Goyôkiba: Oni no Hanzô yawahada koban (1974)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Yoshio Inoue

Writers:

Takeshi Kanda (story)
Kazuo Koike (comic)

Release Date:

9 February 1974 (Japan)

Genre:

Action

Plot:

Follow the money. In a time of economic disaster for wage earners, Hanzo discovers a conspiracy among...

Plot Keywords:

Samurai | Ghost | Chambara | Sexploitation | Nudity

Cast

Shintarô Katsu	...	Hanzo 'The Razor' Itami
Kô Nishimura	...	Magohei 'Snake' Ohnishi
Mako Midori	...	Yumi
Mikio Narita	...	Bansaku Tonami
Asao Koike	...	Ishiyama
Etsushi Takahashi	...	Sugino
Daigo Kusano	...	Onibi
Keizô Kani'e	...	Mamushi
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Aoi Nakajima	...	Kato's wife
Hiroshi Nawa	...	Hotta
Kei'ichi Noda
Rokko Toura	...	Kato
Michiko Tsukasa	...	Wife
Akira Yamauchi	...	Takei

Also Known As:

Hanzo the Razor: Who's Got the Gold? (USA) (DVD box title)
Haunted Gold
Razor 3: Who's Got the Gold? (USA)

Runtime:

USA:84 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:MA

Company:

Katsu Production Co. Ltd.

Goofs:

Factual errors: In the shot with a bamboo spear filled with gold pieces flying into the pond, the flight the spear takes is impossible, as the weight of the gold would have flipped it over.

Quotes:

Onibi: You think he's losing his mind? A ghost has no legs. How can he make love to one?
Mamushi: She'll grow legs after seeing that giant tool of his.

Movie Connections:

Follows Goyôkiba (1972)

Entertaining closure for the Hanzo trilogy

The final chapter in the Hanzo the Razor trilogy provides fitting closure for this entertaining series of samuraisploitation. Inoue replaces Yasuzu Masumura (Blind Beast, Red Angel, Manji) in the director's chair, but the style is pretty much the same, perhaps due to Shintaro Katsu serving as the producer, apart from the titular antihero.

Hanzo uncovers a female ghost who is guarding treasure hidden in the bottom of the lake. Of course, Hanzo being Hanzo, he's not put off by the fact she's a ghost, so he proceeds to rape... ahem, interrogate her, using the now familiar revolving net device. The plot takes through a series of blind monks who also doubletime as loansharks, corrupt officials, promiscuous wives and the necessary hack and slash. Hanzo's superior officer, Onishi, and his two servants, provide the typical comedic notes, and generally, it's business as usual.

Significantly less convoluted and easier to follow than the first (which is all over the place and a bit of a mess), less stylish, dramatic and bloody than the second (arguably the finest in the Hanzo series), but still entertaining and worthwhile on its own merits. Complete with trademark training sequences, the obligatory rape, swordfights, and a mystery Hanzo is called upon to investigate, this will ultimately satisfy the fans.