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DVD Hanzo the Razor
Are you a fan of samurai films, but wish they were somehow...dirtier? Welcome to the deranged world of Hanzo the Razor, a weird blend of swordplay and sexploitation. The first Hanzo movie, Sword of Justice, came out a year after Shaft and Dirty Harry and fuses the influence of both: stout and surly Hanzo (Shintaro Katsu), a rebellious yet obsessively moral samurai, is also enormously well-endowed and provides almost unbearable pleasure to the women he "interrogates"--that is to say, rapes in the name of the law. Hanzo also tortures and blackmails without qualm as he slices through crime, uncovering corruption at higher levels in each progressive film. In Sword of Justice he overturns his own craven superiors; in The Snare, he breaks into a temple used by local magistrates for the sadistic torture of young girls; in Who's Got the Gold, the shogunate treasury is being looted by its own officials--had there been a fourth film, Hanzo would probably have confronted the shogun himself. But while the movies wallow in Hanzo's ruthless treatment of criminals and women, it also ogles the torture Hanzo inflicts upon himself! Sword of Justice will knock you sideways as you struggle to balance Hanzo's puritanical code with his masochism and brutality (as well as the funky '70s soundtrack). The Snare and Who's Got the Gold?, disappointingly repeat many of the same routines (in particular, the "net torture" of female suspects). But while the fight choreography in the first two films is often crude, Who's Got the Gold (directed by Yoshio Inoue) has more visual finesse and social commentary--not many movies combine temple orgies and geysers of blood with inflation, unemployment, and high interest rates. (There's a particularly eerie scene in which a samurai in debt is hounded by a pack of blind men.) Hanzo the Razor undoubtedly influenced the moral outrage/leering voyeurism mix of Death Wish and its ilk, but Shintaro Katsu's gleeful ferocity (in contrast with Charles Bronson's dour, repressed deadpan) makes this trilogy stranger and sleazier. Katsu was also the star of the hugely popular Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman series. --Bret Fetzer
What other reviewers have already said is true. Hanzo's method of interrogating female suspects is by raping them with his enormous member and then holding back until they confess. Yes, its sick, twisted, and perverted (and extremely degrading towards women).
This is the most offensive thing I've encountered since John Norman's "Gor" series. I assumed, from others' descriptions, that it would be so over the top that it would be sort of a parody, like "Riki-Oh", or "Death Wish 3". Sadly, its more offensive because its not over the top enough, if you get my meaning.
Sadly, the sheer shock value is about all these movies have going for them. Customers like myself who were blown away by "Lone Wolf and Cub", and who are seeking more of the same will be sorely disappointed. The fight sequences are nowhere near in the same league, and they're few and far between. I didn't find any of the story lines to be of particular interest. I kept dozing off during "Sword of Justice". I had trouble following it, because my mind kept wandering, because I was SO BORED!!! Seriously.
Each film is better than the one that proceeded it, but that's not saying much. Seriously, the only thing that makes these movies remotely interesting is the afoementioned depictions of rape, but by the 3rd film, the "joke" has completely worn thin. Save your money.
Dead-Pan Bawdy Fun
What can you say about a guy like Hanzo Itami? He's a cop in the shogun's police force, a lone wolf, incorruptible, grim and dedicated to putting the bad guys away. If that means stepping on his superiors' toes or breaking a few rules, so be it. He's also a master swordsman and skilled in the martial arts. He's not above using torture to get the truth. He's tortured himself (he has the scars to prove it) so that he will know how much to use on others. And for women, he's trained his shorter sword to be just as tough. He uses beatings with a wooden stick, scalding water and weights to, ah, bring it up and ready. Whether he's using the twisting basket technique or the power thrust, he'll have a female suspect begging to tell the truth...and then begging for more.
Think of a samurai Dirty Harry combined with soft porn. The sex is often ludicrous but funny because the movie doesn't play it for laughs. The director knows everything is a send-up and is careful not to wink at the audience. There's plenty of sword action -- the long sword kind -- to keep things moving. Blood squirts like squished tomatoes. A slash through a backbone is handled, well, kind of delicately.
The movie works because it is so outrageously non-PC, because it determinedly takes everything seriously, and because of a great performance by Shitaro Katsu as Hanzo. Katsu starred in the Zaitoichi movies and he brings a lot of dead pan authority to the role. He's a solid guy, a bit pudgy in the face, and no one would mistake him for a Japanese Clint Eastwood. But he also looks like a fellow you wouldn't want to mess with.
Now, what's the story about? I'm not sure. As best as I can tell Hanzo, an honest cop, realizes his superior is corrupt and that the connection might reach into Edo Castle, the home of the Tokugawa Shogunate. He tracks down the truth, encountering a notorious murderer, Killer Kanbei, whom everyone thought had been exiled. He forces the truth from two women, and discovers what the conspiracy had been all about. And at the end of the movie, with the case solved, he helps out a poor young girl and her little brother [...]. His good deed brings the first and only smile to Hanzo's face. You've have to see it.
