rickrudge Reviews

Monsieur Spade (2024)

I'm looking forward to seeing more episodes.

[8/10 · 22 January 2024]

Monsieur Spade (2024)

Clive Owen plays an older Sam Spade in 1960's France. He had been hired by the late Bridget O'Shaughnessy (remember her from the "Maltese Falcon") to deliver her daughter, Teresa (Cara Bossom) to her supposed husband (?) Philippe Saint-Andre (Jonathan Zaccai). Philippe is a shady/dangerous character. The local Chief of Police, Patrice Michaud (Denis Menochet) isn't crazy about Philippe and Sam meeting.

The language and spacing has a definite Dashiell Hammett sound to it. Yeah, Clive Owen isn't a Bogie, but he comes pretty damn close. His sarcasm, bravery, and street-smarts serve him well. In the first episode, we don't even see him carry a gun but he can be a tough-guy when he needs to be.

My wife thought it was kind of slow and there is a bunch of subtitles. I've only seen the first episode, but I'm looking forward to seeing more episodes.

Baby Assassins (2021)

Also known as Beibi Warukyure

[7/10 · 25 January 2023]

Baby Assassins (2021)

This is a strange crime comedy featuring two teenage girls that are assassins. They are very good at what they do. Their bosses want them to share an apartment of their own and get part time jobs to look inconspicuous, but the problem is that they're sociopaths and they just can't put up with their part time bosses or customers without killing them.

The blonde Mahilo (Saori Izawa) and her co-assassin, Chisato (Akari Takaishi) have more misadventures just coping with the straight world than taking out Yakuza gangsters. They are barely able to handle each other, but somehow it works for them.

Both Mahilo and Chisato are reasonably likable and you find yourself rooting for them. The fight choreography is very good. The movie is humorous but not a laugh riot. I really enjoyed it.

Crazy Samurai Musashi (2020)

First-Person Samurai Movie?

[7/10 · 7 January 2023]

Crazy Samurai Musashi (2020)

The original title is "Kyo Samurai Musashi". On Tubi, this is called "Crazy Samurai: 400 vs 1". Tak Sakaguchi plays Miyamoto Musashi, Japan's most renowned swordsman, writer of "The Book of Five Rings". Musashi would travel around Japan challenging different schools of swordsmanship. Naturally, this Samurai would have many enemies seeking vengeance.

Like many of the old Samurai films, the samurai hero would fight against a challenging opponent, but eventually it got ridiculous and the hero would fight whole armies of swordsmen, all at once. However, the swordsmen would still come at him one at a time. This is no different in this film.

You would think that Musashi would be tripping over bloody corpses and severed heads The quick shots of blood is crated digitally and the wounded opponents politely stagger out of the scene. They needed to keep this PG-14. One thing about "Crazy Samurai" is that they gave the illusion of a single take which was kind of cool (ala Hitchcock's "Rope"), especially with a hand-held camera. It does have the effect of playing a first-person shooter game, following the protagonist to other scenes where other fighters are. Musashi even stops at various locations to drink, eat, and pick up newer swords. Was this taken from the PS5 game "Ghost of Tsushima", or perhaps from a Japanese game that we don't see here in the States.

This continuous shot is a nice gimmick but it might not be the kind of movie you need to see a second time.

Samurai from Nowhere (1964)

A nice hidden gem of a Samurai film

[8/10 · 14 October 2021]

Samurai From Nowhere aka Dojo Yaburi (1964)

This is standard Samurai movie fare for the 60's but of good quality. I was surprised to find this on YouTube and it's well worth you checking out. The story is well done and covers a lot of various characters. As in most Japanese movies there's a variety of humor, drama, and action.

Ihei Misawa (Isamu Nagato) is an impoverished Ronin with a heart of gold. He rescues a young woman Tae (Shima Iwashita) from being married off to a noble and is trying to find work to pay off boarder guards to get them to the next prefecture and safety. Both of them are living with an alias, hiding out from the authorities.

