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Has any one seen these series of movies?There is like 20 of them. I just rented what I think was the last in the series and thought that it was pretty good. If you don't know anything about these movies they are about a blind swords man and his wanderings around Japan. I have the destinct feeling that Quentin Tarenteno ripped off alot of scenes from these movies because, because some scenes from Kill Bill are almost shot for shot the same as the ones in Zatochi.
The movie has some really crazy fight scenes, exspecially at the end where Zatochi takes on a entire army of samurai. The movie is filled with lots a squirting blood and chopped off limbs.
A must see for anyone who likes Japanise flixs.

I love the Zatoichi flicks. note the 1st "i" before the c. a lot of them have been released on dvd now. i can't wait to see the new one, is that the one you saw? the Takeshi Kitano reamke?

Kill Bill doesn't rip-off Zatochi or any other films that it emulates because Tarantino put together Kill Bill as a tribute to the types of cinema he loved as a child, which included Kung-fu (martial arts), Spagetti Westerns, and such others.

The fact that at times Kill Bill has a similar style is just on of the way Tarantino decided to compose his love letter to "grindhouse" cinema as it is now called.

Aren't they making a new Zatochi film or something?

I didn't mean that Tarentino ripped off Zatochi I just ment that there were some obvious things that Tarentino took from the Zatochi movies. I realise that Kill Bill is a homage to all of the crazy kung-fu flicks of the past.Its largly in part of Kill Bill that I have been looking so hard for these kung-fu gems.

I would like to know more about these movies.... like when were they made? (I expect 1970 or something) and what are their actual names? I don't think it's zatoichi 1 zatoitchi 2 etc.
Kill Bill got me interested in this type of movies too so I would like to know this :)

thier is alot of zatoichi movies out thier. they spand from 1962 to 1989. u can get 14 of them from home vision entertainment and 7 from animeego. (sorry i dont know all the movies names). thiers a all new one coming out in june in the US in the movies.

"Dont be a fool for ur tool"

Could you post a link to those sites?

Evil Doc, you should check out a cool book called "Asian Pop Cinema." It has a lot of info about 70's samurai films, and it talks a lot about Shintaro Katsu, who played Zatoichi in all the 70's films, and it also talks a lot about the director of them. Great informational book with a lot of nice colorful photos to compliment it's info.

Also, Zatoichi was remade recently by the Japanese filmmaker and media star Takeshi Kitano, and from what I've been reading it sounds real promising.



Post Edited (04-26-04 10:23)

Whoops. Misread your post, anyway these movies are in black and white if I am not mistaken?

Thanks for the tip :)
I found a book called 'asian cult cinema' ..... is that the one you mean?
it's description is: From the martial arts magic of Jackie Chan to the heroic bloodshed of John Woo, from the somber charm of Chow-Yun Fat to the demented horror of Ho Menga, this "definitive guide to contemporary Asian films", (Max Allan Collins) bring this fast, frenzied filmmaking to a brave new audience.

There are at least three companies putting out Zatoichi DVDs here in the states.  You can find the various titles--around twenty of them, with more to come (eventually including, I'd assume, the TV show episodes based on the character) --by going to http://www.dvdpricesearch.com and doing a title search for Zatoichi.

In 1989, Philip "Clear and Present Danger" Noyce made an American version/update of Zatoichi.  The film was called Blind Fury and Rutgar Hauer played the role.

The recent Zatoichi movie (2003)  was made by Japanese media maven 'Beat' Takeshi, who wrote, directed and starred in the film.

Haven't seen any of the older Zatoichi titles, but I saw the latest one, the one directed by Takeshi Kitano (yep, the one Ken Begg mentions) and thought it was great. It is a must see if you are into samurai movies and asian stuff.

I believe only the very 1st film in the original Zatoichi series was in black and white.

I've seen two of them "Masseur Ichi and the Chest of Gold" and another one from roughly the same mid 60s part of the series. Very enjoyable, tame violence wise compared to "the Razor" series or "Lone Wolf and Cub" films. Shintaro Katsu was a charming and funny lead actor in addition to a skilled physical performer and swordsman. I love how his swordfighting style is underhanded  because of the way his cane is carried, and involves lots of broad diagonal slashes. This seems like someone put some though into how a swordsman might actually fight if he was unable to see his opponents, their angle of attack, and their stances.

I look forward to seeing more of the films including "Zatoichi vs. Yojimbo" featuring Toshiro Mifune as his popular character. The new Takeshi Kitano version sounds interesting too.

From what I've read and when I've seen QT in interviews, he was drawing on/stealing from/paying homage to many Japanese films for elements of "Kill Bill", although the one he seems to be singling out and telling people to go find is one called "Lady Snowblood". Haven't seen it, but the House of Blue Leaves segment seems to lean on it a lot from what a NYT article naming his influences said. I thought the look of the scenery and the fight in the snow between O-ren and the Bride reminded me of parts of the film "Sword of Doom", but that's just me.

Man Yaddo those are all great films you're talking about. I saw Sword of Doom a long time ago and it's nihilistic characters really made a big impression on me. And Hanzo is just straight up distasteful (but pretty humurous, if you don't have an uptight sense of humor). And for those out there seeking the most goriest of old samurai flicks check out the Lone Wolf & Cub series: you will not be dissapointed.

hello all....i just watched Zatochi on the big screen!..it was great!

I've been wanting to rent these for a while from Hollywood Video, but have always wanted to rent YOJIMBO if I were in the mood for a Samarai film and now you have the DVD release THE LAST SAMARAI so it may take me awhile to rent the few ZATOCHI films they have. ZATOCHI sounds like a good one.



Post Edited (05-24-04 23:47)