Mallus said:
The blind dice-playing masseuse swordsman!?
I caught a bunch of these on IFC last year and loved them. Which have you seen/do you recommend?
"Hello criminal boss/corrupt city official. Can I give you a massage?"
[Boss looks miffed. Henchman creep up and begin to draw swords.]
[Blind swordsman draws cane/sword w/blinding speed and knocks off anywhere between 3 and 30 henchmen...]
Probably the most consistantly entertaining film series ever. And here I was worried that no one would recognize the name.
Zatoichi, The Fugitive (not to be confused with Zatoichi And The Fugitives). Out of all the ones I've seen, this is my favorite. It has what has got to be one of the best swordfights commited to film.
It aired on IFC as Zatoichi, Crazy Journey. And, no, I have no idea where that title came from.
Zatoichi and the Chest Of Gold.
Zatoichi's Cane Sword.
Another great one has Ichi trying to return a boy to his artist father who's been forced to make pornagraphic prints and plates for the yakuza. Ichi has to fight a government agent who wants to execute the artist. I can't think of the title of this one, but it's aired on IFC.
Zatoichi's Pilgrimage (aka Blind Man's Pilgrimage). A great film, but the set up isn't really followed through. Ichi promises to visit 88 shrines to pray for each man he's killed. He only makes it to one when he gets distracted by bandits harrassing villagers. Not shown on IFC.
Zatoichi's Fire Festival. Great movie in which Ichi meets a blind yakuza lord. Not on IFC.
Zatoichi Meets His Equal. Ichi fights Jimmy Wang Yu's One-Armed Swordsman in a battle to the death. Literally! Unlike other "heroes meet and fight" movies, this one ends with one dead. Ironicaly, all this trouble is due to their inabillity to speak each other's language. One of the best, but not shown on IFC.
Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo is interesting, but not as good as it could have been. It follows Yojimbo and Sanjuro plots too closely. Not on IFC.
I've seen all the ones that have aired on IFC, as well. I can't list them all because I think I've hijacked this thread enough as it is (not to mention that I can't think of all the titles).
Anyway, all the movies are set to be released on dvd (some already have). I'm not sure about Meets His Equal, though, since it was a co-production with a Hong Kong studio.
Avoid the Killer Priest (aka Wicked Priest) films which starred Shintaro Katsu's brother. I can't think of his name, but he played Lone Wolf.
These films are a desperate attempt to recreate Zatoichi with a gambling, womanizing buddhist priest. There were six made, but three are lost. I have copies of the 3 surving ones, but could only make it through one of them. Maybe the other two are good, but I doubt it.
It does have one good thing going for it. It's set during the early 20th century during the decline of the samurai caste.
I suppose I'll eventually watch the other two some day.
Katsu also starred in a series of films as Hanzo The Razor (or Blade depending on the print). Boy, is this different from his nice guy Ichi! Hanzo is a rapist and pretty blood-thirsty and he's the good guy (not to mention the most likeable character in all the films if you can believe that)!
Pretty good black comedy in some parts, but defintely a hard "R" rating (borderline X really) due to some graphic sex scenes.
