Zatôichi kesshô-tabi (1964)

Director:

Kenji Misumi

Writers:

Seiji Hoshikawa (writer)
Kan Shimosawa (stories)

Release Date:

17 October 1964 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama

Plot:

Blind swordsman/masseuse Zatoichi befriends a young woman returning home with her baby. When gangsters mistake her for Zatoichi and kill her...

Plot Keywords:

Baby | Zatoichi | Pickpocket | Samurai | Character Name In Title

Cast

Shintarô Katsu	...	Zatoichi
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nobuo Kaneko	...	Unosuke
Gen Kimura	...	Hyaku
Ikuko Môri	...	Babysitting prostitute
Shôsaku Sugiyama	...	Hangoro
Hizuru Takachiho	...	Ko

Also Known As:

Blind Swordsman: Fight, Zatoichi, Fight
Fight, Zatoichi, Fight (International: English title)
Zatôichi 8 (Japan) (informal title)

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Company:

Daiei Motion Picture Company

Movie Connections:

Followed by Zatôichi goyô-tabi (1972)

Too many baby antics

I really enjoy the Zatoichi films, and Shintaru Katsu is an excellent actor. However the story in this film could be a lot better. A lot of creativity is missing in this movie. Other Zatoichi films have subplots and intrigue that makes sense and develops naturally. Here the story seems forced.

Zatoichi tries to help a woman and her baby by letting her take the ride that he paid for. A band of samurai assassins scare off the two guys whose job it is to carry the cart around, and they all put their swords into the cart thinking it is Zatoichi. When they find out it is not him, they run away. Zatoichi then blames himself for the tragedy and takes it upon himself to take the baby to his father, who is in a town that is 65 miles away. Due in part to rushed acting, whole story is very lacking in credibility.

The acting by the samurai assassins is laughable. They often attack and then run away so fast it looks like the Keystone Cops were hired to play samurais. Some scenes seem like they belong on The Benny Hill Show. Furthermore, the villains confront Zatoichi on several occasions and he kills one of them each time, but he never finishes them off. This leads to the plot device whereby the surviving samurai assassins keep enlisting help from other Yakuza bosses at each town. Thus Zatoichi has to keep fighting dozens of additional samurai at each new town as Zatoichi makes his journey to return the baby. The screenwriter took every shortcut in this movie. I wonder why there is never a town where the Yakuza boss says "Hey, I have better things to do with my samurai. We are collecting toys for the local orphanage."

The two drivers who were with Zatoichi at the beginning of the film are ordered by the Village Headman to help Zatoichi care for the baby, but they bail out the first time they see Zatoichi attacked. These two characters are given so little development that their leaving really makes no impression. They made no difference.

In other Zatoichi movies the villains and supporting cast are given meaty roles with lots of dialogue and scenes that help to show how they think. However, in this film the other characters are just tossed in to get killed in a fight scene, or else they have very little dialogue. Zatoichi goes to an Inn so he can get some sleep, and he hires a Geisha to spend the night with the child. The woman basically says a couple of lines, and Zatoichi is telling her how to care for the child, etc., and he is the only one talking. The movie's central theme is that Zatoichi can be a compassionate father, and this message is beaten to death in scene after boring scene. How many times can Zatoichi make a funny-face because the baby urinates on him? The urinating baby and changing-the-diaper routine is driven into the ground.

The baby is a big distraction. For some unknown reason Shintaru Katsu and the producers wanted to show what a great loving father figure Zatoichi could be. It is just so forced and predictable that it is boring. We all know that at the end of the movie a Yakuza fugitive cannot raise a baby while on the run. Lots of movies like this have been made, and most of them are blatant pleas for cheap sympathy. This movie spends so much time with Zatoichi changing diapers that you could go check your e-mail on the internet and then come back and Zatoichi would be playing with the baby and a rattle or making baby noises. Then add in the twenty minutes of the movie where the baby is crying and screaming his lungs out for one reason or another, and I can honestly say that I will never see this entry in the Zatoichi series again if I can help it.

What makes all of Zatoichi's compassion for the child ring hollow is how he quickly kicks Miss Ishuko (?) to the curb once he gets to the town where the father lives. Zatoichi had seen her near the beginning of the movie and later on he meets her when a man she robbed is running after her. Zatoichi returns the stolen purse to the man and apologizes, claiming that Ishuko is his wife. She tags along to help him care for the infant and hopes that she can have a family with Zatoichi. Zatoichi is always showing her how to be the better mother (since he was such an expert), and he tries to get her to stop shoplifting and drinking. But once they arrive at the town, he slaps her down and tells her to get lost. So much for compassion. Later, when he sees her again after the final confrontations, he does not even say hello to her, and he makes it plain that he could care less for her.

Zatoichi comes across in this movie as something of a misguided buffoon. Unlike the other Zatoichi movies where he usually demonstrates great wisdom and deep insights, this time he is just some kind of weird Mr. Mom who happens to be a hated Yakuza fugitive. The corny scenes where Zatoichi is changing diapers while fighting various samurai are laughable. Zatoichi may be a great swordsman, but this is beyond silly.