Hanzo the Razor: Sword of Justice (1972)

Hanzo Itami is an incorruptible Edo officer who learns that an infamous killer has fled from his island prison. Hanzo begins tracking him down using his unorthodox interrogation techniques.

Director:

Kenji Misumi

Writers:

Kazuo Koike (story), Takeshi Kanda (story)

Stars:

Shintarô Katsu, Yukiji Asaoka, Mari Atsumi

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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	...	Onibi
Keizô Kanie
Yûji Hamada
Renji Ishibashi
Teruo Matsuyama
Jûkei Fujioka
Jun Katsumura

Storyline

Hanzo is an incorruptible and unorthodox officer in Edo, as famous for his self-discipline and his love shaft as his sword. Against the backdrop of his magistrate's occasional rounding up of vagrants, Hanzo learns that an infamous killer is no longer on his island prison: did he escape or was he never there? Hanzo's investigation leads him to the magistrate's mistress, the killer's former lover. Hanzo pursues political questions that suggest complicity at the highest levels. Using sexual assault, he interrogates the mistress and later the favorite of Edo's most powerful woman. Can he get to the bottom of what's going on before powerful forces get him fired or killed?

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Plot Keywords:

exploitation film | sexploitation | topless female nudity | based on comic | samurai | 

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Genres:

Action

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Did You Know?

Connections

Followed by Hanzo the Razor: The Snare (1973)

User Reviews

As cool as Shaft, as big as John Holmes

Samurai Shaft. Someone else grabbed that before I could, but the music in this film is unmistakable. Its as if Isaac Hayes himself scored the film.

The Samurai is a policeman, and has more in his bag of tricks that the usual Samurai swords. In fact, even when he is completely naked, he still has a formidable weapon to use in his unusual interrogations.

It doesn't just hang there either. He actually works it out. He beats it with a stick and rams it into what looks like a bag of pebbles to strengthen it. You just have to see it.

Of course, this wouldn't work if he had to interrogate males, so there are plenty of females that need to feel the long arm of the law. When he gets going, they will say anything to keep him from stopping.

Samurai exploitation? It appears that way. This is one Japanese film that will not be remade by Hollywood. I can't wait for Part 2.

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

22 July 2006 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Hanzo the Razor: Sword of Justice

Company Credits

Production Co:

Katsu Production, Toho Company

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1