Shogun Assassin

Dir: Robert Houston, Kenji Misumi

1980

*****

The one thing that really bothers me about Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill 2 is that Bill – a martial arts obsessive - lets his daughter watch Shogun Assassin. Indeed, the girl’s mother – also at one with the ancient art of Kung-fu – sits and watches the film with her. If either had been a respected martial artist they would have insisted that their daughter watch Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance – followed in quick succession by Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx. That said, I do love Shogun Assassin, the ridiculous narration by an American child (Gibran Evans – whose father Jim Evens created the poster and title treatment for the film) and basically all the best bits from the first two Lone Wolf and Cub/Baby Cart films. Who doesn’t like a ‘greatest hits’ reel now and again, and without Shogun Assassin The Wu-Tang Clan wouldn’t have some of their best songs. It was edited using a lawn mower for British and American audiences whom ‘directors’ Robert Houston and his partner David Weisman (a protégé of Andy Warhol) didn’t think would understand the original series. A fan of the original Kozure Ōkami films, Weisman had obtained the rights for $50,000 from the American office of Toho Studios. The film was distributed by Roger Corman's New World Pictures to the grindhouse movie circuit in the United States, and then later as a video cassette from MCA/Universal Home Video. When released in the United Kingdom by the Vipco video tape label in 1983, Shogun Assassin's extreme violence almost caused it to be banned by the Home Office. Vipco played this for publicity in the cover art of their 2000 release on DVD, which was stamped "Banned since 1983!”. The Zatoichi films were quite popular with western audiences and was one of the first martial arts series to become accepted, so the fact that Shintaro Katsu produced it and was the brother of Tomisaburo Wakayama – the film’s main character – it was the recipe for success. It wasn’t a mainstream success but it was a cult classic – which means it was more successful in the long run. As cheap as the whole thing is (think What’s Up Tiger Lily – but with blood and decapitations) you can’t deny that the opening line isn’t brilliant. It’s now iconic and the stuff of cult legend. “When I was little, my father was famous. He was the greatest Samurai in the empire, and he was the Shogun's decapitator. He cut off the heads of 131 lords for the Shogun. It was a bad time for the empire. The Shogun just stayed inside his castle and he never came out. People said his brain was infected by devils, and that he was rotting with evil. The Shogun said the people were not loyal. He said he had a lot of enemies, but he killed more people than that. It was a bad time. Everybody living in fear, but still we were happy. My father would come home to mother, and when he had seen her, he would forget about the killings. He wasn't scared of the Shogun, but the Shogun was scared of him. Maybe that was the problem. At night, mother would sing for us, while father would go into his temple and pray for peace. He'd pray for things to get better. Then, one night the Shogun sent his ninja spies to our house. They were supposed to kill my father, but they didn't. That was the night everything changed, forever. That was when my father left his samurai life and became a demon. He became an assassin who walks the road of vengeance. And he took me with him. I don't remember most of this myself. I only remember the Shogun's ninja hunting us wherever we go. And the bodies falling. And the blood”. The action takes off straight away, with a two hooded samurai attack on Ogami while he is pushing a cart with his young son Daigorō inside. Ogami fends off the attack of the first, breaking the samurai's sword and splitting his head. The second attacker jumps over the first, with the first still clasping Ogami's blade. Ogami pulls off a handrail from the cart and a blade comes out, transforming it into a spear. Ogami then uses the spear to impale the second attacker. As the first is dying, he reminds Ogami that he is marked for death. As Ogami and Daigorō sit by a roadside fire and eat their evening meal, Ogami remembers how he offered the infant Daigorō the life-death choice: either Ogami's sword (which would mean that Daigorō would join him on his mission of vengeance against the Shogun) or Daigorō's ball (which would mean that Daigorō would be killed, so that he could be with his mother in heaven). Daigorō chooses the sword. The next day, the Shogun's officials bring Ogami the Shogun's orders: either swear eternal loyalty or commit suicide with Daigorō. Ogami decides to fight his way to freedom with Daigorō, only to have his path blocked by the Shogun and his men. The Shogun challenges Ogami to fight Kurando (the Shogun's son) in a duel; if Ogami wins, he wins his freedom. Ogami accepts, and eventually cuts off Kurando's head. Ogami and Daigorō journey on, never stopping in one place for very long as the Shogun's ninjas are always following them. As they wander, Daigorō recalls how Lord Bizen and his men were given orders to kill him. Even though Bizen's men are wearing chain mail beneath their robes, Ogami's skill and blade are too