This is a funny movie balancing on the border between outrageousness and bawdiness. The movie comes as part of a three pack. The other two movies are The Snare and Who's Got the Gold? The joke is the same for all three and I may not get around to watching them soon. The DVD transfer looks very good although there is one jump that I assume came from two or three seconds of lost film. There are no extras to speak of but the case holds brief liner notes that describe the manga comic book origin of the Hanzo character, how the movie came to be made and the importance of Shintaro Katsu.
Terrific Hanzo the Razor Series
After having used the Laser Disc set of these films for years it is really nice to see HVE come out with the definative DVD series in breathtaking sharp digital picture that rivals what I remember seeing in the theatre years ago, and certainly is far superior to any format available until now. The color is gorgeous, the subtitles accurate, and the sheer beauty of the transfers is wonderful indeed. This is my first Home Vision purchase, and certainly will NOT be my last. You owe it to yourself and your collection of Japanese films to purchase this set now!
A powerful remake of a popular jidai geki (period drama) that was first filmed in 1928, Ronin Gai also marks the final appearance of Shintaro Katsu, the Japanese actor best known for his title role in the long-lasting Zatoichi film series. Also known as Street of the Masterless Samurai, this intense chambera (swordplay) drama is set on the outskirts of Edo in the 1830s, where aimless Ronin waste what's left of their obsolete careers, drinking sake in a shabby restaurant where prostitutes provide cheap sex while hoping to marry out of their miserable fate. When a rogue band of the local shogun's retainers start slashing the prostitutes in a ruthless, self-righteous murder spree, the drunken samurai must sober up and retaliate, leading to a... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Kazuo Kuroki DVD Release Date: Released the 07 June 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The growly voiced sword star Shintaro Katsu was so well known for playing Zatoichi, the Blind Swordsman, that it's doubly amazing to see him acting mostly with his glistening black-marble eyes in this 1970 samurai suspense drama directed by Hiroshi Inagaki (Samurai Trilogy). The nominal star, Toshiro Mifune, who also produced, appears for the fourth and last time as the nameless wandering assassin he first portrayed in Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo. (The third was another collaboration with Katsu, Kihachi Okomoto's Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo.) But in this case the character is an observer and a catalyst of the action rather than a driving force. Ordered by his latest client only to proceed to a remote mountain pass and await further instructions, the bemused ronin... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Hiroshi Inagaki DVD Release Date: Released the 08 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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It's a good film and everything, but would i ever watch this again? After many positive reviews, i decided to buy this and add it to my samurai film collection(which includes Seven Samurai, Sanjuro, Yojimbo, Ran, Kagemusha, Shogun's Samurai, Shogun Assassin, Sword of Doom, Shogun's Ninja, a Sword of Vengeance and Zatoichi film or two, etc). I liked the movie, was caught up in the story and characters enough, and the ending had a good pay-off with an extended fight that was well done(great to see so many characters involved in such a desperate battle to accomplish their mission).
But here's the problem, that was the ONLY major fight/action sequence in the entire (lengthy)film. Plus, once you get the 'twist' in the story line(which is pretty easy to figure out), and you... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Kihachi Okamoto DVD Release Date: Released the 08 February 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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For once the liner notes are accurate; this was the best movie I had never heard of. In the first ten minutes of the film, I knew I was in for a treat when the female lead killed twenty or so thugs with her samurai sword, while completely butt-naked. What's not to love?
But this film has a lot more going for it than just graphic violence and kinky sex. The director's style of filmaking, the cinematography, the hypnotic imagery, and the soundtrack are just amazing. If you're like me, you'll find yourself humming the theme song.
Is it an erotic art-house flick or an exploitation film? You decide. This film is, in my opinion, a true cinematic masterpiece. I don't want to give away too many details because I don't want to spoil it for anyone. All I can say... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Norifumi Suzuki DVD Release Date: Released the 27 September 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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While The Godfather romanticized the American Mafia in the early 1970s, Kinji Fukasaku's five-film series known as The Yakuza Papers: Battles Without Honor & Humanity revolutionized the Japanese yakuza film with unprecedented intensity. A post-World War II epic that broke Japanese box-office records, this complex, utterly authentic cycle of gangster films replaced the popular ninkyo or "chivalry" films of the '60s with jitsuroku, an entirely new breed of gangster film that rose from the ashes of Hiroshima and post-war reconstruction, depicting a meticulously detailed "alternate history" (as Japanese film expert Tom Mes observes in the accompanying booklet) that had been ignored by the "official" factual record. Beginning with 1973's Battles Without... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Bunta Sugawara DVD Release Date: Released the 14 December 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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