Zatoichi Jigoku tabi (1965)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Kenji Misumi

Writers:

Daisuke Itô (writer)
Kan Shimosawa (story)

Release Date:

24 December 1965 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama | Adventure | Action

Plot:

Zatoichi makes friends with a dangerous chess player, while fending off angry yakuza and bloodthirsty relatives out for revenge...

Plot Keywords:

Yakuza | Zatoichi | Chess | Fight | Sword Fight

Cast

Shintarô Katsu	...	Zatoichi
Mikio Narita	...	Tadasu Jumonji
Chizu Hayashi	...	Enoshimeya
Kaneko Iwasaki	...	Tane
Gaku Yamamoto	...	Tomonoshin Sagawa
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Saburo Date
Tatsuo Endo	...	Yakuza boss of Ejimaya
Takuya Fujioka
Kanae Kobayashi	...	Widow Tarozaemon
Fujio Suga	...	Injury prone Banyu yakuza
Rokko Toura

Also Known As:

Showdown for Zatoichi
Zatôichi 12 (Japan) (informal title)
Zatoichi and the Chess Expert
Zatoichi's Trip to Hell
Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman & the Chess Expert

Runtime:

USA:87 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Daieicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

USA:Approved

Company:

Daiei Studios

Movie Connections:

Followed by Zatôichi goyô-tabi (1972)

Boring samurai flick

There's little to recommend about this cheaply made samurai film. The films of this genre boast great patience, but within that patience there ought to be at least a few good samurai battles. There are only two real battles in this one. The first one has a neat setting, but it takes place during the night and it is so dark that it is difficult to see anything. The climactic battle, which is actually two consecutive battles, is very good but nothing compared to those in much more well known samurai flicks. The editing of the film is consistently poor and reduces the effectiveness of many of its scenes. This movie is only 90 minutes long, but it feels as long as The Seven Samurai. 5/10.