ZATOICHI #20
Directed by Kihachi Okamoto • 1970 • Japan
After a two-year absence from screens, the blind swordsman returns in one of his best adventures. Zatoichi treks to a village that has always been a favorite spot of his, only to discover that it’s become a living hell, plagued by feuding father and son yakuza as well as the younger crime boss’s bodyguard, Toshiro Mifune’s scruffy, smart-mouthed, cash-hungry Yojimbo of legend. This is the sole ZATOICHI effort from celebrated director Kihachi Okamoto, who supplies satirical vision and stylistic panache worthy of the two iconic characters at the film’s center.
Up Next in Samurai
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The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail
Directed by Akira Kurosawa • 1945 • Japan
The fourth film from Akira Kurosawa is based on a legendary twelfth-century incident in which the lord Yoshitsune and a group of samurai retainers dressed as monks in order to pass through a dangerous enemy checkpoint. The story was dramatized for centur...
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New Tale of Zatoichi
ZATOICHI #3
Directed by Tokuzo Tanaka • 1963 • JapanZatoichi is back, and in color! Hoping to leave violence behind, the blind masseur wanders to a village, where he meets an old friend fallen on hard times. With a corrupt clan leader squeezing citizens dry and the brother of a past nemesis out...
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THE 47 RONIN: Part 1
Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi • 1941 • Japan
47 samurai avenge the death of their lord in Kenji Mizoguchi's take on the famous historical event.
