PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Zatoichi 20 Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo 1965

I had forgotten poor Zatoichi, he got buried and it's been ages since I since I last watched one of his films. Counting this one I've only got 7 more to watch to finish up the series. I've added the 1989 film in there, it's not included with the Criterion set but I have a copy anyway. I've already blogged about the remake with Takeshi Kitano.

The 20th Zatoichi film was Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo and it came out January 15 1970. The script was written by director Kihachi Okamoto and Tetsuro Yoshida. Shintaro Katsu plays Zatoichi and Toshiro Mifune plays Yojimbo, though he has another name in the film.

With this film, Toho Studios starts making the Zatoichi films. The previous productions were made at Daiei Motion Picture Company, they went bankrupt in 1971. Since the 16th film Shintaro Katsu's own production company, Katsu Productions, has been co-producing the films. He would also produce the Zatoichi TV series. Toho had produced the 2 previous, Kurosawa directed, Yojimbo films with Toshiro Mifune. Those, like The Seven Samurai, belong in anyone's film collection. The Yojimbo films has been copied in other countries, you might have seen A Fistful Of Dollars, Django, The Warrior And The Sorceress, or Last Man Standing. Even John Belushi owes something to Yojimbo.

Zatoichi returns to his home town to find that the headman had lost control of the town to some thugs. Yojimbo is working for the big name merchant, who also hires Zatoichi to be his masseuse. The merchant's creepy son hired Yojimbo to kill Zatoichi but Yojimbo drinks away the day instead, just bidding his time. The locals have a lot of tension going on. The rivals for control are fighting, there's an Inspector due any day now, the merchant's son has hired a deadly killer and he's due any day. There's a lot going on, the film runs 4 seconds short of 116 minutes.

There's plenty of action, some sad bits, a bit of failed romance, a bit of comedy, and nearly everyone dies. Zatoichi misses one of the big fights but there's a nice one near the end.

Still making nice quality films under the new logo. It's a series that I can't recommend enough. Worthy of anyone's collection. The Criterion box set of the first 25 films comes with both Blu-Ray's and DVDs. I still have to do my screen caps from the DVDs because I don't have anyway to do it from the Blu-Ray, which look much nicer. It's kind of pricey, $117 on Amazon right now, but there are 25 films on oodles of discs. It's the only complete collection released in the US from one company. The quality is really high and it comes in a nice box with a book.

Zatoichi 19 - Samaritan Zatoichi

Samaritan Zatoichi is the 19th of the Zatoichi films and it came out December 28 1968. It was written by Kiyokata Saruwaka, Kan Shimozawa, Hisashi Sugiura and Tetsuro Yoshida. The director is Kenji Misumi who had directed the very first of the 26 film series. Besides Samaritan Zatoichi he'd direct 4 other Zatoichi films and several other interesting samurai films. 

Zatoichi gets hired by a town boss to eliminate a debtor. The dead man's sister, Osode, arrives with the money just after the killing. The boss takes the money and then tries to kidnap the sister. He wants to give her to a more powerful creep for future favors. Zatoichi puts a stop to that.

With the local boss angry Zatoichi offers to protect Osode. They travel together for a while. He feels he needs to make it up to her and mete out some punishment to the boss. We all know how that's going to go, huh.

There's a nice mix of introspection and sword play as Zatoichi works towards righting the boss's wrongs. There's plenty of pretty scenery and the film looks great. Here's some nice images from the end of the movie.

As usual Zatoichi wanders off, all alone.

Zatoichi 18 - Zatoichi And The Fugitives

 

Zatoichi and the Fugitives is the 18th Zatoichi film and it first appeared in the theaters August 10 1968. It's written by Kinya Naoi and directed by Kimiyoshi Yasuda. Shintaro Katsu plays the blind masseur Zatoichi.

Zatoichi comes to yet another small town that is controlled by another greedy boss. He's got the usual gang of thugs and he controls the village through the silk trade. Some evil gangsters are also in the area. They're cruel bastards who kill most of the people they rob. They turned this poor traveler into a fountain.

The boss lets the gang hide out above his silk factory where they're supposed to lay low. They don't. Zatoichi has some run-ins with the gang but their leader keeps them all from fighting. He know who Zatoichi is and what he's capable of doing. One of the gang is a woman and another is the son of a local man.

