Zatôichi kesshô-tabi (1964)'s comments

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nbats

https://youtu.be/lZVue66Q6Ps

1 year 10 months ago

It's hard to watch Fight, Zatoichi, Fight and not recognize the inspiration for Lone Wolf and Cub - though I don't remember Lone Wolf ever breastfeeding Cub - but I can't imagine it wasn't. (The other Zatoichi-Lone Wolf connection, of course, is that Zatoichi star Shintaro Katsu was producer on the first three Lone Wolf and Cub films, and director Kenji Misumi directed three of them.) Speaking of Misumi, he made the first Zatoichi film, but here, despite some blazingly beautiful vistas, he's nevertheless working within the mold set by Ikehiro in the previous two movies. A strong one-off premise - Ichi trying to deliver a baby to its father after the mother takes a blade made for him - and interesting and violent action, as opposed to the more lyrical approach of the original Tale. The torch fight is especially good, and the whole narrative is essentially a series of pleasant "how's he going to get out of this one?" set pieces. And for all that, it's also a touching story, with Ichi getting a sense of what he's missing in his drifter's life. Imagining himself a father makes a nice change from the usual doomed romance.

3 years 9 months ago