powerful. Ogami lures Lord Bizen into the middle of a stream and uses an underwater sword-slash technique to kill him. Ogami sees the Shogun watching from a distance and he swears to the Shogun that he will destroy him and all of his ninjas. The Supreme Ninja receives orders from the Shogun to kill Ogami and Daigorō. Lord Kurogawa doesn't believe the Supreme Ninja's women are up to the task, so she proves otherwise by ordering her ninjas to kill Junai (Kurogawa's strongest ninja). Ogami and Daigorō meet secretly with a client to discuss a business proposition. Ogami is offered the task of killing Lord Kiru (the Shogun's brother), and in return he will receive ten pieces of gold. Ogami accepts the mission and is told that Lord Kiru is being escorted by a three-brother team known as the 'Masters of Death.' During Ogami and Daigorō's journey to find Lord Kiru, they are attacked several times by The Supreme Ninja's women. Ogami kills them each time. Ogami finally faces the Supreme Ninja herself. She attacks Ogami with a weighted net that contains fishhooks, but Ogami cuts himself free and the Supreme Ninja flees by running away backward. Ogami and Daigorō keep on traveling, but they now come face-to-face with Lord Kurogawa's entire ninja force. Pushing Daigorō in his cart to safety, Ogami uses the spear blades in the cart's handrails to attack. All but two of the ninja are cut down, but Ogami is left wounded. He manages to push Daigorō to the safety of a deserted hut before collapsing from loss of blood. Daigorō goes in search of water for his father, finally bringing it back in his mouth, then takes some food offerings from a roadside shrine, leaving his jacket in honorable exchange. The Supreme Ninja meets with Lord Kurogawa to report her failure but Lord Kurogawa has another plan: to strike at Ogami through Daigorō. Later that night, Daigorō is lured outside the hut by the sound of a woman singing. Waking up to find Daigorō gone, Ogami searches for his son. He finds Daigorō is a prisoner of Lord Kurogawa and the Supreme Ninja. Daigorō is tied up and suspended over a deep well. Kuroawa demands that Ogami surrender or he will drop Daigorō down the well. Ogami refuses, so Kurogawa and his men attack. Kurogawa lets go of the rope suspending Daigorō over the well, but Ogami manages to stamp his foot down on the rope and kill Kurogawa (and his two ninjas) at the same time. Ignoring the Supreme Ninja, who has not moved throughout the fight, Ogami carefully pulls Daigorō up to safety. Instead of killing the Supreme Ninja, Ogami walks away with Daigorō. Ogami and Daigorō board a ship which is carrying the 'Masters of Death' to their rendezvous with Lord Kiru. Also on board is the Supreme Ninja. During the night, the remaining rebels start a fire on board the ship. In the ensuing inferno, the 'Masters of Death' tell Ogami that they recognize him, but that they will not attack him as long as he makes no move against them. Ogami agrees to their terms and they leave him. The companionway is blocked by flames, so he cuts through the deck planking. Ogami then puts Daigorō in his cart and throws them both overboard to safety. The Supreme Ninja attacks Ogami from underwater but he overpowers her. Getting Daigorō, himself and the Supreme Ninja to shore and to the shelter of a fisherman's hut, he strips all three of them naked and gathers them close together, telling the Supreme Ninja that they must share their body heat or die. The Supreme Ninja doesn't understand why he would save her and realizes she cannot kill Ogami or his son. The next day, Ogami and Daigorō leave her there, knowing that she will have to return to the Shogun, report her failure and commit suicide. The 'Masters of Death' escort Lord Kiru and his entourage through a desert area, where they are attacked by a rebel force concealed under the sand. The 'Masters of Death' then fight off and kill all of the rebels. Lord Kiru is taken to safety. However, they haven't gone far before they see Daigorō standing in their way. He points to Ogami, who is waiting. The 'Masters of Death' finally face off against Ogami, but one by one they are cut down and killed. Ogami then chases after Lord Kiru's procession, driving off the guards. Lord Kiru protests that he is the Shogun's brother, but Ogami tells Kiru that the "Shogun means nothing" to him. Ogami then kills Lord Kiru with his sword. As he and his father walk away from the carnage, Daigorō looks back one last time and says via voice-over, "I guess I wish it was different ... but a wish is only a wish". It’s hard to say which film you should watch first. I watched Shogun Assassin before I watched the Lone Wolf and Cub series and it made me want to see the originals. If you watch the original series first, Shogun Assassin won’t make a great deal of sense to you but could serve as a fun ‘greatest hits’ compilation. It is one of the few re-workings of a film I have time for. It’s a classic in its own right, but then it isn’t that far removed from the original and I’m not sure really how Robert Houston can be credited as ‘director’ when really all that has been done is some editing and voice over. A ridiculous reworking that shouldn’t really exist but a classic in its own right. The west would never have embraced martial arts films or underground foreign films in general without it.

Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell (AKA Shogun Assassin 5: Cold Road to Hell)
Dir: Yoshiyuki Kuroda
1974
****
The Lone Wolf and Cub series (known as ‘Wolf taking along his child’ in Japan) started out as a manga comic created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima. First published in 1970, the story was later adapted into six films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, four plays, a television series starring Kinnosuke Yorozuya and is widely recognized as an important and influential work. Lone Wolf and Cub chronicles the story of Ogami Ittō, the shōgun's executioner who uses a dōtanuki battle sword. Disgraced by false accusations from the Yagyū clan, he is forced to take the path of the assassin. Along with his three-year-old son, Daigorō, they seek revenge on the Yagyū clan and are known as "Lone Wolf and Cub". A total of six Lone Wolf and Cub films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama as Ogami Ittō and Tomikawa Akihiro as Daigoro have been produced based on the manga. They are also known as the Sword of Vengeance series, based on the English-language title of the first film, and later as the Baby Cart series, because young Daigoro travels in a baby carriage pushed by his father. The first three films, directed by Kenji Misumi, were released in 1972 and produced by Shintaro Katsu, Tomisaburo Wakayama's brother and the star of the 26 part Zatoichi film series. The next three films were produced by Wakayama himself and directed by Buichi Saito, Kenji Misumi and Yoshiyuki Kuroda, released in 1972, 1973, and 1974 respectively. The more famous Shogun Assassin (1980) was an English language compilation for the American audience, edited mainly from the second film, with 11 minutes of footage from the first. Also, the third film, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades was re-released on DVD in the US under the name Shogun Assassin 2: Lightning Swords of Death. While I love Shogun Assassin and the weird American child narration, you can’t beat the originals and they should be watched over the edited remake. The sixth and final film of the series, Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell (released in the USA as Shogun Assassin 5: Cold Road to Hell), was directed by Yoshiyuki Kuroda and is the only Lone Wolf and Cub film not to be directed by either Kenji Misumi or Buichi Saito. It’s a very different film to the others but a fine way to end the series. Yoshiyuki Kuroda brings an updated feel to the film, dating it very much in the mid-70s. The music is ace and out of the six film this one feels the most of its time. It actually reminded me of a Roger Moore era James Bond film in several scenes and the appearance of skiing samurai was something I didn’t realise I would love until I saw it. While still on his travels, this time in the snowy mountains of Japan, the swordsman Ogami Ittō and his young son Daigoro are confronted by a secretive branch of the Yagyū clan that practices black magic, including the ability to burrow through the earth. Retsudo is back and this time he wants to finish the job. Ittō has killed all but one of his children so far, so instead of getting someone else to kill him, he orders his daughter to go after him. No need to call social services just yet though, as his daughter Kaori is an expert with knives and has a nifty little trick where she throws a knife in the air and always manages to get it to land on the head of her enemy. Ittō however is now fool and he sees past her little trick. Retsudo does have an illegitimate son though, his method of attack is psychological though, and instead of going after Ittō, he just kills all the innocent people he comes in contact with – including the candy seller – which clearly upsets little Daigoro. There is a lot of weird magic in this episode which makes for entertaining but puzzling viewing. The gore is good though and the snowy background makes for a nice change of scene. The final battle between Ittō and the combined clan groups under Retsudo on a snow-capped mountain is brilliant and a great way to end the series. The baby cart becomes a sled and Ittō defeats the entire army, shooting, stabbing, slashing, dismembering and beheading the entire army. Somehow the one-eyed Retsudo again gets away, vowing to kill Ittō another time but alas, he never does. It was time to call it a day and end on a high. Daigoro was getting older and it was becoming inappropriate to see him naked and bathing with his father. He overreacted quite a few times in this episode which was out of character but apart from that it was classic Baby cart. The epic climatic fight sequence in the snow took a month and a half to shoot. The shoot was grueling and Tomisaburô Wakayama almost collapsed several times. It was so cold on the day that the opening sequence with Ogami Itto and Daigoro walking across a desolate wintry landscape that child actor Akihiro Tomikawa started crying and refused to do the scene. The situation was rectified by substituting a dummy for Tomikawa as Daigoro in the long shots. It was all worth it though and the film is brilliant. A fine ending to a fine series.

