Movie with best sword fighting scenes

[Yihetuan]

On 11/14/2020 at 5:10 PM, Shosetsu said:

In the Bounty Hunter series, Wakayama plays a tough guy.  But in his everyday guise, he has a job as a schoolteacher for small children.  In fact, quite a number of episodes open with him teaching a class for those kids.  I remember one episode where a small boy came to Waka to tell him a bully was picking on him.  The bully was of course much bigger than the boy.  So Waka advised the boy that the next time that he gets bullied, that the boy should counter by punching the bully in the groin.  So the next time, that's what the small boy did, and he succeeded because he defeated the bully.  

At the end of the episode, the boy came to Waka again.  He said he still has a problem with the bully, because now the bully put a wood slab over his groin to protect it.  So the bully is still a problem.  At this point, Wakayama says "Sorry, I don't know how I can help you.  You have to figure this out yourself."

Got around to watching a few episodes but I haven't seen the one where Ichibei fights the Dutch swordsman yet. Interesting to see a lot of gun play in these episodes and you weren't kidding about the arsenal at Ichibei's disposal. Neat to see repeating rifles and even an early version of a sawed off shotgun in action along with the usual sword fighting. I also enjoyed Judy Ong as Kagero, Ichibei's female bounty hunter sidekick with the ninja skills.

My favorite episode so far was the one involving the "godmother" (an Edo era Ma Barker) who leads her sons into a life of crime (including kidnapping a princess for ransom) to rebel against the heavy taxation and poor conditions the farmers are forced to live under Shogunate rule. That episode had a lot of cool gun action in tight quarters.

Also enjoyed the narration at the end of each episode that gives little historical tidbits of trivia and info about ancient Japan and how it ties into modern society. There was one episode where the narrator mentioned that 80% of marriage age women found the most suitable trait in a partner was his ability to provide income! I'm surprised it was only 80%!

[Shosetsu]

On 11/16/2020 at 9:15 PM, Yihetuan said:

Got around to watching a few episodes but I haven't seen the one where Ichibei fights the Dutch swordsman yet. Interesting to see a lot of gun play in these episodes and you weren't kidding about the arsenal at Ichibei's disposal. Neat to see repeating rifles and even an early version of a sawed off shotgun in action along with the usual sword fighting. I also enjoyed Judy Ong as Kagero, Ichibei's female bounty hunter sidekick with the ninja skills.

My favorite episode so far was the one involving the "godmother" (an Edo era Ma Barker) who leads her sons into a life of crime (including kidnapping a princess for ransom) to rebel against the heavy taxation and poor conditions the farmers are forced to live under Shogunate rule. That episode had a lot of cool gun action in tight quarters.

Also enjoyed the narration at the end of each episode that gives little historical tidbits of trivia and info about ancient Japan and how it ties into modern society. There was one episode where the narrator mentioned that 80% of marriage age women found the most suitable trait in a partner was his ability to provide income! I'm surprised it was only 80%!

Nice review, Yihetuan.  Although I don't have the dvds.  Because the info I gave was just from what I remember of the show when I saw the original broadcast during the 1970s.  By the way, besides the TV series--do you also have the 3 movies of Bounty Hunter too?

As for Wakayama's other TV series, the Mute Samurai, it might interest you to know that it was directed by that renowned movie-director Hideo Gosha who directed movie classics such as Goyokin.  He also directed the classic movie, Three Outlaw Samurai, starring Tetsuro Tamba.  Those three samurai-characters were NOT honorable, or at least not in the sense one would label a samurai, so those characters were controversial.  And yet there was also a Television-series of Three Samurai.  I don't know whether the TV series was an adaptation of Gosha's movie or not, because from watching the TV series, I remember the characterization was entirely different from the movie.  In the TV version, they seemed honorable, when compared with the movie.  While the main actor in the movie was Tetsuro Tamba, whereas the TV version had Hideki Takahashi as the main one.  

In googling the TV series, I find that the internet covers the movie only, but not the TV version.  Too bad, because the TV series always had great chambara action in the climaxes of each episode.  In the action segments, I also remember the character called Tako (Octopus) whose weapon of choice was the Yari (Spear).  That weapon was good for variety to use in addition to the Sword.  

