nemuri, played by Raizo Ichikawa, encounters a woman running from a man with a knife. He helps her and she uses the opportunity to kill the man, claiming it's a legal bit of revenge for the murder of her husband.
The woman is called Nui Higaki and she's pulled Nemuri into the middle of a conspiracy involving some stolen pirate treasure. The Chief Retainer and pals defeated the pirates and kept a good bit of the treasure instead of giving it to the Shogun.
That's Atobe Shogen, Chief Retainer for the Todo Clan, on the left in the left photo, the guy seen through the green window is a conniving merchant called Narumiya, he's part of the theft and he needs to cover his tracks as much as the Chief Retainer. The two are looking for the few remaining pirates, the CR has charged Nui with finding them. The baddies want to kill the pirates to keep them from spilling the beans to the Shogun about how much gold they had and how little got to his treasure rooms.
The Chief Retainer thinks he needs to wipe out Nemuri but these clowns can't do the job.
Narumiya tries to bribe Nemuri with a lady who's got some big tattoos wrapped around her body. He takes her to the Chief Retainer as a present. The CR later beheads the girl and sends her head to Narumiya.
Nui tries to seduce Nemuri but it doesn't work.
Nemuri brings the fight to the Chief Retainer and wipes out a whole bunch of the clan.
That's the CR in his death throws. Just as the last of the CR's men surround Nemuri a Daimyō rides up with an order for the Chief Retainer to commit Seppuku. He's been found out but it's too late. Nemuri is ordered to keep quiet and he leaves town after doing one last good deed and seeing Narumiya arrested.
On the road Nemuri crosses paths with Nui. When she tries talking to him, he just slices her down. He walks away while she gasps her last breath. She really was a horrible woman. On the good side Nemuri helped three of the pirates escape from the Chief Retainer.
The series seems to get darker with each passing episode. I'm still being entertained by the films and look forward to seeing the last 7. I should try to get back to the series sooner but the DVDs got buried for a while.
Comments