In addition to hard labor, Ihei is making money by taking on various dojos matches in the area. Fortunately, Ihei is a great swordsman and would like to eventually teach his sword techniques in a dojo of his own. Ihei even competed in a festival match with Gunjuro Ohba (Tetsuro Tanba) but they were too evenly matched. Unfortunately, what money he makes sometimes ends up helping other people where he's staying.

Kunoichi Hunters (2014)

A modern pinky ninja flick

[8/10 · 27 September 2021]

Kunoichi Hunters (2014)

Benimaru, (Asami Sugiura AKA Asami Miyajima) is a Kunoichi, a female ninja assassin. Her mission is to get close and kill a corrupt feudal lord, Masamori, and steal his secret scroll that contains directions to a hidden fortune. Now she's being hunted by the whole Yachiyo Domain, bounty hunters, thieves wanting the scroll, as well as her clan that holds her female lover, Kikyo (Rina Takeda) prisoner. The story line is pretty good. This movie is probably rated "R" for female nudity along the same lines as the old 1970's Pinky Samurai movies. There's also some reasonably good sword choreography.

Onibaba (1964)

Desperate people

[8/10 · 4 July 2021]

Onibaba (1964)

Onibaba means literally, Hag, but the alternative title for this film is Demon Woman.

Two impoverished women live by killing and stealing from samurai who wonder into the tall reeds in the wetlands where they live. They strip the bodies, drag, and then drop them into a deep hole. The mother (Nobuko Otowa) and her daughter in-law (Jitsuko Yoshimura) live in a tiny shack.

The mother's son Kichi and a neighbor, Hachi (Kei Sato) were taken by the military to fight in the prolonged wars between two fighting Shoguns, so their farming has suffered, but they are able to survive selling off weapons, armor, and clothing of the dead.

One night, Hachi returns to their hut and tells them that he and their son had escaped the fighting but had been attacked while trying to steal food from some local farmers and Kichi was killed. The mother suspects that low-life Hachi may have even killed her son.

Now the two lonely (and horny) women have been eyeing Hachi, the daughter in-law especially. Hachi and the young widow have been secretly seeing each other. Even Kichi's mother would like to have sex with Hachi too, but she's too old for Hachi's taste.

Angry and jealous, Kichi's mother tries to trick her daughter in-law into not seeing Hachi anymore with tales of demons. The mother wears a Hannya Noh demon mask. Ironically, the Hannya mask is an embodiment of a obsessive, angry, jealous, and heartbroken female demon.

Directed and written by Kaneto Shindo, who based this on a Buddhist parable, did an excellent job. It's well photographed too, with the tall reeds bumping into each other. The only thing that I didn't like was the ending, which left you in the lurch. Other than that, I love this movie.

Sex in the Comics (2012)

A lot to cover in less than an hour.

[8/10 · 3 July 2021]

Sex in Comix (2012)

Molly Crabapple hosts this short documentary about erotic comics and features many world-renowned comic artists.

Erotic comics have always been with us. In the 1950s, here in the U. S., there was a public outcry that comic books were corrupting our youth and the senate was contemplating putting a stop to publishing comic books all together. The comic publishers decided to self-regulate the content with the Comics Code Authority. In the late 60s the underground comix movement started publishing their work and selling through unconventional distributors, avoiding the need for the Comic Code Authority.

Although this film isn't rated it was able to show some of the erotic works of these international artists who had a lot to say about their work and societies attitudes. However, the one thing that I didn't appreciate was that the foreign cartoonists WERE NOT subtitle translated. I would have been interested in hearing how things were in Germany, Italy, France, and Japan, etc. It was nice to hear from Robert Crumb and his wife, Aline Kominsky-Crumb. Crumb talked about how his comix were an expression of some of his crazy ideas.

It wasn't just about pornography and sexually arousing or titillating comix, these comix also covered sexual politics, gay, feminist, and funny comix, just for fun.