 

[Yihetuan]

14 hours ago, Shosetsu said:

Nice review, Yihetuan.  Although I don't have the dvds.  Because the info I gave was just from what I remember of the show when I saw the original broadcast during the 1970s.  By the way, besides the TV series--do you also have the 3 movies of Bounty Hunter too?

As for Wakayama's other TV series, the Mute Samurai, it might interest you to know that it was directed by that renowned movie-director Hideo Gosha who directed movie classics such as Goyokin.  He also directed the classic movie, Three Outlaw Samurai, starring Tetsuro Tamba.  Those three samurai-characters were NOT honorable, or at least not in the sense one would label a samurai, so those characters were controversial.  And yet there was also a Television-series of Three Samurai.  I don't know whether the TV series was an adaptation of Gosha's movie or not, because from watching the TV series, I remember the characterization was entirely different from the movie.  In the TV version, they seemed honorable, when compared with the movie.  While the main actor in the movie was Tetsuro Tamba, whereas the TV version had Hideki Takahashi as the main one.  

In googling the TV series, I find that the internet covers the movie only, but not the TV version.  Too bad, because the TV series always had great chambara action in the climaxes of each episode.  In the action segments, I also remember the character called Tako (Octopus) whose weapon of choice was the Yari (Spear).  That weapon was good for variety to use in addition to the Sword.  

 

Unfortunately, I only have Fort of Death which was the 2nd film in the series. I believe the clip you linked to where Wakayama fights the Dutchman is the first film which I haven't acquired yet.

Thanks for the info about Gosha and the Three Samurai TV series adaptation. It sounds like interesting, although I would've preferred if they kept the anti-hero rogue characters of the movie. I also like the fact that Noboru Ando is cast as one of the three samurai as I've always enjoyed his scar face tough guy Yakuza portrayals. Appears the only one from the film to return to his role in the TV series was Isamu Nagato. I'll definitely have to pick up this TV series soon. Thanks for the recommendation!

[Shosetsu]

On 11/22/2020 at 7:41 AM, Yihetuan said:

Unfortunately, I only have Fort of Death which was the 2nd film in the series. I believe the clip you linked to where Wakayama fights the Dutchman is the first film which I haven't acquired yet.

Thanks for the info about Gosha and the Three Samurai TV series adaptation. It sounds like interesting, although I would've preferred if they kept the anti-hero rogue characters of the movie. I also like the fact that Noboru Ando is cast as one of the three samurai as I've always enjoyed his scar face tough guy Yakuza portrayals. Appears the only one from the film to return to his role in the TV series was Isamu Nagato. I'll definitely have to pick up this TV series soon. Thanks for the recommendation!

Thanks for the info on Noboru Ando's version of the Outlaw Samurai TV series.  In that case, there must be TWO tv series, because there was also the TV series starring Hideki Takahashi.  But Googling seems to limit to just the Ando series.  I saw the Takahashi version twice-- once on the broadcast, and then again about 15 years ago when somebody had uploaded an episode on Youtube.  So I remember very well that 3 Samurai TV with Takahashi.

Also accompanying Takahashi was the actor Koji Yakusho.  Yakusho was also in the movie, Hunter in the Dark, also directed by Hideo Gosha.  The only actor whose name I don't know is the actor who played Tako, the Spear-man.  Do you, Yihetuan, know whether any of the characters in the movie version used that spear or not?  And how about in the Ando version?  

 

[Yihetuan]

10 hours ago, Shosetsu said:

Thanks for the info on Noboru Ando's version of the Outlaw Samurai TV series.  In that case, there must be TWO tv series, because there was also the TV series starring Hideki Takahashi.  But Googling seems to limit to just the Ando series.  I saw the Takahashi version twice-- once on the broadcast, and then again about 15 years ago when somebody had uploaded an episode on Youtube.  So I remember very well that 3 Samurai TV with Takahashi.

Also accompanying Takahashi was the actor Koji Yakusho.  Yakusho was also in the movie, Hunter in the Dark, also directed by Hideo Gosha.  The only actor whose name I don't know is the actor who played Tako, the Spear-man.  Do you, Yihetuan, know whether any of the characters in the movie version used that spear or not?  And how about in the Ando version?  