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons

Dir: Kenji Misumi

1973

****

The Lone Wolf and Cub series (known as ‘Wolf taking along his child’ in Japan) started out as a manga comic created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima. First published in 1970, the story was later adapted into six films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, four plays, a television series starring Kinnosuke Yorozuya and is widely recognized as an important and influential work. Lone Wolf and Cub chronicles the story of Ogami Ittō, the shōgun's executioner who uses a dōtanuki battle sword. Disgraced by false accusations from the Yagyū clan, he is forced to take the path of the assassin. Along with his three-year-old son, Daigorō, they seek revenge on the Yagyū clan and are known as "Lone Wolf and Cub". A total of six Lone Wolf and Cub films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama as Ogami Ittō and Tomikawa Akihiro as Daigoro have been produced based on the manga. They are also known as the Sword of Vengeance series, based on the English-language title of the first film, and later as the Baby Cart series, because young Daigoro travels in a baby carriage pushed by his father. The first three films, directed by Kenji Misumi, were released in 1972 and produced by Shintaro Katsu, Tomisaburo Wakayama's brother and the star of the 26 part Zatoichi film series. The next three films were produced by Wakayama himself and directed by Buichi Saito, Kenji Misumi and Yoshiyuki Kuroda, released in 1972, 1973, and 1974 respectively. The more famous Shogun Assassin (1980) was an English language compilation for the American audience, edited mainly from the second film, with 11 minutes of footage from the first. Also, the third film, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades was re-released on DVD in the US under the name Shogun Assassin 2: Lightning Swords of Death. While I love Shogun Assassin and the weird American child narration, you can’t beat the originals and they should be watched over the edited remake. The fifth film, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons (released in the USA as Shogun Assassin 4: Five Fistfuls of Gold), unlike the fifth film, was directed by Kenji Misumi who directed the first three films. I enjoyed the fourth film and thought the change in director brought an air of freshness to the series but I was of course happy to see Misumi return to the story he helped make great. That said, there is something about the fifth instalment that doesn’t seem quite right. I liked how Daigoro is more of a character in his own right now that he’s ever so slightly older but I thought the pace, style and tone of Baby Cart in the Land of Demons looked a little bit tired. The story begins, as they all do, with Ogami Itto wandering the land pushing Daigoro in his baby cart. Once more, while on his travels on "the Demon Path in Hell", Ogami Itto is confronted by a series of messengers who represent a clan wanting his services. Each assassin in turn administers a specific test of his abilities, and when bested, gives Ogami partial payment for the job and, as per his usual stipulation, discloses some of the "secrets and reasons" for the killing. Why the clan members couldn’t just deliver the message is anyone’s guess, but clan rules are clan rules, each messenger has to die to deliver each message. Luckily they manage to deliver said message with swords in their necks, holes in their chests and before they die of poisoning. By the time Ogami has defeated all the messengers, he has been informed of a conspiracy to disguise a daimyō’s illegitimate female offspring as a prince, while the clan leader's official offspring, a son, is kept concealed. A letter uncovering the plot is being delivered by a monk to the shōgun, which would mean the dissolution of the clan, leaving retainers, samurai, and vassals without an organization to support them which would be a disastrous end. Ogami is to intercept the Buddhist monk carrying the letter – not something he would usually do, but something he feels committed to do now that he’s killed so many of their clan. The monk will be traveling under the protection of his arch enemy, the now one-eyed Yagyū Retsudō, further complicating the mission. On a stopover at a town festival, Itto's three year old son, Daigoro is separated from his father and gets mixed up with a notorious female pickpocket who is being chased by constables. She asks him to promise not to divulge her identity, and when he is confronted he keeps his promise. The law officers publicly flog him in front of the townspeople, until the pickpocket surrenders herself and confesses. Still Daigoro keeps his word. Finally the constables release him, impressed by his stoic courage and honor. On route to intercept the monk, Ogami is contracted to kill the senile old lord, his concubine and the young daughter. He arrives at the temple and kills just about everyone inside. Before doing so he explains his actions while Daigoro pulls faces at the young clan leader, making her giggle. She soon orders Ogami’s death and is beheaded soon after, along with her father and his concubine. It’s a bit harsh killing a little girl and cutting her head off but Ogami is a man of his word, you can’t accuse him of not fulfilling contracts and preserving order – even if it means killing a million people and watching the ones left over kill themselves. I think the story is strong and is what the series needed but it also felt a little like the overall feel of the film took a step back. I love it but not quite as much as the first four.

