ACF 498: Zatoichi On The Road at Japan Society NY on March 20th at 5:00 PM

Zatoichi On The Road: Fighting Journey / Zatoichi kenka-tabi
Directed by Kimiyoshi Yasuda
Starring Shintaro Katsu, Reiko Fujiwara, and Shiho Fujimura
Japan, 1963, color, 87 min.

Japan Society's Double-Edged Sword series of chambara films starring Shintaro Katsu and Raizo Ichikawa continues this Saturday afternoon, March 20th, 2010 at 5:00 with this, the fifth, entry in the Zatoichi series.

Also known as Zatoichi and the Scoundrels, this film has the blind masseur fulfilling his promise to a dying man that he will get the young and lovely O-Mitsu back to her family. Unfortunately, her father is wealthy, and rival groups seek to take her from Zatoichi in the expectation of being amply regarded for returning her.

I've now watched a fair number of films in the series. For me this one is among the best. Every film pretty much has the same components: Zatoichi goes somewhere, encounters at least one lovely female, has a run-in with at least one gang, and kills a lot of bad guys. What enabled the series to be so successful, and to still be so wonderful to watch years later, are the variations in the stories and their execution. Zatoichi On The Road does a superb job of getting all the ingredients right; it's a must see.

Zatoichi On The Road, and all other screenings in the Double Edged Sword series, will be at Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street (between 1st and 2nd Avenues), New York, NY 10017.

For the Japan Society webpage on Zatoichi On The Road, which includes a link to buy tickets online, click here.

Those of you not in New York, or who just can't make it to the screening, are not out of luck. Zatoichi On The Road, like other titles in the series, is available on DVD from Home Vision Entertainment. I do seem to recall reading, however, that HVE's rights to the first six titles in the series have expired, or soon will. So if you want to add the title to your collection, you might want to do so right away.

And here's a heads-up on another film in the Double Edged Sword series:

Scar Yosaburo, starring Raizo Ichikawa, also will be shown on Saturday, at 7:00 PM. Note that this is not a double-feature. There are separate admission charges for each film. I'll have some info about Scar Yosaburo in tomorrow's post.

ACF 454: Zatoichi the Fugitive

Zatoichi the Fugitive / Zatoichi kyojo-tabe

Directed by Tokuzo Tanaka

Japan, 1963, 86 min

Japan Society's chambara (swordplay) film series The Double-Edged Sword: The Chambara Films of Shintaro Katsu & Raizo Ichikawa continues this Friday, January 22nd, 2010 at 7:30 pm with this film, the fourth entry in the long-running series about the blind masseur and gambler. Katsu, who also starred in the shorter Hanzo the Razor series, reprises his role as Zatoichi.

A gang has put a bounty on his head, and Zatoichi finds he must confront not only a slew of yakuza thugs after the bounty, but also a viscious ronin (masterless samurai). Meanwhile Zatoichi must also deal with the unexpected presence of a former love, who's now living with the samurai, and with the complicated love of a sweet girl and the conflicted young heir to the gang.

Zatoichi the Fugitive is another solid entry in the series. 3.5 out of 4 ACF stars (highly recommended).

Japan Society is located at 333 E. 47th Street, between 1st & 2nd avenues, New York, NY 10017.

For more information about the screening or to buy tickets, click here. Be advised that the first film shown in the series, Samurai Vendetta, was sold out. So you may do well to act quickly on this, the second film to be shown.

And for those of you not in New York, or just unable to make the screening (which you should if at all possible), Zatoichi the Fugitive is available on a fine DVD from Home Vision Entertainment (HVE).