Oedo gonin otoko (1951)

aka Five Men of Edo

[7/10 · 8 April 2021]

Oedo Go-nin Otoko (1951)

Mizuno (Utaemon Ichikawa) is the new Hatamoto, a vassal for the Tokugawa Shogunate. He and his men have been harassing the residents of Edo, especially some of the other Samurai, sometimes effecting the common folk that are in the way. Mizuno's crowd pushed their way into the Kabuki theater, disrupting the event.

Things were starting to get out of hand. They were even picking on Mizuki Ayame (Kawarasaki Gonzaburo) the favorite Kabuki actor, until Banzu-in Chobei (Tsumasaburo Bando) got into the middle of it. Chobei, although not a full Samurai is designated as the Protector of the 808 towns of Edo. He's sort of a protector of the common folk. Mizuno was not happy to be told off by a commoner.

Ganpacho (Teji Takahashi) is a young ronin taken in by Chobei. He had protected Chobei from some thieves and is now tutoring Chobei's young son.

Mizuno is powerful, but doesn't have much money. He's in love with his servant girl, but is forced to try to marry a wealthy courtesan, Matsudaira Izu-no-kami (Kogiku Hanayagi), but she is in love with Ganpacho of all people. When Mizuno's men find out about this there is a big fight out in the streets where a citizen is accidentally killed.

Chobei is angry at the violence that Ganpacho had caused and had him run and hide at a temple. Mizuno is forced to sell a set of his valuable "western" plates, but the servant girl accidentally broke one of the plates, which caused angry Mizuno to kill her. Ganpacho, in his need for vengeance met with the Kabuki owner, screen writer, and the actor, Mizuki with the idea of a dramatic story of a Samurai killing a young girl over a broken plate. The temptation of a popular plot and a juicy part was too good to pass up.

You know that this isn't going to go well for everyone.

Robin Hood of Monterey (1947)

I love Gilbert Roland's Cisco Kid

[7/10 · 1 April 2021]

Robin Hood of Monterey (1947)

I'm aging myself here, being a big fan of the Cisco Kid TV series with Duncan Renaldo as the "gentleman of the old west" and his side-kick, Pancho played by lovable Leo Carrillo. This film isn't as sanitized as the 1950s TV show.

Gilbert Roland's version is closer to the lovable rogue that O. Henry had written about in "The Caballero's Way", and even that early talky western "In Old Arizona" (1928). This one has Chris-Pin Martin as Pancho, his loyal side-kick. Gilbert's character will actually speak Spanish or has an authentic accent. He isn't above smoking, drinking, robbery and stealing kisses from pretty señoritas.

The story line is pretty light-weight and light-hearted, but quite enjoyable.

Gilbert Roland's Cisco Kid was so good that he made a sequel, "King of the Bandits" (1947), which is supposedly just as good. As of this writing, "Robin Hood of Monterey" is on Tubi and "King of the Bandits" is on YouTube.

La muerte de un gallero (1977)

The Death of a (cockfighting enthusiast)

[7/10 · 16 March 2021]

La Muerte De Un Gallero (1977) aka The Death of a Gallero (cockfighting enthusiast)

Being a gringo, I'm not familiar with the movie star and singer Antonio Aguilar except that he's very popular. I have seen a huge assortments of movie posters that prominently featured him, usually with a huge-brimmed sombrero. Even when the Spanish language TV channels broadcasting his movies, I couldn't really get an idea what this star was like.

Fortunately I was able to view this film on Tubi TV and it had English subtitles.

The story is about Lazaro (Antonio Aguilar), who is part of a crooked man's entourage. He's also a Gallero, who raises fighting cocks. The shady character is Luis Macarena, who cheats every chance he gets. Not a subtle villain in this movie. He takes advantage of a down-on-his-luck, old Gallero, Mr. Nicanor, and offers him a loan to bet on his fighting cock, while putting up his house and everything inside (the furnishings) as collateral. Luis sneak some razor spurs on his rooster to win in the cockfight. The old man has a cardiac arrest and soon dies.