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril (AKA Shogun Assassin 3: Slashing Blades of Carnage)

Dir: Buichi Saito

1972

*****

The Lone Wolf and Cub series (known as ‘Wolf taking along his child’ in Japan) started out as a manga comic created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima. First published in 1970, the story was later adapted into six films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, four plays, a television series starring Kinnosuke Yorozuya and is widely recognized as an important and influential work. Lone Wolf and Cub chronicles the story of Ogami Ittō, the shōgun's executioner who uses a dōtanuki battle sword. Disgraced by false accusations from the Yagyū clan, he is forced to take the path of the assassin. Along with his three-year-old son, Daigorō, they seek revenge on the Yagyū clan and are known as "Lone Wolf and Cub". A total of six Lone Wolf and Cub films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama as Ogami Ittō and Tomikawa Akihiro as Daigoro have been produced based on the manga. They are also known as the Sword of Vengeance series, based on the English-language title of the first film, and later as the Baby Cart series, because young Daigoro travels in a baby carriage pushed by his father. The first three films, directed by Kenji Misumi, were released in 1972 and produced by Shintaro Katsu, Tomisaburo Wakayama's brother and the star of the 26 part Zatoichi film series. The next three films were produced by Wakayama himself and directed by Buichi Saito, Kenji Misumi and Yoshiyuki Kuroda, released in 1972, 1973, and 1974 respectively. The more famous Shogun Assassin (1980) was an English language compilation for the American audience, edited mainly from the second film, with 11 minutes of footage from the first. Also, the third film, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades was re-released on DVD in the US under the name Shogun Assassin 2: Lightning Swords of Death. While I love Shogun Assassin and the weird American child narration, you can’t beat the originals and they should be watched over the edited remake. The fourth film, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril (released in the USA as Shogun Assassin 3: Slashing Blades of Carnage), unlike the first three films, was directed by Buichi Saito. It felt marginally different in style and somewhat slower in places but I loved the slight change in direction and I thought it really lifted the series. The film starts with a somewhat reoccurring theme of breasts, as we see Oyuki, a tattooed female assassin – the renegade member of a daimyō's personal bodyguard detail – killing every man that is sent up against her. Along with her deadly use of the short blade, she strips to the waist while fighting to reveal elaborate tattoos on her chest and back. On her front is a kintarō (a big red super-strength baby) grasping her left breast. A portrait of a mountain witch covers her back. She then cuts off her victims' topknots, or chonmage, which brings dishonor to the dead man and his family. Ogami Ittō, the disgraced former shōgun's executioner, or Kogi Kaishakunin, is soon hired to kill Oyuki. He tracks down the tattoo artist, who explains that she was a "fine" woman who did not scream as he dug into her flesh with his needles. Meanwhile, Ittō's 3-year-old son, Daigoro, has grown restless waiting by the baby cart his father uses to trundle him about in. He goes exploring and finds a pair of performing clowns on the street. When the clowns finish their performance, Daigoro follows them, hoping to see more. But the clowns shoo him away, saying it's time to go home. Now, Daigoro has wandered too far. He is lost, and has become separated from his father. Agents of the Ogamis' mortal enemies, the Yagyū, are never far away. A procession of them, accompanied by the sound of gongs and annoyingly loud shrieks, sends Daigoro into hiding. Ittō must give up his search rather than risk an entanglement with the men, so he travels on alone. Daigoro spends days looking for his father, searching in every temple in the countryside. He enters one temple and sees a figure at the altar praying, but it is not his father. Rather, it is a man whom Daigoro immediately recognizes as someone who is unfriendly. The man follows Daigoro, who wanders into a grass field as it is being lit on fire by farmers. Unwittingly, Daigoro is surrounded by the flames, but he proves his resourcefulness by burying himself and surviving. The man then turns his sword on Daigoro, who raises a stick to defend himself, and in that instant the man realizes who Daigoro is – and more importantly, who his father is. Just then, Ittō comes into the picture, and the two recognize each other. The man, it turns out is Gunbei Yagyū, the outcast son of Retsudo Yagyū. Gunbei and Itto had competed for the post of shogun's executioner, and Gunbei's fierce swordsmanship surely would have won him the post, but in his over zealousness, he ends up pointing his sword at the shogun – a taboo movement that costs him the job and makes him an outcast. His brothers are killed as a result of his shameful actions. Ittō and Gunbei now have a rematch, but Ittō is much improved and is ready for Gunbei. With a swift stroke, he chops off Gunbei's right arm. Gunbei then begs Ittō to kill him, but Ittō refuses, saying there is nothing to be gained from slaying a man who is already dead. With Gunbei out of the way and father and son reunited, the action then turns on finding the tattooed killer, Oyuki. He first stops at a settlement of street actors that Oyuki was said to be a part of. He talks to the elder and hears more of her story, and it happens that the elder is Oyuki's father, who is opposed to her actions and cooperates with Ittō. Ittō finally locates Oyuki at a hotspring and witnesses her in action against more vassals who have come to try to kill her. Then her nemesis, her former instructor who raped her and set her on her bloody vendetta, shows up with his flaming sword and blazing eyes. But she is no longer in his sway, and when he sees her tattoos, he is distracted and killed. Finally, Ittō and Oyuki must duel, and he makes quick work of her. She dies a splendid death, as Ittō says, without having to disrobe (again). Retsudo Yagyū, meanwhile, has been playing politics. He manipulates a local daimyō into bringing in Ittō, but Ittō is able to use the baby cart and its weapons to escape from the daimyō's palace and take the man hostage. As Ittō is leaving the area with the daimyo along for safety, he is attacked by the Yagyū. The daimyō is killed by some musketeers and Ittō goes headlong into battle, telling his son Daigoro that he is entering the "crossroads to hell". It is a fierce battle, ending with Ittō and Retsudo in combat. They trade blows – Retsudo gets a blade in his right eye and Ittō a sword in his back. Ittō kills the swordsman who stabs him, but Retsudo gets away. Daigoro finds his father and with great effort, pulls the sword from his father's back. Despite being severely wounded, Ittō carries Daigoro to the cart and slowly pushes it away, seeking medical treatment for himself. Watching over the scene is the now one-armed Gunbei, who is happy to see Ittō live to fight another day. Daigoro seems to spend less time in the baby cart in this episode as he he is clearly a bit older but the attention to detail is great. You can see nearly every scar Ittō has received in the previous films and by the end he begins to feel more and more vulnerable while Daigoro gets stronger. The first three films feel a bit like their own trilogy and Baby Cart in Peril feels a bit like a fresh beginning, while it still carries on from where the last film left off. The fighting sequences are brilliant and the new characters work well, although the back story interferes somewhat with the overall continuity. By this point most franchises have had their day but Baby Cart in Peril gave it a spring in its step and sharpened its sword somewhat.

