Zatôichi rôyaburi (1967)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Satsuo Yamamoto

Writers:

Koji Matsumoto (writer)
Takehiro Nakajima (writer)

Release Date:

12 August 1967 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Zatoichi | Samurai | Martial Arts | Jail | Character Name In Title

Cast

Shintarô Katsu	...	Zatoichi
Rentaro Mikuni	...	Asagoro
Kô Nishimura	...	Uneshiro Suga (as Akira Nishimura)
Yuko Hamada	...	Shino
Toshiyuki Hosokawa	...	Nisaburo
Takuya Fujioka	...	Zato Sanji
Kenjiro Ishiyama	...	Tatsugoro
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Saburo Date
Tatsuo Endo	...	Boss Tomizo
Jun Fujikawa
Ryuuji Fukui
Rokumaru Furukawa
Yuzo Hayakawa
Sumao Ishihara
Yoko Kajima
Tadashi Kato
Jun Katsumura	...	Mankichi
Gen Kimura	...	Fusajiro
Takuya Kitano
Kanae Kobayashi	...	Matsushichi's mother
Keiko Koyanagi
Utako Kyo	...	Large mouth lady
Tatsuo Matsushita
Kayo Mikimoto	...	Yuki
Tômi Mitsuboshi
Koichi Mizuhara	...	Farmer
Ikuko Môri	...	Tomizo's wife
Manabu Morita	...	Tetsu
Hiroyoshi Nishioka
Tokio Oki
Keisuke Ootori
Osamu Sakai
Mizuho Suzuki	...	Yamagen
Noboru Taki
Ryoichi Tamagawa
Kazuko Taniguchi
Shizuko Tsuga
Takeshi Yabuchi

Also Known As:

Zatoichi the Outlaw (UK) (video title) (USA) (video title)
The Blind Swordsman's Rescue
Zatôichi 16 (Japan) (informal title)
Zatoichi Breaks Jail (USA)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:MA

Company:

Daiei Studios

Trivia:

The first Zatôichi film produced by Katsu Productions (Shintarô Katsu's own company).

Movie Connections:

Followed by Shin Zatôichi monogatari: Kasama no chimatsuri (1973)

First disappointing film in Zatoichi series

I agree with most if not all of the previous commenter's Tom ([e-mail]). The Zatoichi series is a great character study combined with great sword fighting and excitement.

I have seen Zatoichi 1-13,15,16; I believe 14 has not been released on Zone 1 (usa). Zatoichi the Outlaw was disappointing. The story line was complicated, and seemed to be a hodgepodge of many previous Zatoichi story lines. At one point, I was wondering if I was not seeing a remake of a previous Zatoichi film.

This film was disappointing because it started to depend on effects (a head rolling, limbs severed, blood) and less on the nobility of the Zatoichi character. All the previous films succeeded based on the storyline and action, and won a great following without having to resort to effects.

I am just hoping that the remaining Zatoichi films do NOT follow the same trend. This is the first Zatoichi film from his studio. I highly recommend all the previous Zatoichi films -- and recommend them.