Product Description
Studio: E1 Entertainment Release Date: 09/09/2003
5.0
24
$14.89
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx

Description
Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Kurosawa’s tightly paced, beautifully composed Sanjuro. In this companion piece to Yojimbo, jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan’s evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a “proper” samurai on its ear. Criterion is proud to present Sanjuro in a gorgeous Tohoscope transfer. Amazon.com
Akira Kurosawa’s sequel to Yojimbo is more lighthearted and less cynical, a rousing adventure with Toshirô Mifune reprising his role as the scruffy mercenary who becomes an unlikely big brother to a troupe of nine naive samurai. Shuffling into a secret meeting where the proud young men discuss the graft choking their clan, Mifune’s Sanjuro scratches his scraggly beard and distractedly rubs his neck like some common peasant while giving them advice on appearances and truths: “People aren’t what they seem,” he warns the dubious lads. “Be careful.” Naturally they aren’t, and Sanjuro grudgingly adopts the well-meaning but hopelessly ill-equipped heroes, giving the starry-eyed youths a series of lessons in real-world honor and respect while saving their skins from reckless attacks and impulsive plans. It isn’t the subtlest of Kurosawa’s films–the repetitious lessons and speeches delivered to the thickheaded samurai are rather obvious–but it’s one of his most entertaining. Mifune, gruffly at ease with the boys, is hilariously discomforted in the presence of a cultured lady, who sees through his shaggy exterior and imparts a little wisdom of her own. Mifune bounds into action in a number of impressive sword fights–wonderfully choreographed lightning-quick battles in which Mifune leaps all over the widescreen image–but an increasing sense of waste, of futility, hangs over the action scenes, culminating in a tense but meaningless duel of honor. The accompanying trailer on the DVD features brief behind-the-scenes glimpses of Kurosawa directing Mifune through an action sequence. –Sean Axmaker
4.5
64
$23.46
Sanjuro – Criterion Collection

Description
Non-stop action, a deadly love triangle, and a mysterious one-armed samurai round out the second installment in the legendary Zatoichi series. When Zatoichi discovers the lord who has hired him suffers from a madness that — if made public — would bring ruin to his empire and the livelihood of the samurai warriors he employs, the blind masseur becomes a wanted man for the secret he now possesses. Attacked at every turn by the crazed lord’s samurais and hired yakuza thugs, Zatoichi manages to escape relatively unscathed. But in a final duel, masseur Ichi must face his old foe, the infamous one-armed samurai (played by Tomisaburo Wakayama, the brother of star Shintaro Katsu). Amazon.com
The wild success of The Tale of Zatoichi demanded a sequel and star Shintaro Katsu was only too happy to reprise his role as the traveling masseur and blind swordsman. Star Katsu and director Kazuo Mori flesh out the enigmatic Ichi in this outing, creating a more haunted and less conniving character who prefers to keep his identity shrouded and his sword sheathed. Nonetheless the peace-loving swordsman is reluctantly and repeatedly forced to fight when he’s attacked by a government goon squad, a gang of hoodlums, and an angry one-armed swordsman whose interest in Ichi is purely personal. This action-packed entry, which ultimately brings our hero back to the site of his previous film for the furious climax, practically revels in the concentrated bursts of Ichi’s lightning attack.

The newly restored DVD features a small stills gallery, a fold-out insert with an essay by Tatsu Aoki (a self described “Ichi Freak”), and four collector cards. –Sean Axmaker

$12.95
Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman, Vol. 2 – The Tale of Zatoichi Continues

Description
In a cruel twist of fate, an innocent woman is cut down in an ambush intended for the blind swordsman, turning her infant child into an orphan. Feeling responsible, Ichi vows to safely deliver the child to its father. The assassins relentlessly pursue
Ichi, who must fight with ever more efficient determination now that he is the infant’s only protector. In a final bitter twist of fate and plot, Ichi must add to his list of enemies the father of the child he has sworn to protect.

4.5
9
$5.00
Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman, Vol. 8 – Fight, Zatoichi, Fight

Fight, Zatoichi, Fight

Product Description
Studio: E1 Entertainment Release Date: 01/25/2005 Run time: 95 minutes
3.5
7
$9.35
Zatoichi 16 – The Outlaw

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