MovieChat Forums > Zatôichi to yôjinbô (1970) Discussion > One of the best

One of the best

posted 19 years ago by bringer348
9 replies | jump to latest

This was one of the first Zatoichi films I've seen (the 1989 one being the first) and I have to say it's still one of the best (I've only seen 9 movies so far but I plan on owning them all one day!). The cinematography of this one still strikes me as being some of the best in the Zatoichi series, later I learned it has the same director of the movie The Sword of Doom! I can't believe no one has posted on this forum yet. It's nice to see IMDB has replaced the idiotic 3 star comment that plagued the title page for so long....

People always seem to knock the sword fighting in this movie, one of the things that's so great about these movies is that they AREN'T MARTIAL ARTS movies! I'm so sick of martial arts movies it's unbelievable. But it seems that is all people can think about when watching asian cinema. Who cares about depth, story, and character development when you can watch a couple of guys dancing (when you really get down to it that's what it is) to unrealistic choreographic movements :sigh: The sword fighting in these movies plays such a minor role compared to the story and characters. Zatoichi self describes his fighting style as ape s h i t and that's what you get here! (You have to remember Toshiro Mifune was 50 when this was made so it's not as though he can dash around quickly as in his youth) The fighting works fine in this movie. And who really cares about it when so much more is offered.

[–] Renard-4 18 years ago

Toshiro Mifune at any age is great

So despite this one which one would you recommend, They are $30 CDN at the store, but they don't have them all just a few. And the serie is quite big.
Because of Mifune I bought this one first should we get the serei in order or it doesn't matter. And which one beside this one...

Salut
my growing DVD collection
http://www.intervocative.com/DVDCollection.aspx/chauffard

[–] bringer348 18 years ago

Get Fight Zatoichi Fight, they are all great but this one is special.

[–] Renard-4 18 years ago

Happy holidays to you,
Great, thx for the recommendation,

I talked about it to my videostore manager and he didn't go for it because the serie is too big and beside this one didn't know which one to recommend him. I'll ask for this one too. Unfortunately they don,t go on those boxing day specials.

Salut
my growing DVD collection
http://www.intervocative.com/DVDCollection.aspx/chauffard

[–] shabulia 18 years ago

You should get the newer remake of Zatoichi by Takeshi Kitano. It is the best of all the Zatoichi films. Again, it's not a martial arts film, but a great period piece from feudal Japan. It is so well done that it has become one of my favorite films of all time. And that's saying a lot. I am so hard pressed to find a flaw throughout the film. Get it! Get it now!

[–] Renard-4 18 years ago

I have seen it, in fact I had bought a copy from Hong Kong prior to have distributed here in Canada, and I bought that copy too, once it was distributed.
Great movie and done with great respect, I beleive. Well it looks like it.
But I don't know enough the serie to compare to it.
Though I know Shintarô Katsu, and he was missing, I liked his humour better.
For the Kitano's version, it may be that he assembled all the goodies of the serie with the today's techniques.

Salut
my growing DVD collection
http://www.intervocative.com/DVDCollection.aspx/chauffard

[–] shabulia 18 years ago

I agree that Zatoichi To Yojimbo is one of the best of the series. But I must say, the absolute best one, in my humble opinion, has to be the Takeshi Kitano remake of Zatoichi. I just think his visual flair and artistic method adds so much to the series that others failed to deliever. Katsu Shintaro will always be Zatoichi. No one can possibly replace him. But, the Kitano film doesn't try to do that. Takeshi Kitano writes, directs, produces, and acts in his version of the film. I believe he was also involved in the editing process. If you haven't seen his film, you owe it to yourself to give it a go. It will quickly catapult its way to the top of your list of Zatoichi films, as it is the best of the bunch.

[–] Xcalat3 17 years ago

this is the first zatoichi movie i've seen and its great

I Worship The Goddess Amber Tamblyn

[–] richard-hayden 16 years ago

OP you hit it right on the head: These flicks arent about the swordplay.
It's all about the characters, the story, the subplots and how they all seem to weave within each other, there is also a lot of comedy although they dont make a big thing of it, there are alot of funny moments.
There are so many movies I cant remember the titles, but I've seen about 20 of them and own like 14.
I havent seen the remake for a bunch of reasons:
1- Shintaro Katsu = Zatoichi. Period end of story
2- Blonde...in the Edo period of Japan...

I was lucky to get hooked on this series because they show on KungFuHD quite a bit (if you dont know this channel, look it up!!) since then I have been on a mission to collect them all. Animeigo sells a boxed set of last 8 (maybe 10) of the series that ended in the 70s. And another boxed set of 4 showing the first 4 of the series.

[–] 16 years ago

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