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx

Dir: Kenji Misumi

1972

*****

The Lone Wolf and Cub series (known as ‘Wolf taking along his child’ in Japan) started out as a manga comic created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima. First published in 1970, the story was later adapted into six films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, four plays, a television series starring Kinnosuke Yorozuya and is widely recognized as an important and influential work. Lone Wolf and Cub chronicles the story of Ogami Ittō, the shōgun's executioner who uses a dōtanuki battle sword. Disgraced by false accusations from the Yagyū clan, he is forced to take the path of the assassin. Along with his three-year-old son, Daigorō, they seek revenge on the Yagyū clan and are known as "Lone Wolf and Cub". A total of six Lone Wolf and Cub films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama as Ogami Ittō and Tomikawa Akihiro as Daigoro have been produced based on the manga. They are also known as the Sword of Vengeance series, based on the English-language title of the first film, and later as the Baby Cart series, because young Daigoro travels in a baby carriage pushed by his father. The first three films, directed by Kenji Misumi, were released in 1972 and produced by Shintaro Katsu, Tomisaburo Wakayama's brother and the star of the 26 part Zatoichi film series. The next three films were produced by Wakayama himself and directed by Buichi Saito, Kenji Misumi and Yoshiyuki Kuroda, released in 1972, 1973, and 1974 respectively. The more famous Shogun Assassin (1980) was an English language compilation for the American audience, edited mainly from the second film, with 11 minutes of footage from the first. Also, the third film, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades was re-released on DVD in the US under the name Shogun Assassin 2: Lightning Swords of Death. In the second film, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx, we find the disgraced former executioner Ogami Ittō living rough on the land with his three-year-old son Daigoro, continuously travelling the countryside as a hired killer. Still pushing his son in a baby cart, he stops at a bathhouse looking for a room and a bath and is eagerly welcomed in by a young woman. However, the manager of the house sees Ittō as a dirty vagabond and scolds the young woman for letting him in the house. Overhearing this, Ittō goes to the baby cart and retrieves a bundle and hands it to the manager for safe keeping – it is 500 gold pieces, earned from a recent job. The manager's tone quickly changes and treats the pair as his guests. However, Ittō's activities are being watched by the Kurokawa spy clan of shinobi-class ninja, which have fallen in with Ittō's nemesis, the Shadow Yagyū. They report on his activities to Sayaka, head of Akari Yagyū clan of female assassins. But the Kurokawa are unsure that the women are up to the task of killing Ittō. Sayaka laughs confidently and tells the Kurokawas' leader to send their best man into the room. She then orders the man to try to exit the room. He tries to do so by grappling onto the ceiling, but the female assassins set upon him and make short work of him, hacking off his ears, fingers, arms and legs, leaving the man a writhing heap of just a torso and head before he is finally finished off. It’s up there as one of my favorite samurai scenes of all time, thanks to Sayaka forced laugh (often parodied) and the ridiculous amounts of gore. Ittō, meanwhile, is hired by a clan that specializes in making indigo dye and has a secret process. One of the clan plans to sell out the secret to the shōgun. Ittō must kill him. The turncoat will be escorted by the three Hidari brothers, each a master of a deadly weapon – the iron claw, the flying mace and a pair of armored gloves. There is a strong ‘The Good, The Bad and the Ugly about the Hidari brothers with most of their scenes looking like something out of a Sergio Leone movie. As he travels to his job, Ittō encounters three groups of female assassins. The first group is disguised as an acrobat troupe that turns deadly as their gymnastic moves are combined with blades and turned against Ittō. He then encounters a pair of women who with blades on their straw hats that they throw at Ittō as if they are Frisbees. Finally, some women washing vegetables by the river turn out to be assassins and the daikons they are washing are wielded as weapons. Ittō kills them all. Then he meets Sayaka, who catches him, his son and the baby cart in a steel net. Ittō cuts his way out of the net and engages in a sword duel with her. He delivers what should be a disabling blow to her ankles, but the woman fighter jumps straight up out of her kimono to reveal a fishnet body suit and then runs away, bizarrely jogging backwards in what is one of my favorite simple special effects of all time. The Kurokawa clan are waiting for Ittō, who puts together his naginata (disguised as railing on the baby cart) and gives the baby cart a shove toward the waiting enemies. Daigoro, still in the baby cart then activates blades in the axles of the cart, which cut off the feet of several men. The battle that ensues between Ittō and the Kurokawas is fierce and Ittō is injured before he has killed them all. Weary from the endless fighting, Ittō struggles along the road and eventually finds shelter in a shack. Daigoro, seeing that his father needs his help, must do what he can. Unable to carry water in his tiny hands, Daigoro carries water from the river in his mouth. He spits the few drops he could carry between his father's parched lips. For food, Daigoro finds some rice cakes given as an offering to a Buddha statue and takes them for his father, leaving his vest in exchange. Ittō recovers and finds that his son is missing. Daigoro has been taken by the Kurokawa and Sayaka, tied up and suspended over a water well. If Ittō attacks, they will let go of the rope and Daigoro will plunge to his death. Daigoro lets his sandal drop into the well, giving Ittō a gauge of how deep it is. He then makes his move as the rope unspools, stopping it just in time. Sayaka watches silently and makes no move to engage the swordsman, realising his technique far outstrips her own and perhaps also out of a sense of honor for the devotion of the father to his child. Ittō then finds himself aboard a ship, carrying the three Hidari brothers. Ittō is met by several other members of the indigo-dye clan, who try to kill the Hidaris but are bloodily rebuffed. The clan then sets the ship on fire in an attempt to kill the Hidaris, but the three killers escape. Ittō tosses Daigoro and the baby cart into the water, knowing the cart can float. Sayaka has followed Ittō onto the ship and in the water, she tries to kill him, but is disarmed. Ittō, with Daigoro and Sayaka, find shelter, but they are cold. Ittō disrobes himself and Daigoro, then turns on Sayaka, tearing off her clothes. But he does not mean to rape her as is suggested. Instead, he is seeking to get her out of her cold, wet clothes and cling to her while nude. "Three people are warmer than two," he explains. She thinks about taking his sword and killing him, but the cozy scene, with Daigoro sitting between them, playfully fondling her breast (and Itto's), makes her abandon the plan. The final showdown takes place on a vast area of sand dunes. The Hidari brothers are at the head of a caravan of men carrying a palanquin with the indigo expert inside. The brother with the iron claw suddenly runs forward and thrusts his claw into the sand, which boils up with blood. There are men hiding in the sand and, in some pretty gory scenes, even for a samurai film, he digs his claw into the sand several times, each time creating a pool of blood and pulling up a hiding warrior by his head. The rest of the hidden men in the sand emerge and fight, but the Hidari brothers dispatch them all. Ittō awaits, alone, at the top of a large dune. Each brother is dispatched in a high-pressure spray of blood, with the last brother dispatched in a lethal stroke along the throat, a cut that sprays blood in a fine mist, while making a sound like the "howling of the wind". The final slain Hidari brother comments such a fabled finishing stroke is referred to as "Mogaribue", and wishes he had heard the sound just once from the many people he has killed, but is instead hearing it from his own neck as his life slowly drains away. Ittō approaches the palanquin with the traitorous indigo expert inside, quickly finishing him before gathering Daigoro and again setting off. The end sees them out of the desert and on a coastal trail, followed by Sayaka. Aware of her presence Ittō stops the cart, looking straight ahead whilst holding out his dotanuki blade, as Sayaka wielding a katana is revealed behind him. Ittō stands ominously still until he hears the sound of Sayaka dropping her sword; knowing that she can never defeat the master swordsman. Those who have seen Shogun Assassin will recognise this film and it will probably make more sense, especially without the American child narration. I would argue that it was far more enjoyable than the first installment, which is probably exactly why they made most of Shogun Assassin from it, but its better thanks to the context of the first film. Both are classics but its funny when no one ever mentions Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx when talking about sequels that are better than the originals.