Lazaro is a fun-loving bachelor, but has a special soft spot for the dead old man daughter, Rosalinda Nicanor (Elsa Aguirre). Lazaro is wild with the women. However, he is very respectful with Rosalinda and will attack anyone who defames her.

Rosalinda is shocked to find that her father is dying and he literally bet the farm. Luis is suggesting that she could stay on if she married him, to the amazement of Lazaro.

American Biker (2015)

A documentary for motorcyclists.

[4/10 · 16 February 2021]

American Biker (2015)

This one hour documentary talks about the love of motorcycles and motorcycle riding. The film doesn't go the route (and extent) of Bruce Brown's "On Any Sunday" franchise, that deals with all of the different motorcycle sports (racing, hill-climbing, etc.). Personally, Bryan H. Caroll's "Why We Ride" (2013) is a far superior documentary about the passion riders have with motorcycle riding in general, but "American Biker" is a smaller, but interesting film.

It mostly deals with an impromptu motorcycle club and their annual group rides but also interviews motorcycle owners, dealers, repairmen, and home modification hobbyists. The documentary also covers the various aspects and attitudes of motorcyclists about helmet laws, clubs, gangs, group rides, benefits etc. This is a movie for and about motorcycles and the people who love them. If you're one of those, this movie will be enjoyable to you.

Hard Romanticker (2011)

Typical Yakuza movie with teen idols

[5/10 · 5 February 2021]

Hard Romanticker (2011)

I'm not a good judge of Yakuza movies. They're always so violent and tragic because crime doesn't pay, of course, but it seems like the characters are always so doomed. This one is very typical only it dealing with younger guys wanting to become full-fledged gangsters. You have the young motorcycle gangsters (Bosozoku), drug dealers, knuckle busters, want-to-be pimps, etc.

The protagonist Gu (Shota Matsuda, with died blond hair) is willing to do anything it takes to make it as a Yakuza. He tries to do the honorable thing, but is sold out by his bosses, harassed by the cops and beat up by the competition.

Yakuza Apocalypse (2015)

A Vampire/Yakuza hybrid!

[8/10 · 4 October 2020]

Yakuza Apocalypse (2015)

Leave it to the Japanese under the direction of Takashi Miike to come up with a hybrid of a Yakuza and a vampire movie, but here you are. It is a strange movie with a weird frogman, a guy with a bird beak, and a renaissance missionary Japanese guy mumbling in English and shooting people with a 2-stroke motor scooter muffler.

Akira Kageyama (Hayato Ichihara) is a young Yakuza shadowing his Yakuza boss and mentor Kamiura (Riri Furanki), who orders his crew to not harm the neighborhood civilians who are all going through rough financial times. The Yakuza Boss is a vampire and embibes his blood from a local bar. As with most Yakuza movies there's some competing Yakuza as well as his own crew who are not following those rule.

A young girl, Kyoko (Riko Narumi) is brutally raped and beaten by some Yakuza thugs and Kageyama has sort of fallen for her. There's also a wimpy young man, Masaru (Makoto Sakaguchi) who just wants to commit suicide. There's a ton of other characters.

The acting is really pretty good compared to what most Hollywood vampire movies have done.

Chanbara Beauty: The Movie - Vortex (2009 Video)

A "B" (well maybe more of a "C") Movie

[6/10 · 26 September 2020]

Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad (2009) (aka: Oneechanbara the Movie - Vortex)

It's simply a Japanese Zombie picture with a lot of family drama thrown in, but is based on an Xbox and Playstation game. It has okay dubbing for such a low budget horror flick. It's probably rated R for flashing a little breast and a lot of blood.

Aya Imichi (Eri Otoguro) is the sword wielding, cowboy hat and bikini wearing protagonist that is out to get her sister, Saki (Nao Takamori). Aya is traveling with her heavyset sidekick, Katsuji (Tomohiro Waki), who is sort of the comic relief and voice of reason in a crazy zombie environment. In their travels they meet Reiko (Manami Hashimoto), a leather-clad gun slinger, who never seems to need to reload.