The local man is Doctor Junan and he's played by Takashi Shimura. Some might recognize him from some of the 200 films he's made. He appeared in 21, of 30, Akira Kurosawa films and in several of the Toho monster films. I certainly remember him from Godzilla, Godzilla Raids Again, The Mysterians and Mothra.

When the Boss won't allow a sick weaver to go home, Zatoichi steps in an forces him to let the go home. As punishment Zatoichi makes the Boss tear up her bond papers thus releasing her from her slavery. The boss sends his toadies who manage to wound Zatoichi before he escapes.

There's plenty of slaughter after the Boss sends the gang after Zatoichi. Of course they don't fare well and that includes the son. Zatoichi takes a terrible beating during the fights but he manages to leave town on his feet.

It was as good as any in the series and more violent than most. I'm still interested even though I've seen them all 2 or 3 times before. There are still good production values, script and actors. I liked having the movies so much, I recently bought the Criterion BluRay set, even though I had a set of the films on DVD. I definitely want to watch these again and more than once.

Zatoichi 17 Zatoichi Challenged

 

Back to Zatoichi again. I still have a third of the series to watch on the Criterion DVD set.  

Shintaro Katsu plays Zatoichi in the 17th film of the series, Zatoichi Challenged, which was the third film released in 1967. It was written by Ryozo Kasahara and directed by Kenji Misumi. It was Misumi's 4th Zatoichi film, out of 6, in the original series of 25. He directed the 1st of the series and he's one of my favorite of the directors. He seems to have more little moments of beauty in his films. He likes shooting through objects in the scene.

On the road Zatoichi stops at an Inn where he has to share a room with a woman and her small son. She dies in the night, after asking Zatoichi to bring her son to his father in a nearby town. Reluctantly he takes the child in tow.

The boy gets them a ride with a troupe of actors. They're going to play a festival as guests of a nice local Boss. A rival Boss, a much eviler man, has designs on the troupe but they don't want to have anything to do with him. The nicer Boss is murdered and the troupe moves on.

  

People tell Zatoichi that the boy's father hasn't been around for a year or so. We find out, before Zatoichi, that the man has been kidnapped by the evil Boss and forced to draw pictures to be used for naughty plates. The erotic subject matter and the use of gold finish is illegal in the late Edo Period. There's a special agent looking into the matter for the government and anyone involved will be killed so that the story ends with no loose lips left to embarrass the officials. It was much easier to cover up a story in the past, just kill everyone, go about your business.

There's plenty of sword work, people just can't leave Zatoichi alone. The son and father eventually get united. The kid doesn't want Zatoichi to go but the blind masseur is better off without that annoying brat. Another good story, well told, from a great bunch of film makers.

Zatoichi 16 Zatoichi The Outlaw

 

Zatoichi The Outlaw was the 2nd of 3 Zatoichi films that came out in 1967. It's the 16th film in the 26 film series from Daiei Studios. The series is now being produced by the Katsu Company. It's owned by the star of the series Shintaro Katsu. I'm watching the Criterion DVDs but have the Blu-ray's to look forward to, at least once I get a Blu-Ray player and watch the Harry Potter Blu-Ray collection first.

Zatoichi arrives in a town where a gambling house is kidnapping its poor, debt-ridden patrons. A rival establishment moves to pay those debts and free the peasants, but this second house’s seemingly altruistic boss is actually laying the groundwork for a ruthless money-grabbing scheme. The sixteenth Zatoichi film is the first effort from its star’s own Katsu Productions, and it is one of the series’ most daring, with its complex characters, subversive social themes, and moral outrage. - Criterion.

The movie lives up to it's description and I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. There's the usual downtrodden peasants and horrible bosses who need some punishment. There's gambling and swordplay when Zatoichi finds the house cheating. There's more fighting when the bosses get desperate and poor Zatoichi takes a bit of punishment in this one.

It's a great looking film and they've managed to keep that level up through the whole series. Sometimes the images are quite beautiful.

Of course some of the beauty ends in tragedy but for the most part things work out. Then Zatoichi is onto the next town where some more downtrodden folks need some help. 

