Zatoichi meets the one-armed swordsman
A Japanese - Hong Kong co-production that sees the one-armed swordsman head to Japan. He's soon being hunted by the authorities after seeing Samurai cut down an unarmed peasant family. Zatoichi attempts to help the stranger but ultimately due to a betrayal they must face of as enemies.
As one would expect this one is a spectacular action piece that cashes in on the growing popularity of Hong Kong action cinema. The HK style works well in a japanese Chanbara film and the end result is highly entertaining.
Zatoichi at large
Z finds a dying pregnant woman in a field and helps her give birth. Tasked with delivering the child to its father he heads into town to find yet more trouble. Firstly the elder son believes that Z killed his mother and stole the baby, secondly a new and thoroughly evil Yakuza boss is in town and intent on taking over and finally there is a huge bloody bounty on his head. Not a surprise given he's spent the previous 22 films killing an awful lot of people.
Ultimately it all ends in bloodshed but not before running our hero through the mill including a quite nasty torture scene. Its not as bleak as Yojimbo and has some genuinely funny moments including a Samurai battle re-enactment with monkeys in costume!
Zatoichi in desperation
Directed by its star Shintaro Katsu, Zatoichi in desperation comes a close second in the bleak stakes. Here Zatoichi must return a musical instrument to the daughter of a woman who accidentally plunged to her death off a dangerous bridge. Heading into town he discovers that the girl is a whore. The whole town has given itself over to vice, the peasants are poor and starving and the few remaining honest people are eaking out an existence on the beach as fishermen along with the handicapped outcasts. The locals are routinely tormented by the local Yakuza who burn their fishing boats and in one WAAYY out there scene jerk off a mentally handicapped man before savagely beating him for 'squirting' on them. Naturally Z is unimpressed with the state of affairs. Unfortunately he's also developed a destructive relationship with the whore he came to deliver the instrument to and this provides a chink to his armour that the local boss can exploit culminating in a nasty scene where Z's hands are ruined by a harpoon. Z muast ultimately strap his sword to his arm for a final bloody battle.
Zatoichi in desperation is a terrific little film, Katsu directs things well and the fights are great. It has some odd moments that feel a little out of place but its one of the better entries in the series. It's also worth mentioning that the last few of these films include more scenes of arterial spray that would be seen in a lot of 70's action pieces from Japan.
Zatoichi's conspiracy
This final entry in the series see's Z head home to the woman who raised him. On the way he encounters an old friend who has become a prominent merchant. His old friend seems embarrassed by Z and denies any knowledge of the past. Z also befriends a group of young punks who end up following him around. Back home he discovers the harvest has failed and the magistrate is imposing brutal fines on the local community. Z's old friend has come to town to pay off the fine, only for the locals to discover too late that this was all a ruse to gain control over the local quarry after discovering hidden values to the stones mined from it.
Incensed by the corruption, Z goes to war with the magistrate, the Yakuza and his old friend in order to save the village culminating in one of the bloodiest battles of the series.
Well finally done & dusted. Time for more Xmas flicks!
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