Guest Sigitolo Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Greetings, Who has this on dvd. One of my favorite flicks. It's time to upgrade from cd-r to dvd. Thanks! SiGiToLo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Daisho2004 Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 This is a great movie indeed, but it doesn't have a legit DVD release as of yet, but if you want a great copy of this movie then you have to go to the main sourse. which is Merlin over at samuraidvd.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest venoms5 Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 Actually, that would be fareastflix that did that disc. NINJA BAND OF ASSASSINS with Raizo is also very good and extremely violent for a b/w picture. WICKED PRIEST is another one to look out for with Tomisaburo Wakayama from LONE WOLF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vengeanceofhumanlanterns Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 I just watched this film last night. Excellent movie. I just had to do a quick review of this film. At the beginning of the story two samurai (Jurotai is one of them/being the main villian in the end) are running an errand and are made fun of by a neighboring clansman. They cut him down as he turns to leave and before they can finish him off (to avoid being blamed) passerby's interupt them and the mortally wounded samurai mounts his horse, which he dies on as it returns to his clan. The Iwashiro Clan's sensei shows up at the Minazuki Clan demanding the killer to be handed over. This causes a crisis in the Minazuki Clan as the Iwashiro Clan is larger and more powerful. And this is how Ichikawa Raizo's character comes into the story. Raizo is about to marry the daughter of an important Minazuki Clan member. Raizo himself is also a respected samurai of the same clan. His future father in law requests of Raizo to take responsibilty for the murder while he tries to smooth things out. Raizo agrees seeing that he's been promised by him that his name will be cleared in a while on pain of his (the father's) comitting harakiri. Jurotai over hears all this and starts making his plans. While Raizo is gone he takes some abuse as being noticed he's more than a mere construction worker. Shortly after this incident he decides to dress and move about through society as the samurai he is. The time comes when he's to meet his fiance's father (secretly), who's passed away meanwhile, but is greeted by another clan member who has taken over and plans on using the current situation to his advantage. Jurotai is still patiently planning. Raizo demands a samurai's sense of honor but is attacked instead. This leads to Raizo's being outcast from his clan becoming a very real and painful realization. In fact this is where the story, and especially the dialogue, grows more intense. The first 35min. of the film is rather mundane with a fight scene here or there. Raizo meets a very pretty woman (the chick from Zatoichi/On The Road), and throws away his ties to his former clan. They almost take one another but Raizo can't fully let go of his would be fiance. She runs off and is accosted by two samurai who (seemingly) rape her and then kill her. Raizo was not far behind, for he was going to accept her at once, but then finds her dead body. This is where Raizo realy starts showing what he's made of as an actor. He is hired as a mercenary by some clan and starts drinking like a fish. There is an excellent scene where Jurotai finds Raizo's whereabouts and is brought to him, being told all he does is sit there morosley drinking all day, when they arrive at Raizo's table he looks up and he is totally wasted. Later, Jurotai feigns friendship with Raizo and tries to get him completely wasted so he can lure him outside and cut him down in front of about 150 witnesses, including the Iwashiro Clan, and government officials of some meager sort. This brings us to another awesome scene where as their heading out the door (Raizo has no idea what awaits him outside) he sees his would be fiance on the stairs and approaches her to take her with him. As their walking out the door swords come flying at him out of nowhere, the scheme is revealed to him as he's cornered and holding his now considered wife who's very worried, but Raizo tries to reassure her and comes out with what must be one of the best quotes I've heard in a long time; "Namie-dono, don't give up! DON'T LET YOUR FATE CRUSH YOU!". This is where Ichikawa Raizo really proves himself as one of the best leading actors of his genre. While he's slaughtering common soldiers, teachers, and heads of clans, he falls down in exhaustion only to continue wiping out any who dare aproach him from his prostrate position. Another superb scene is where he breaks his sword cutting down on another's, and after killing a few more with his short sword, has to back into a corner and begin peeling (with difficulty) his cramped fingers from the hilt of the broken sword. This movie builds slowly at first, but appropriately so, I feel. As the story unfolds it becomes progressively painful (convincingly) for Raizo's character, who transforms from being respectful and mild mannered into a state of despair and remorse, which erupts into a fearless thirst to kill all who oppose him. The film only gets darker and more dismal as it comes to the final showdown, which in itself (amazingly) continues to its end unpredictably, courageously, and with a thorough sense of justice being done. I give this film a 9/10 I got my copy at samuraidvd.com and Merlin was a pleasure to do business with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sigitolo Posted April 1, 2006 Share Posted April 1, 2006 You guys are awesome! Thanks for the info. I immediately recalled that one of my old contacts has the movie on dvd. I'm expecting a dvd print any day now. For those of you who do not have the movie, beg, borrow, or steal a copy. This is a damn good movie, imo. Regards, SiGiToLo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vengeanceofhumanlanterns Posted May 11, 2006 Share Posted May 11, 2006 Just watched this again. What a great movie. This has got be one of Ichikawa Raizo's best films. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gengobei Posted June 1, 2006 Share Posted June 1, 2006 The quality of your dvd is really good ? It's not like the other bootleg ? (hard to watch with this "bad" image). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vengeanceofhumanlanterns Posted June 5, 2006 Share Posted June 5, 2006 gengobei, If your referring to me, ya the quality is great, though the audio is'nt as crisp as the picture. Still it's not so bad really. Besides you won't find a copy with english subs otherwise. If your an Ichikawa Raizo fan your missing out if you don't have this flick. The picture quality is excellent. The audio quality on a rating of 1 - 10 would be a 7 I guess. Also the subtitles are very easy to read and the translation from japanese to english is well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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