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Zatoichi and the Chess Expert

Original title: Zatôichi jigoku-tabi
  • 19651965
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 1h 27m
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
1.4K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Zatôichi jigoku-tabi (1965)
  • Action
  • Adventure
  • Drama
A samurai with a high skill in chess makes friends with Zatoichi, who finds that things become peculiar in his presence.A samurai with a high skill in chess makes friends with Zatoichi, who finds that things become peculiar in his presence.A samurai with a high skill in chess makes friends with Zatoichi, who finds that things become peculiar in his presence.
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
1.4K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Kenji Misumi
  • Writers
    • Daisuke Itô
    • Kan Shimozawa(story)
  • Stars
    • Shintarô Katsu
    • Mikio Narita
    • Chizu Hayashi
Top credits
  • Director
    • Kenji Misumi
  • Writers
    • Daisuke Itô
    • Kan Shimozawa(story)
  • Stars
    • Shintarô Katsu
    • Mikio Narita
    • Chizu Hayashi
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 11User reviews
    • 11Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos61

    Zatôichi jigoku-tabi (1965)
    Zatôichi jigoku-tabi (1965)
    Kaneko Iwasaki and Naoko Fujiyama in Zatôichi jigoku-tabi (1965)
    Kaneko Iwasaki and Shintarô Katsu in Zatôichi jigoku-tabi (1965)
    Shintarô Katsu in Zatôichi jigoku-tabi (1965)
    Shintarô Katsu in Zatôichi jigoku-tabi (1965)
    Mikio Narita in Zatôichi jigoku-tabi (1965)
    Mikio Narita in Zatôichi jigoku-tabi (1965)
    Mikio Narita in Zatôichi jigoku-tabi (1965)
    Kaneko Iwasaki and Rokkô Toura in Zatôichi jigoku-tabi (1965)
    Kaneko Iwasaki and Shintarô Katsu in Zatôichi jigoku-tabi (1965)
    Kaneko Iwasaki and Shintarô Katsu in Zatôichi jigoku-tabi (1965)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Shintarô Katsu
    Shintarô Katsu
    • Zatoichias Zatoichi
    Mikio Narita
    Mikio Narita
    • Tadasu Jumonjias Tadasu Jumonji
    Chizu Hayashi
    Chizu Hayashi
    • Kumeas Kume
    Kaneko Iwasaki
    Kaneko Iwasaki
    • Taneas Tane
    Gaku Yamamoto
    Gaku Yamamoto
    • Tomonoshin Sagawaas Tomonoshin Sagawa
    Saburô Date
    Saburô Date
    Tatsuo Endô
    Tatsuo Endô
    • Yakuza boss of Ejimayaas Yakuza boss of Ejimaya
    Takuya Fujioka
    Takuya Fujioka
    Naoko Fujiyama
    Naoko Fujiyama
    • Mikias Miki
    Ryutaro Gomi
    Ryô Horikawa
    Ryô Horikawa
    Kanae Kobayashi
    • Widow Tarozaemonas Widow Tarozaemon
    Keiko Koyanagi
    Tarô Marui
    Tarô Marui
    • Roppeias Roppei
    Fujio Suga
    Fujio Suga
    • Injury prone Banyu yakuzaas Injury prone Banyu yakuza
    Rokkô Toura
    Rokkô Toura
    Ichirô Yamamoto
    • Director
      • Kenji Misumi
    • Writers
      • Daisuke Itô
      • Kan Shimozawa(story)
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

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    Storyline

    Edit
    Zatoichi makes friends with a dangerous chess player, while fending off angry yakuza and bloodthirsty relatives out for revenge, and trying to save a sick child. Meanwhile, his luck with dice is turning... —eirias <eirias@iname.com>
    • zatoichi
    • chess
    • yakuza
    • samurai
    • cult film
    • 7 more
    • Plot summary
    • Add synopsis
    • Genres
      • Action
      • Adventure
      • Drama
    • Certificate
      • Not Rated
    • Parents guide

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      This film is part of the jidai-geki genre, which translates to 'period drama'. It is also a 'chanbara' (sword fighting) film.
    • Quotes

      Zatoichi: You have to understand, Otane. The man you're looking at is dirt. And everyone who comes close to him or touches him, in one way or another gets muddied by that dirt. There's nothing I can do about being dirt myself, but I don't want you to get mired in my dirt.

    • Connections
      Followed by Zatoichi's Vengeance (1966)

    User reviews11

    Review
    Top review
    Typically wonderful...
    Zatoichi films are all pretty similar. There are gambling (dice) scenes, Zatoichi vs. large gang fighting scenes, massaging scenes (usually of beautiful women), Zatoichi eating and drinking scenes, bath scenes, travel sequences, often a scenes with a child (or children) - and they all wonderful. One other consistent element is that they all are shot in glorious widescreen and contain some exquisite cinematography. I always find at least a couple of scenes in each film of this series to be quite breathtaking - certainly worthy of pondering over. I find these films so appealing regardless that I know exactly what is to come.

    In this chapter Zatoichi meets a rather confident and intelligent foe in the guise of a chess expert. This is, of course, after he has easily defeated all his lesser foes who seek vengeance on his gambling prowess (sound familiar?). We have a female love interest and Zatoichi spurning her because of his opinion of his own "lowlife" status. All in all I was more enthralled with the first 3/4's of this particular film, but felt it failed slightly at the end. Still I think the world of Zatoichi so I give this 4.5 /5
    helpful•15
    1
    • Gary-The King-Tooze
    • Jun 16, 2004

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • December 24, 1965 (Japan)
    • Country of origin
      • Japan
    • Language
      • Japanese
    • Also known as
      • Затойчи и шахматный мастер
    • Production company
      • Daiei Studios
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 27 minutes
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

    Related news

    What I Watched, What You Watched #227
    Jan 12Rope of Silicon
    Blu-ray, DVD Release: Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman Collection
    Aug 26Disc Dish

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