Their destination is the mad scientist, Dr. Sugita's (Taro Suwa) lair where he has tried to regenerate life, but seems to always come up with creating zombies. Naturally, there's lots of fighting and sword action that you would expect.

Accident Man (2018)

An excellent actioner

[8/10 · 3 August 2020]

I've never read the comics, but I have really enjoyed watching the film adaptation of "Accident Man". It's a quick-moving actioner with some unknown actors (except for David Paymer the Milton character) at least to this American viewer.

It has sort of a Guy Richie feel to it dealing with criminal types being the protagonist. Scott Adkins plays Mike Fallon who's also known as the Accident Man. He's part of an organized assassination group. Mike is called Accident Man because his specialty is making his hits look like accidents.

The movie is filled with various characters as well as excellent fight choreography. It even has a bit of humor to it. It's well worth watching.

Hashiriya ZERO 1 & 2 Street densetsu (2009)

(Street Racing ZERO 1 Street Legand)

[8/10 · 3 July 2020]

Hashiriya ZERO 1 Street densetsu (2009) (Street Racing ZERO 1 Street Legand)

On TubiTV, this movie is called "Midnight Drift". It's a teenage street racing movie; based on the Playstation game, "Tokyo Xtreme Racer Zero". During the movie, they show a video game style map of the racing route. Other than this, the movie is pretty low tech, without the crazy computerized car crashes that you'd expect from "The Fast and the Furious" franchise. The story was pretty predictable, but it was an enjoyable movie and not a total waste of your time.

The movie starts out with a D&SC car race up in the hills. Riyiuchi is the top racer with the prestigious ZERO title. His racing fans are all there, including his fiancé, Reiko (Akina Aoshima), his sister, Aoi (Anri Sugihara) and his mechanic, Masa Tanabe (Shingo Nakagawa). There's also a young up-and-coming racer-wannabe, Kazuki (Akira Nagata) who wants to take on the ZERO.

Riyiuchi is able to see some driving talent in Kazuki, but he needs more training to take him on. I wasn't able to see the second in this series.

Go Grandriders (2012)

Go Go Go Grandriders!!!

[8/10 · 26 June 2020]

Go Grandriders (2012)

This movie is about an organized group of 17 octogenarians who are riding motor scooters and small motorcycles around the edge of the island of Taiwan (about 1,178 kilometers/ about 732 miles). Despite the long ride and making several stops, there are some hazards along the way. Many of them suffer from the regular ailments of the elderly, including cancer, but that's not stopping them from going on this ride.

As a motor scooter rider in my mid-sixties, I can really relate to the enjoyment, challenges and camaraderie of going on a large group ride. The movie shows some of the beautiful sights of Taiwan and we get a chance to learn about these people.

Brittown (2008)

The motorcycle lifestyle

[9/10 · 15 June 2020]

Brittown (2008)

This documentary has been compared with "On Any Sunday" but it sort of works on it's own. If you watch the TV channel, Motortrend, you see shows about shops fixing cars all the time. Well, this is very similar dealing with Jeff "Meatball" Tulinius and his motorcycle shop, Hell on Wheels in Anaheim, California. He and his friends work on old motorcycles, rebuilding them.

Meatball loves Triumphs (thus the name Brittown) and is rebuilding a 1971 Bonneville 650. In between, he's out riding and racing with his buddies and playing music at his local hang-out. The photography is fantastic and the soundtrack is also nice with various styles of music.

If you like motorcycles and racing, you're going to love this movie.

The Assassin (2015)

"The Assassin" is kind of misleading, but an alright film

[7/10 · 14 June 2020]

The Assassin (2015)

This is the first Taiwanese movie that I've ever seen, although it was also filmed in mainland (PRC) China and Japan. It wasn't as flashy or action-packed as some of the Hong Kong, or mainland Chinese movies.

