Goyôkiba (1972)

Director:

Kenji Misumi

Writers:

Kazuo Koike (story) &
Takeshi Kanda (story) ...

Genre:

Action

Plot:

Hanzo is an incorruptible and unorthodox officer in Edo, as famous for his self-discipline and his love shaft as his sword...

Plot Keywords:

Grindhouse | Rape | Manga | Katana Sword | Sex

Cast

Shintarô Katsu	...	Hanzo 'The Razor' Itami
Yukiji Asaoka
Mari Atsumi
Kô Nishimura	...	Magobei 'Snake' Onishi
Kamatari Fujiwara
Akira Yamauchi
Kôji Kobayashi
Zenpei Saga
Daigo Kusano
Keizô Kani'e
Yuuji Hamada
Renji Ishibashi
Teruo Matsuyama
Shigeyoshi Fujioka
Jun Katsumura

Also Known As:

Goyoki
Hanzo the Razor: Sword of Justice (USA) (DVD box title)
Sword of Justice
The Razor: Sword of Justice (USA) (video box title)

Runtime:

Germany:94 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:MA | New Zealand:R18 | Germany:18 | UK:18

Company:

Katsu Production Co. Ltd.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Goyôkiba: Kamisori Hanzô jigoku zeme (1973)

Very enjoyable if oddly muted opening for the Hanzo trilogy

I had heard about this film and its sequels long before I got hold of them, back when I was first getting into chanbara films and watching some of the old Zatoichi outings I read of a mysterious, oft banned trilogy from the Zatoichi star, Shintaro Katsu, about a controversial hero called Hanzo. I read more about them in due course, dismissed them as the kind of films I would never actually get my hands on and steadily built up an awesome mental image of them. I was overjoyed when they finally got a regular DVD release and all have their charms, but this introductory outing is perhaps the weakest of the trilogy. it does great work of setting up the character of Hanzo and the general atmosphere and tone, whilst offering a mildly intriguing plot line, but it never quite locks down to become truly great. Hanzo is a mighty character, a policeman in the Edo era, breaking taboos, defying his superiors and showing general disdain for everything but justice and its pursuit. Also, he toughens himself up using self torture techniques and is not above raping information out of female suspects, although he is so mightily endowed that the women invariably end up enjoying the act. This film turns on the discovery that for some reason a convicted killer is loose and Hanzo finding out why, employing the help of two ex criminals that are now his servants and avoiding his crooked superior "Snake" Magobei. Star Shintaro Katsu is the main draw here, effortlessly determined, brutish yet smart, with a lighter, charismatic edge that draws the audiences sympathy and steers his character away from the nastier implications of some of his acts. Ko Nishimura is a fine foil as Magobei, slimy and a little dishonest, exasperated at some of Hanzo's dealings but at heart not a truly bad person. the main drawback to the film is that director Kenji Mizumi is too coy over the exploitative elements, whilst there's isn't quite enough action or serious intrigue to the plotting. There are only a couple of real action scenes, a bit of Hanzo's self torturing and a splash of his "special torture" of ladies, but mostly the film is moved along by Katsu's performance and the ace, driving and funky score. There is a decent amount of edgy cool that is interestingly at odds the the setting, but the film feels a bit like a pilot episode, it really needed higher stakes, more nudity and gore and more thorough plotting. By the curious ending, we know much about Hanzo but the story is verging on mediocre and there is not much rush too it, plus what heft the film does have somewhat evaporates not too long after watching. It certainly didn't live up to my hopes, even though it is still pretty sweet. Altogether its a good film and one worth watching for fans of Japanese cult cinema, especially since it paves the way for the superior sequels (The Snare being excellent) and has oodles of sweet stuff itself, but its sadly not the lurid epic it could be.