Zatoichi 15 Zatoichi's Cane Sword

  

The 15th film in the Zatoichi series came out January 3 1967 with Shintaro Katsu as Zatoichi. Zatoichi's Cane Sword was written by Ryozo Kasahara and directed by Kimiyoshi Yasuda. The director had already directed Zatoichi On The Road and Adventures Of Zatoichi and Daimajin before this film. He'd direct three more of the Zatoichi series.

While on his usual wanderings Zatoichi gets knocked into a rice paddy by a cart with a pretty lady singing a song he'd stopped to hear. She offers him a ride and a spare kimono while his wet clothes dry. She drops him off in the town where she works at an inn. It's a Yakuza town with some creeps in charge. The henchmen extort money from the locals.

He finds a dice game to sit in on and wins some money. He leaves with it but the men in charge send some henchmen to get the money back. They attack him at a noodle shop and die for their impertinence. The diner next to him turns out to be the local blacksmith named Senzo. He invites Zatoichi to his place and they talk. The man turns out to be the apprentice of the man who made Zatoichi's cane sword.

Senzo tells Zatoichi that his cane sword has a crack in it, three inches from the handle, and the next time it gets used it will break. Zatoichi leaves only to encounter more men searching for him. He returns to the blacksmith's place and Senzo lets him stay the night. The next day he gets him a job at an inn as the masseuse.

 

Things go along for a while with more story coming out. Zatoichi learns that Senzo has been working on a special sword for the local Boss. Senzo asks Zatoichi for his cane sword, so he can keep it as a memento of his past mentor's work. Zatoichi leaves it with him.

Things move along in the story and we find out more of the dirty details of what the local Boss is planning. Zatoichi makes more trouble at the dice table and the Boss plans to use his skills for his own gain. We all know how poorly that will go over. Poor Senzo is killed by some unknown assassin. With his dying breath Senzo points to the closet. Zatoichi finds his Cane Sword in there and he takes it with him when he leaves.

Luckily for our blind masseur the blacksmith had changed Zatoichi's sword for the one he had been making for the Boss. Eventually things come to ahead and the baddies get some punishment for their misdeeds. I always enjoy the evil overlord being taken down a peg, and by peg I mean stabbed through the heart. Zatoichi leaves town for new adventures while the villagers reclaim their town.

The series continues to have good writing, acting and production values. The scenes are well shot and attractive to the eyes. The fights are good and there's plenty of sword play. The stories continue to be interesting even though there is a similarity to each other. And that's with me having seen most of the movies 3 or 4 times already. I'd heartedly recommend them to those that might like this kind of story.

Zatoichi 14 - Zatoichi's Pilgrimage

Zatoichi's Pilgrimage is the 14th film in the Zatoichi series and it was released August 13 1966. It's directed by Kazuo Ikehiro, written by Kaneto Shindo and Shintaro Katsu plays the blind masseur Zatoichi. Ikehiro had previously directed Zatoichi's Flashing Sword and Zatoichi and the Chest Of Gold. He does a great job here. The movie looks good and there's one interesting shot after another. He seems to favor long shots with tiny Zatoichi's in the distance. On the whole the series has a nice lot of directors as well as great casts, sets, props and locations. Criterion was right to pick this series for preservation.

Zatoichi is travelling to Shikoku to visit the 88 shrines on the island. Zatoichi is thinking he'd seek a bit of atonement for his violent life. On the way over he has a bit of a fight on the ship, showing up a brazen thief with some flashing sword work. He didn't kill the guy. It made me laugh.

That's Zatoichi kneeling before the shrine. He looks like an ant in a kimono. There are plenty of wonderful shots like this in the movie.

On the island he's attacked on that bridge. You can barely see him he's so far away. Zatoichi leaves the dead man floating in the river. Zatoichi follows the road with the dead man's horse following him. At the intersection in the picture below the horse asks Zatoichi to follow him. Zatoichi, ever obliging to the right person, or animal, follows the dead man's horse to a nearby town.

The horse leads him to a house with a young woman named Okichi. He tells her he's killed her brother and she attacks him with a sword. Zatoichi doesn't fight back and she cuts his shoulder.

She breaks down and nurses him back to health.

Okichi fills Zatoichi in on the greedy Boss who's trying to control the town. He doesn't want to get involved but the Boss turns out to be the one who hired Okichi's brother and he wants Zatoichi dead. Zatoichi will soon convince him that that was a bad idea.

