MovieChat Forums > Zatôichi rôyaburi (1967) Discussion > The fight in the bath house

The fight in the bath house

posted 9 years ago by Mark_a_Wood
4 replies | jump to latest

I was surprised to see in one user review of this film that the reviewer commented that the comic scene of the blind staff of the bath house fighting over a lost ball of sticky rice fell very, very flat. Personally, I thought it was a masterful piece of slapstick.

So what do other people who have seen the film think?

Mocking the blind is NOT funny - thumbs down.

OR

A brilliantly timed scene of slapstick comedy - thumbs up.

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Put my burglar down!

[–] lazypigzy 9 years ago

I thought the goofy blind staff brought the movie down. Zatoichi movies tend to have some slapstick here and there but they were too over the top especially for the gloomy turn of the events in this one.

[–] Mark_a_Wood 9 years ago

First of all thanks for replying to my post.

You make a good point about the contrast between the comedy of the bath house scene and the gloomy events of the film. Maybe that was intentional? Perhaps to emphasise the contrast between them, I'm not sure.

One thing I would say is that 'Outlaw' was, in my opinion, a bit OTT in a number of areas - the bloodiness of the swordfight compared to the other films, the message of the film was more outright political, the villain was MORE villainous because of Ichi's trust in him etc. so perhaps the slapstick comedy scene was a bit OTT too in keeping with that.

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Sparks Moran: "It was dusk. I could tell 'cause the sun had gone down"

[–] jasonbourneagain 9 years ago

"I'm an outlaw baby, I'm an outlaw baby
I'm an outlaw baby, and you ain't ever gonna bring me in
I'm an outlaw baby, I'm an outlaw baby
I'm an outlaw baby, and you ain't ever gonna bring me in"
- The Lordz

This film is almost like two films in one. It abruptly ends the first part to venture into another Zatoichi adventure. The scene wasn't totally funny even though it had the slapstick. Maybe it's the timing. This scene could have been misplaced. One just naturally laughs when something is funny. Afterward, I thought Shintaro Katsu, director and writer had certain things in mind while filming, but they did not translate well to the screen.

[–] DrGlitterhouse 7 years ago

I had no problem with that. I had trouble reading some of the subtitles early on (my fault for not speaking Japanese, I guess), and for some reason I wasn't clear on whether it was Aasogoro who sold Oshina into prostitution or the chief inspector, or who the peasant who hanged himself was. I was actually kind of shocked at the outcome of the two lovers' storyline the first time I watched.

Je suis Charlie Hebdo.