Thursday, April 3, 2014

Zatoichi's Revenge (1965)



Zatoichi :  Shintarô Katsu

Director : Akira Inoue

IMDb : 7.6

Grade :   A-
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The movie opens with Ichi being attacked by men who are after the ten ryo reward that is on his head, but he quickly strikes them down.

Ichi comes to a bridge and thinks of his old master, Hikonoichi. He decides to visit him but then finds out he died a couple of weeks ago. He finds out to his astonishment that his daughter, Sayo, is now working in the brothel.


It seems that the local boss and the intendant have a deal where if a family can't pay their taxes the boss will take their young girls and put them in the brothel. Zatoichi learns that Sayo has been beaten and tied up. 

Ichi meets a dice roller, Denroku and his daughter Tsuro. The next day he plays dice and is winning big. Denroku arrives aand a samurai wants to put 100 ryo against Ichi's cane. Ichi takes the bet and Denroku rolls. he then signals to the samuai who bets on even, but Ichi slices open Denroku's cup and the real dice in there are odd.

Ichi takes his money, but the boss' men surround him but he chops them down. "It must be Zatoichi" one yells as the rest run off. His reputation is spreading. 

A tax inspector comes and the boss has his enforcer, Kodakura kill him. He then arranges a duel with Ichi for the next day. he rides up on a horse and strikes Ichi. He then tells Ichi that it was he who killed his sensei at the behest of the intendant. As he goes to kill Ichi, Ichi springs up and finishes him off.

Denroku's daughter is going to be put in the brothel because of the money he lost to Ichi, unless he can get Ichi's cane. Tsuro steals it for him. Ichi then goes to Denroku and gets his cane and gets Denroku on his side.

Ichi then confronts the boss and the intendant. He frees all the girls from the brothels, chops down the intendant's and boss' men, and then kills the intendant and the boss in front of the girls. 

After visiting his sensei's grave the next day he again heads down the road.

Another good entry in the series. 




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