There's a lot of film after that and lots of conversation and sword fighting. That's the Boss having a lesson in deportment. Zatoichi takes a beating but survives. He leaves on his quest for enlightenment. I thought it was another good one. It gets a lot of nice comments on the internet, people often say it's the best of the series so far. I wouldn't want to play favorites, I like the whole series, but it is very enjoyable. I'll be getting back to the series again in the future.  

Zatoichi 13 - Zatoichi's Vengeance

  

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.

Zatoichi 12 - Zatoichi And The Chess Expert

Zatoichi And The Chess Expert is the 12th of the series of 26. It came out December 24 1965 and it was directed by Kenji Misumi. He directed 6 of the series, more films than any of the other directors, except Kimiyoshi Yasuda, who also directed 6. As usual it stars Shintaro Katsu as the blind masseur Zatoichi.

Zatoichi is up to his old tricks while travelling on a small sailing ship. During a dice game he takes the cup and people bet against him. He's usually pretty good at the game but occasionally he tries a trick where he lets a set of dice fall outside the cup. People think they can take advantage of him because he's blind and doesn't know the dice are exposed. When he goes to lift the cup he "finds" them and pockets them. The betters lose, the dice under the cup are of opposite of what they bet on, and they get all noisy. He bitches them out for trying to cheat a blind man and takes their money. Sometimes it turns into a fight and his opponents die. This time he blinds the eye of one of them and cuts the other up a bit. On the boat he meets a samurai who plays chess.

In the town of Hakone the two men attack Zatoichi and a little girl gets hurt. Zatoichi takes care of the girl and her aunt for a while. The woman falls in love with him but he tells her he's dirt and he doesn't want her to get all muddy. There are some other men looking for the woman, and sadly for them, they find her. He meets a nice young and his servant while they are at the bath house. Soon after the servant is killed. We know who did it but Zatoichi is puzzled for a while.

Plenty of pure chance leads him to the killer and there's plenty of sword fighting and slaughtering on the way. There's a bit of melodrama with the lady and her niece, sad when they have to part. It has to be, Zatoichi isn't ready to settle down. It's a great looking movie, plenty of nice scenery and scenes. I liked the story and all the characters. It's always been one of my favorites but I like the whole series a good bit. There's a link in the title above that takes you to YouTube where they have the movie for free. It's worth looking at.

Zatoichi 11 - Zatoichi And The Doomed Man

Zatoichi And The Doomed Man came out September 18 1965 and stars Shintaro Katsu as Zatoichi the blind masseur. The movie is written by Shozaburo Asai and directed by Kazuo Mori. It's the 11th in the series of 26 films with the same actor.

The movie opens with Ichi getting 50 lashes for illegal gambling. He's tossed in a cell with another man who tells him he was jailed for something he didn't do. He wants Zatoichi to tell his boss and wife what happened so they can send help and save him. Zatoichi says he will. The next morning Ichi gets let out of jail and he's on his way.

On the road he changes his mind, thinking that when he gets involved with someone else's problems it only leads to trouble and death. Being that it's a Zatoichi film the trouble follows him. On the road Zatoichi meets a incompetent grifter who steals his identity to scam some money. It's all played pretty comically but Zatoichi feels he must follow the guy and set him right. The imposter is annoying and of course it turns out he went to the same town that Ichi wanted to avoid.

Zatoichi catches the imposter and probably saves his life. Zatoichi stirs things up a bit as he pokes around. The boss's plan unravels as he gets more and more nervous. He sends out men to take care of the masseur but they don't have much luck. There's plenty of fighting and slaughter for those that like that sort of thing. There's still some good amount of life and strife to keep those that like that sort of story involved.

Zatoichi sorts things out, leaving the corpses where they fall. I wondered who, in the reality of the movie, cleans up all the dead men? It's a lot of work and they had no place cold to put the bodies. The imposter gets arrested and Zatoichi laughs as they drag him out of the scene. There's a big fight, in the fog, on the beach amongst the village's fishing nets. At the end Zatoichi is the last man standing. He continues his journey. Even though the stories are similar I'm still enjoying them and that's after seeing some of them for the 4th or 5th time. You can see the movie on YouTube at the link in the title above. It's worth a look.