Shin Zatôichi: Yabure! Tôjin-ken (1971)'s comments

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allisoncm

aka Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman

7 years 10 months ago

Ichi's second crossover was Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman, and I thought, okay, the One-Armed Swordsman is going to be a "type", possibly a "rip-off" of what Hong Kong cinema was doing, so I was surprised and enthusiastic to see Jimmy Wang Yu, THE One-Armed Swordsman actually in this flick! Basically, the Chinese opera is in town, and so is Wang Kang (originally, Fang Kang) and he and Ichi become uneasy allies (and uneasy only because they don't speak the same language which leads to tragic misunderstandings). In terms of action, this is the craziest yet, with lots of violent gags and Ichi in top form, while the Swordsman is flying around wuxia style. I'm not always sure they know how to shoot Chinese martial arts, and Wang Kang is treated like Ichi, visually, but the Japanese have a better handle on cinematography than the Shaw Brothers usually did, so this is a lavish-looking finale for an iconic Shaw's character (I say finale, because the franchise then went with another actor as the NEW One-Armed Swordsman). There is apparently a Chinese print of this film that gives Jimmy Wang Yu more attention and a more triumphant ending, but it seems to be lost to the ages.

3 years 8 months ago