Zatôichi to Yôjinbô (1970)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Kihachi Okamoto

Writers:

Kihachi Okamoto (writer)
Kan Shimosawa (characters)

Release Date:

15 January 1970 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama | Action | Adventure

Plot:

With a price on his head, Ichi seeks tranquillity in a favorite village. Since his last visit, it has fallen prey to Boss Masagoro...

Plot Keywords:

Sword | Martial Arts | Katana Sword | Sword Fight | Zatoichi

Cast

Shintarô Katsu	...	Zatoichi
Ayako Wakao	...	Umeno
Osamu Takizawa	...	Yasuke Eboshiya
Masakane Yonekura	...	Boss Masagoro (as Sakatoshi Masakane)
Shin Kishida	...	Kuzuryu
Kanjuro Arashi	...	Hyoroku
Toshiyuki Hosokawa	...	Sanaemon Goto
Shigeru Kôyama	...	Jinzaburo Wakiya (as Shigeru Kamiyama)
Minoru Terada
Hideo Sunazuka
Daigo Kusano
Fujio Tokita		(as Fujio Tsuneda)
Gen Kimura
Hiroshi Tanaka
Hiroto Kimura

Also Known As:

Zatôichi 20 (Japan) (informal title)
Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo (USA)
Zatoichi vs. Yojimbo

Runtime:

79 min | USA:115 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Daieicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:M (TV rating) | Australia:PG (DVD rating) | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M

Company:

Katsu Production Co. Ltd.

Trivia:

Current prints have replaced the original Toho logo with the Daiei logo.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Zatôichi abare-himatsuri (1970)

1st of two films that unite Katsu and Mifune - worth the watch

It has taken several viewings of this film to finally come around and enjoy it (for the most part). Toho Studios has now taken over the Zatoichi franchise and this means a larger budget production. Of course Mifune and Katsu together were guaranteed to draw a lot of attention when the film was released in 1970.

Zatoichi is tired of killing and remembers a beautiful, peaceful village up in the mountains. Then he's off to the village to enjoy the plum blossoms and the sound of a babbling brook. Or maybe not! The village is not the same and several bad characters plot to make themselves rich at the expense of the locals (and the Japanese Treasury in this case).

The repertoire between Zatoichi and the Yojimbo (Sasa) is entertaining and funny. Sasa tells Zatoichi to act more like a criminal, and Zatoichi, ever ready to please, pounds down a bottle of sake. The two call each other idiot and freak. At first these are hateful terms, but over the course of the film, they come to respect one another, and continue to use the same names for each other.

This is the longest film in the Zatoichi series (116 minutes) and it needn't be. The first hour works well, but the next 30 minutes or so sees the story meandering along with the introduction of another government spy (turned bad) that adds nothing to the main story.

The sword work in this film is only good, not great. The final confrontation between Zatoichi and Sasa is short and ends as one could predict. This film could have really been a gem if the film concentrated on the development of Zatoichi and Sasa's relationship. The two characters are entertaining and the film will please most chambara aficionados.