Normally the bubbly film star Shu Qi is playing a subdued assassin Nie Yinniang. She hardly has more than a few lines of dialog. Her character is rather sad too. Most of the other characters are featured more prominently, but even they are more concerned with being Yinniang's next victim.

The Flower and the Sword (1964)

The Flower and the Sword (1964)

[9/10 · 1 May 2020]

Otoko no Monsho: Hana to Nagadosu AKA The Flower and the Sword (1964)

This is one of a series of Man's Mom: Yakuza pictures with Yukiko Todoroki, Masako Izumi and the handsome Takahashi Hideki. This film is directed by Eisuke Takizawa. Unlike the more modern urban Yakuza movies, this has more of a samurai look to it. As most Japanese movies, there's some comedy, drama and even a few singing numbers.

Ryuji (Takahashi Hideki) is a tattooed Yakuza trying to go legit, and always trying to do the right thing by everyone. His mother Ladie Murata (Yukiko Todoroki) is a Yakuza boss. Ryuji has been hired to build a bridge through a village requiring some of the villagers to relocate. A competing yakuza boss and his gang is harassing the villagers to stay put, trying to force the bridge to be built outside of the village.

Born Under Crossed Stars (1965)

Born Under Crossed Stars (1965)

[10/10 · 30 April 2020]

Born Under Crossed Stars (1965)

This is a nice movie, part comedy and part teenage, coming of age drama directed by Seijun Suzuki. I don't believe that it's available on DVD, but it is on YouTube and Tubi with English subtitles.

A young student who works as a milk man, Jukichi Suzuki (Ken Yamauchi) reacts to injustice where ever he finds it. He's incensed when his school mate Etsuko Mishima (Michi Azuma) is being punished for breaking the school rules for walking with a girl who ends up being his cousin, a studious Suzuko Mishima (Masako Izumi) who reads the same Tolstoy's books as Jukichi.

Later, he finds Yoshio kissing a girl behind a sacred shrine during a festival. He tells Yoshio that he'll no longer deliver milk to such a worm and warns the girl, Taneko Yamaga (Yumiko Nogawa) that a boy like him is just toying with her and would ruin her life. That chivalry affects Taneko and she pursues Jukichi.

Jukichi eventually succumbs to Taneko's feminine whiles but still feels more compatible with Suzuko. Jukichi's father is a habitual gambler and his financial problems further complicates Jukichi's life.

Night Owls (I) (2015)

Night Owls (2015)

[6/10 · 17 December 2019]

This is a nice little movie about two people who are both involved with hero worship.

Kevin (Adam Pally) feels so lucky to be picked up by a beautiful young woman, Madeline (Rosa Salazar) at a party. She drives him to a big house where they continue drinking and make love. Afterwards, Kevin wakes up to an empty bed, gets up, and cleans the mess they made in the kitchen. Then he realizes that they were in the house of his boss, the head coach, Will Campbell (Peter Krause). He quickly calls his immediate supervisor, Peter (Rob Huebel) and explains the situation.

Peter explains that the girl is Will's jilted mistress, and on top of that, she has emptied a bottle of sleeping pills. Kevin makes her vomit and spends the rest of the evening keeping her awake. Naturally, they get to know each other better, and they also both get to learn a little more about their selves.

Rosa Salazar is so beautiful. I can't wait to see more movies with her in them.

In Old Arizona (1928)

In Old Arizona shows off early sound

[5/10 · 4 February 2019]

In Old Arizona (1928)

This movie is the first full-length talky western and directors, Irving Cummings and Raoul Walsh did an excellent job showing the audience what new layers sound can add to a film. Ham & eggs sizzling in the pan, the clomping of the horse hooves, the music and singing, and of course people's accents were all new and wonderful then. Although Warner Baxter sounded more like Bela Lugosi than a Mexican.

This was only the second movie that introduced us to the Cisco Kid and was the closest adaptation to O. Henry's short story, The Caballero's Way. There was a silent version in 1914. In this movie, he was more of a lovable rogue than the Gentleman of the Old West that Duncan Renaldo portrayed on television and there is no Pancho (Leo Carrillo) side-kick either.

