Zatoichi the Outlaw (1967)

Not rated, but this one feels way more R-Rated than its predecessors.  Besides just upping the gore, there's a fair bit of dismemberment of all kinds in this movie.  It's almost as if you swing a sharp sword, body parts are going to come flying off.  Add to that a bit of swearing, a suicide, and sexual harassment, you have a movie that I now feel uncomfortable with my kids walking in on.  But since this is a Japanese movie from 1967, it's still considered "Unrated."

DIRECTOR: Satsuo Yamamoto

I almost have to write about this immediately after watching this.  My new method is to watch the whole Blu-ray full of Zatoichi movies before moving onto something else.  That means that they're probably going to bleed together (no pun intended) if I don't try to just word vomit my thoughts on the movie immediately.  If I ever have all of the Zatoichi movie blogs in one bingable place on my Collections Page, you'll see the common complaint that these movies are ultimately the same movie over and over again.  

I suppose that's true about Zatoichi the Outlaw as well.  The place that I'm going to give  it a little bit of difference comes from the fact that this movie is a little bit more R-rated than things we've seen in the past.  It never reaches levels of movies like Lone Wolf and Cub, but it definitely seems to be entering a new era of how hardcore these movies are actually getting. It's that really sweet, late '60s violence with the bright red paint blood that's all over this movie.  I may choose to believe this in my head, but I also feel like the head honchos behind the Zatoichi movies are aware that they never really make anything new in the franchise because Zatoichi the Outlaw almost feels like a commentary on the Zatoichi movies.  Now, I did notice that this was the first production of a certain producer.  I don't know details.  But in some ways, Zatoichi the Outlaw is both the most unique of the Zatoichi movies while completely embracing the formula of Zatoichi movies.

In terms of what's standard, we have the old chestnut of Zatoichi meeting a new village, finding gangsters terrorizing the town, and then he slices everyone up.  Like usual, he meets men he admires and women that he disappoints.  We've been through this before.  But what is somewhat of a new offering is how that information is presented.  The first third of the movie almost is a Zatoichi movie in summation.  We see him welcomed into this town.  He gets involved in the dastardly behavior of the greedy gang lords, even down to him disrupting a gambling game --a moment in Zatoichi movies that is becoming so old hat that it feels like Bart Simpson screaming "Aye Carumba!"   But then we kind of see the fallout of what happens in this town when Zatoichi leaves.  Admittedly, this moment is actually essential to the plot.  Zatoichi is leaving the town before the big bloodbath and we know that he's going to be returning to this town once tensions have died down. 

The cool part of it all is that we have a little bit of a twist on the traditional villain in this movie.  Zatoichi meets a couple of pretty rad dudes in the first third of the film.  The first guy, Ohara (whom I think of as O'Hara, an Irish ronin --despite having nothing Irish about him), is this message about the value of pacifism.  This guy, as much as I like him as a concept for one of these movies, is wasted in this film.  Ohara can talk pacifism all day, but Zatoichi murdering everyone in a more gory manner undercuts whatever the movie was trying to say about bloodless protests.  If anything, it treats Ohara's message as quaint and stupid in an era of samurai swordplay.  I mean, Ohara is still considered the noble character at the end of the piece, so take from that what you will.  But Zatoichi never really learns a lesson from him and it is Zatoichi's skill with his incredibly violent side that saves Ohara from the misery that the Yakuza subject him to.

But I was going to talk about the villain!  The other guy that Zatoichi admires in this one is Boss Asagoro.  Asagoro might be my favorite villain of the franchise so far.  I mean, he's not great with a sword.  His general threat level is pretty minimal.  But what he completely excels at is pulling the wool over Zatoichi's (blind) eyes.  Part of this movie sells the notion that not all criminals are the greedy jerks that we've been fed for film after film.  (You think I'm exaggerating?  Zatoichi the Outlaw is the sixteenth film in the franchise!) He reminds me of Teresa's father in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.  This is a Yakuza gambling den owner who, while profiting on the citizens of this small peaceful town, seems to genuinely care about the residents.  He buys out their debt to free them from the more nefarious members of the Yakuza.  He claims to do so because he understands that the town needs farmers and that he can't stop them from returning to their vices.  The first third of the movie, Zatoichi and Asagoro gain a mutual respect for one another.  But that's what makes the betrayal all that more impressive.

Asagoro is a dirty liar the entire time and Zatoichi falls for it.  Heck, I fall for it too.  I'm so used to these big bads being in Zatoichi's crosshairs (I need to stop using colloquialisms that have some kind of tie to sight.  I swear, I'm not doing this on purpose) from moment one and Zatoichi just plays with them.  This one, because Zatoichi is duped by Asagoro's charity, leading to his rise to power, it just feels personal.  I dig that it feels personal.  On top of that, Asagoro is the one guy who seems to really injure Zatoichi physically and it's not through any kind of amazing swordsmanship.  Instead, he hides behind a dead body and then cuts open his leg.  Sure, this moment never really plays a part in the overall ending of the film, but I dig that it went there.  

My expectations for these movies is meh.  I enjoy what the base product is.  I enjoy the notion of Zatoichi movies.  But do you see how much I preached just a minor change to formula.  I can't believe that they kept making these movies so many times and just kept sticking the same dog-and-pony show.  Don't worry, though.  I have two more movies on the disc to get through before I get to the long version of Scenes from a Marriage.