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades
Dir: Kenji Misumi
1972
*****
The Lone Wolf and Cub series (known as ‘Wolf taking along his child’ in Japan) started out as a manga comic created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima. First published in 1970, the story was later adapted into six films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, four plays, a television series starring Kinnosuke Yorozuya and is widely recognized as an important and influential work. Lone Wolf and Cub chronicles the story of Ogami Ittō, the shōgun's executioner who uses a dōtanuki battle sword. Disgraced by false accusations from the Yagyū clan, he is forced to take the path of the assassin. Along with his three-year-old son, Daigorō, they seek revenge on the Yagyū clan and are known as "Lone Wolf and Cub". A total of six Lone Wolf and Cub films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama as Ogami Ittō and Tomikawa Akihiro as Daigoro have been produced based on the manga. They are also known as the Sword of Vengeance series, based on the English-language title of the first film, and later as the Baby Cart series, because young Daigoro travels in a baby carriage pushed by his father. The first three films, directed by Kenji Misumi, were released in 1972 and produced by Shintaro Katsu, Tomisaburo Wakayama's brother and the star of the 26 part Zatoichi film series. The next three films were produced by Wakayama himself and directed by Buichi Saito, Kenji Misumi and Yoshiyuki Kuroda, released in 1972, 1973, and 1974 respectively. The more famous Shogun Assassin (1980) was an English language compilation for the American audience, edited mainly from the second film, with 11 minutes of footage from the first. The third film, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades, was re-released on DVD in the US under the name Shogun Assassin 2: Lightning Swords of Death. The story picks off pretty much where the last film ended and we see the disgraced former shōgun's executioner Ogami Ittō traveling by river on a boat with his young son Daigoro floating behind in the baby cart. A young distraught woman at the front of the boat accidentally drops a bundle into the water, which Daigoro retrieves. Ittō, draws his sword partway and notices in the reflection on the blade that some bamboo reeds are trailing the boat. Ittō is being followed by operatives of his mortal enemy, the Yagyū Clan – a constant threat that he can never ignore. Later, as Daigorou is relieving himself in a bamboo glade, Ittō slices some bamboo stalks, causing some ninja to fall from their perch. This is a time when there are rōnin, samurai who lost their retainership, and watari-kashi, wandering low-class fighters who mostly served for parade, working from one daimyō to the next. A group of four watari-kashi are idling along the road. Hot and bored, they spy an attractive young woman and her mother being escorted by a servant. Three of them run off to take advantage, but one of the band – Kanbei, the more honorable of the four – remains uninterested. The three knock the escort unconscious and proceed to rape the two women. The servant regains consciousness and is furious when he sees the triad violating his mistresses. He attempts to beat them with his bamboo pole, but is slain by Kanbei, who then also slays the two women to silence them. Kanbei then makes his three companions draw straws, saying the one unfortunate enough to draw the short straw will be killed to take the blame for the rapes and murders. Ittō happens along this grim scene just as Kanbei is slaying the watari-kashi who drew the short straw. Ittō kills the other two rapists when they attempt to attack him. Kanbei recognizes Ittō and requests a duel. Ittō accepts and they prepare, but at the last second Ittō re-sheathes his sword and calls it a draw, leaving Kanbei to ponder his fate alone. "You are a true warrior," Ittō says, "One I hope lives on." At an inn, it turns out that the young woman from the boat is to be sold into prostitution. Her pimp tries to have his way with her, but she bites off his tongue, spitting the bloody appendage onto the floor. The pimp dies from the injury. The girl seeks refuge in Ittō's room, who steps in to protect her from the local police. But then the yakuza, the town's real authorities, arrive led by a woman named Torizo, from the clan Koshio. After some verbal sparring and defending himself against Torizo's pistol, Ittō agrees to act as a substitute for the young woman and undergo buri-buri (literally "angrily"), a form of torture that involves the subject being hogtied and hung in the air and repeatedly dunked headfirst into a tub of water. The subject is then beaten to unconsciousness by men wielding thick rattan canes and shouting "buri-buri". Ittō endures the torture with his typical stoicism. This frees the young woman from having work as a prostitute. Ittō, still considered responsible for the death of the pimp, agrees to meet a one-armed man who turns out to be Miura Tatewaki, former first retainer of the Kakegawa clan. Ittou knew him in court when he had to execute the insane daimyō Kakegawa Ujishige, Miura had to restrain his struggling daimyou, sacrificing his arm to Ittō's killing stroke. Torizo is in fact Miura's own daughter, Miura Tori, who because of the taboo on twins was secretly raised by the Koshio clan. The Miuras want Ittou to kill the man responsible for the fall of their clan as well as 400 other Kakegawa retainers (and for the death of Tori's twin sister) Sawatari Genba, a corrupt officer who sold out the Kakegawa clan to minister Itakura to become governor of the district of Totomi. The third instalment is easily the more complicated of the first three films. Incidentally Sawatari wants to hire Ittou to kill minister Itakura who will be visiting, but Ittou refuses. While giving the slip to Sawatari's men, Ittou is attacked by Yagyuu's ninjas that had been following him. The next day, Ittō has to face the governor's personal bodyguards, one of whom is a sharpshooter and quick-draw artist who wields a pair of revolvers. Through cunning and guile (and the help of his young son Daigorou, who acts as a decoy), Ittō defeats the armed man and takes his guns. The other bodyguard is defeated in a sword duel. Ittō's battle culminates in his facing the governor's army of two-hundred men singlehandedly. For the first time, the true power of the baby cart is revealed as harbors an entire arsenal of weapons, including spears, daggers, a bullet-proof shield, and a small battery of guns, capable of taking out many enemy soldiers like a heavy machine gun. All of the governor's men are killed as Ittō first takes out half of them with the baby cart's machine gun, and then takes out the rest with his sword and other weapons from the baby cart. The governor is the last to fall when Ittō, deprived of his sword as he falls down an embankment, takes out the pistols he took from the sharpshooter and shoots the governor. Word of the fight has been passed to neighboring districts, and the ronin Kanbei shows up just after Ittō has slain the governor, and makes his demand again for a duel. Though battle-weary, Ittō accepts the challenge. The fight is over in an instant. Ittō is sliced across his back, but Kanbei is mortally wounded, impaled on Ittō's Dōtanuki battle sword. As Kanbei kneels to the ground, dying, he tells Ittō the story of why he became a ronin – a tale involving an ambush on his master's convoy. Seeing his side outnumbered, Kanbei seized an opportunity and ran ahead to attack the enemy head on. He surprised the enemy and prevailed in deflecting the hostiles, and saved the lord's life as a result, but since he left his lord's side, he was dishonored and expelled from the clan. He questions Ittō whether he had done the wrong thing, and whether being a samurai means to fight and live, or to simply never leave the master's side and die. Ittō replied that he would have done the same. "I am glad to hear that", Kanbei says, who then asks the former shogun's executioner to act as his "second" in the act of seppuku. This Ittō does with honor. When asked by Kanbei what is the true "Way of the Warrior", Ittō replies that it is neither to simply live nor die, but to live through death. It’s a wonderful bit of melodrama, just before one of the best be-headings in film history. As Ittō walks away and Torizo begins to runs after him, but is stopped by her men. They implore her not to go to him, saying he is not human, but a monster. It was to be the last film with Kenji Misumi at the helm and although all the films in the series are good, there is something special about the first three.

Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance
Dir: Kenji Misumi
1972
*****
The Lone Wolf and Cub series (known as ‘Wolf taking along his child’ in Japan) started out as a manga comic created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima. First published in 1970, the story was later adapted into six films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, four plays, a television series starring Kinnosuke Yorozuya and is widely recognized as an important and influential work. Lone Wolf and Cub chronicles the story of Ogami Ittō, the shōgun's executioner who uses a dōtanuki battle sword. Disgraced by false accusations from the Yagyū clan, he is forced to take the path of the assassin. Along with his three-year-old son, Daigorō, they seek revenge on the Yagyū clan and are known as "Lone Wolf and Cub". A total of six Lone Wolf and Cub films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama as Ogami Ittō and Tomikawa Akihiro as Daigoro have been produced based on the manga. They are also known as the Sword of Vengeance series, based on the English-language title of the first film, and later as the Baby Cart series, because young Daigoro travels in a baby carriage pushed by his father. The first three films, directed by Kenji Misumi, were released in 1972 and produced by Shintaro Katsu, Tomisaburo Wakayama's brother and the star of the 26 part Zatoichi film series. The next three films were produced by Wakayama himself and directed by Buichi Saito, Kenji Misumi and Yoshiyuki Kuroda, released in 1972, 1973, and 1974 respectively. The more famous Shogun Assassin (1980) was an English language compilation for the American audience, edited mainly from the second film, with 11 minutes of footage from the first. Also, the third film, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades was re-released on DVD in the US under the name Shogun Assassin 2: Lightning Swords of Death. While I love Shogun Assassin and the weird American child narration, you can’t beat the originals and they should be watched over the edited remake. Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance starts at the beginning. Set in Japan during an unspecific year of the Edo period, Ogami Ittō, disgraced former executioner, or Kogi Kaishakunin, to the shōgun, wanders the countryside, pushing a baby cart with his 3-year-old son Daigoro inside. A banner hangs off his back. "Ogami: Suiouryo technique" (Child and expertise for rent). His services are asked for in a most unexpected way, when an insane woman seizes Daigoro from the cart and proceeds to try to breastfeed the boy. Daigoro at first hesitates, but after stern look from his father, he proceeds to suckle the crazy woman's breast. The woman's mother then apologizes for her daughter's behavior and tries to give Ittō money, but the stoic rōnin refuses, saying his son was hungry anyway. As he walks in the rain, he remembers another rainy day several months earlier when his wife, Asami, was slain by three ninjas, ostensibly in revenge for Ittō's execution of a boy daimyō, but it was really part of a complicated plot by the shōgun's inspector Bizen and the "Shadow" Yagyū Clan to frame Ittō for treason and take over the executioner's post. Now a wandering assassin for hire, Ittō takes a job from a Chamberlain, to kill a rival and his gang of henchmen, who pose a threat to the chamberlain's lord. The chamberlain plans to test Ittō, but a quick slash behind his back with his Dōtanuki sword dispatches the chamberlain's two men. The targets are in a remote mountain village that is home to hot-spring spa pools. As Ittō pushes the baby cart, and Daigoro observes scenes of nature, such as a mother dog suckling one puppy, and two children singing a song and bouncing a ball, Ittō thinks back again to the time just after his wife was killed. He gave Daigoro a choice between a toy ball or the sword. If the child chose the ball, Ittō would put him to death send him to be with his mother – a better place in his opinion. But the curious child reaches for the sword – he has chosen to take the path of the ronin with his father, to live like demons at the crossroads to hell between fire and water – shown literally in one of the film’s most iconic scenes. Eventually, Ittō reaches the hot-spring village. He finds that the rival chamberlain and his men have hired a band of ronins who have taken over the town and are raping, looting and pillaging. Ittō is forced to give up his sword and take his place as a hostage in the village. The ronins discuss killing Ittō, but then decide to let him live if he will have sex with the town's remaining prostitute while they watch. The prostitute refuses to have any part in it, but then she's threatened by one of the men, a knife expert, and in order to save the woman, Ittō steps forward and disrobes, saying he will do the men's bidding with the woman.The episode takes one more trip back to the past, for the dramatic beheading and blood-spurting scene in which Ittō defeats one of Yagyū Retsudo's best swordsman, with the aid of a mirror on Daigoro's forehead to reflect the sun into the swordsman's eyes. And then there is the big showdown in the village, where it is revealed that the baby cart harbors some secrets – various edged weapons, including a spear-like naginata, which Ittō uses to take out the evil chamberlain's men, chopping one off at his knees, leaving the bloody stumps of his lower legs still standing on the ground. One of the men has matchlock pistols, but Ittō quickly upturns the baby cart, which is revealed to be armored underneath, and when the gunman's pistols are empty, Ittō quickly leaps over the baby cart and brings his blade down on the man's forehead, splitting it in two. Ittō leaves the village, and the prostitute hopes to follow, but Ittō makes a motion to cut the ropes on the bridge leading to town, to stop her from following, for the journey he is on is one that is for only him and Daigoro to make. Its gore and fight scenes are infamous and are now the stuff of cult legend. Zatoichi had covered a similar plot and had moments of violence but it wasn’t until the early 70s and the rise of Exploitation films did we see the likes of Lone Wolf and Cub, Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion and Hanzo the Razor. Exploitation and Chanbara seemed to work well together but it was Lone Wolf and Cub that had the longevity and would really make its mark on the world. It’s nearly always the first Chanbara film that people think of and the first one to be parodied – such is its influence. Tomisaburo Wakayama is awesome as the larger than life anti-hero Ogami Ittō and there is so much more to the idea than simple gimmick. Kenji Misumi’s direction is superb, hugely influential to the genre and to modern American cinema in general. It’s a cult classic, the film you had to see to be welcomed into any school or collage film club. If your older brother had a copy then you were king of the school play ground back in the 80s and it remains a well-loved Samurai classic.