The Cisco Kid (Warner Baxter) is a thief and ruthless killer but holds a special soft spot for his girl, Tonia Maria (Dorothy Burgess) who, well, is kind of a gold-digging slut. The story opens with Cisco robbing a stage coach of it's gold box. He takes a locket from a passenger, but pays her in gold for it. The locket is given to Tonia in one of his visits.

The local Army is tired of this character running around their territory and the Commanding Officer assigns Sergeant Mickey Dunn to bring him in, dead or alive. Mickey is a New York player who is as charismatic as Cisco and maybe as good a shot. When Mickey finds that Tonia is Cisco's girl, they play right into each other's hands. Plus, the $5,000 reward is very appealing to Tonia. Cisco might have met his match this time.

Shabake (2007 TV Movie)

A boy seeing spirits is trying to solve a murder

[26 June 2018]

Shabake (2007)

A sickly young teen, Ichitaro (Yuya Tegoshi) is able to see and interrelate with Shinto-style Kami spirits. Some of them take human form, like Shirasawa and Inubami who are like his body guards. An interesting Kabuki wallpaper character Byobu Nozoki (Miyasako Hiroyuki) comes in and out of a screen. There are other spirits that are in unusual makeup and there's great special effects.

Ichitaro doesn't tell his Father, Fuji Hyoue (Kishibe Ittoku) and Mother Fuji Bee (Miki Maya) about his abilities. The parents too have some secrets of their own that don't come out until later in the movie.

In addition, Ichitaro has seen a man get killed and it seems that other attacks seem to be involved with him.

This is a made-for-TV (Fuji TV) movie for all Japanese ages. I'm not sure what the title translates to. Sha bake means Shabby, but that doesn't have anything to do with this story. The DVD comes with English, Chinese, and Malaysian subtitles. Although the movie is well-made, the English translation is pretty bad (enough to reduce the stars in my rating) but it's good enough to keep up with the story.

The Betrayal (1966)

Excellent Chambara Faire

[7/10 · 14 November 2017]

The Betrayal (1966)

aka Daisatsujin orochi

A big braggart Samurai (Rytaro Gomi) barges into Master Isaka Yaichiro's dojo to challenge the Sensei, who wasn't there. Two students from the dojo go after this guy, bushwack and mortally wound him but he escapes to tell of the attack before he dies.

This neighboring gang comes back to the dojo and wants satisfaction. No one claimed to be the attacker.

Raizo Ichikawa, who is famous for his Sleepy Eyes of Death franchise, plays Takuma Kamuse , a young, talented, yet naive Samurai. He is engaged to Namie Katagiri (Kauru Yachigusa). Her father finds out that his nephew, Jurota Makabe (Ichiro Makatani) were the ones who killed the Samurai.

Part of this was a sense of Samurai loyalty, another part was not wanting to refuse his fiance's Father pleading for Takuma to run away for a year, making him seem like the prime suspect to the murder. If, after a year, this mess isn't cleared up, the father would commit hari kari.

On the run, Tacuma befriends a sarcastic crook, Funajiro (Fujioka Takuya) who follows him around and robs him every chance he gets. Poor Takuma is also betrayed by Jurota, and the father, Katagiri who dies before the year is up, forcing Takuma to be chased by the law, the angry gang, (who wants vengeance) and his own dojo.

In a fight with his dojo's sensei Takuma falls off a cliff. He is nursed back to health by a beautiful waitress, Shino (Shisho Fujimura) who falls in love with him, but Takuma is still in love with his Namie, but has given up all hope. Later, working for a Yakuza, Takuma sees Namie working in a brothel.

This is a very good movie except for the inevitable sword fight finale between Takuma and several armies of Samurai. By the late nineteen-sixties, the giant fight scene against countless Samurai has become clichéd, but at the time, it was very impressive.