 

yes, I believe Isamu Nagato's character used a spear in the movie. I've never seen the Ando version, so I can't comment on that version. I plan to pick it up though. I'm also not familiar with Hideki Takahashi's TV work to comment about it.  I remember his jidaigeki films quite well though like his portrayal of Musashi Miyamoto and also in the The Last Samurai (obviously not the Tom Cruise film but the Kenji Misumi one from the 70s).

[Shosetsu]

On 11/24/2020 at 4:23 PM, Yihetuan said:

yes, I believe Isamu Nagato's character used a spear in the movie. I've never seen the Ando version, so I can't comment on that version. I plan to pick it up though. I'm also not familiar with Hideki Takahashi's TV work to comment about it.  I remember his jidaigeki films quite well though like his portrayal of Musashi Miyamoto and also in the The Last Samurai (obviously not the Tom Cruise film but the Kenji Misumi one from the 70s).

While we're at it about actor Noboru Ando---did you know that before he acted in the movies that he used to be a Real-life Yakuza boss?  Here is an article from The New York Times telling about his Real-life Yakuza experiences >

https://www.tattooarchive.com/history/yakuza_noboru_ando.php

[Yihetuan]

7 hours ago, Shosetsu said:

While we're at it about actor Noboru Ando---did you know that before he acted in the movies that he used to be a Real-life Yakuza boss?  Here is an article from The New York Times telling about his Real-life Yakuza experiences >

https://www.tattooarchive.com/history/yakuza_noboru_ando.php

yeah, I knew about his past life as a real life Yakuza. He certainly brings "street cred" to his roles haha...just like Hong Kong actor, Michael Chan Wai-man who did all those triad films as he was also a real life gangster having worked his way up from prison correctional officer to a prominent position in the triads. That was an even stranger career trajectory than Ando!

[Shosetsu]

On 11/26/2020 at 5:55 AM, Yihetuan said:

yeah, I knew about his past life as a real life Yakuza. He certainly brings "street cred" to his roles haha...just like Hong Kong actor, Michael Chan Wai-man who did all those triad films as he was also a real life gangster having worked his way up from prison correctional officer to a prominent position in the triads. That was an even stranger career trajectory than Ando!

I know what you mean---sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.  While we're on Yakuza, how did you like the series, Kogarashi Monjiro?  I mean the one where Monjiro used to have a leaf between his front teeth, to use the leaf as a dart by blowing the leaf at any adversaries.  Come to think of it, that would be a good addition to the separate thread on weird weapons!

To get back on track about Sword-fights, there was a lot of Sword-action in this other series, Onihei Hankacho>>

 

 

 

[J.J. Hayden]

Whenever people mention sword fights in film, this is the first thing I think of.

 

[J.J. Hayden]

These are the other good sword duels I can think off top of my head.

 

[sym8]

I know it’s not a martial arts film but I’ve just watched the Antonio Banderas movie The Mask Of Zorro and the sword duel at the finale was great. 

[J.J. Hayden]

3 minutes ago, sym8 said:

I know it’s not a martial arts film but I’ve just watched the Antonio Banderas movie The Mask Of Zorro and the sword duel at the finale was great. 

That is an awesome movie, and yes the sword fights are very good, almost at HK level.

[ShaOW!linDude]

I just watched Ring of Steel the other night. (Posted about it in the "What's the last modern martial arts film you watched" thread.) This is the sword fight I was referring to in that post. It's fun and has lots of energy.

 

[DarthKato]

Not a martial arts film, but the duel between "Inigo Montoya and The Man in Black" in "The Princess Bride" was a really fun fight. A nice combination of action and comedy. 

[Shosetsu]

 This is the 20th anniversary of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon>

https://www.google.com/amp/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/Entertainment/wireStory/ang-lee-crouching-tiger-hidden-dragon-20-years-74628476

 

[Yihetuan]

On 11/28/2020 at 11:48 PM, Shosetsu said:

I know what you mean---sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.  While we're on Yakuza, how did you like the series, Kogarashi Monjiro?  I mean the one where Monjiro used to have a leaf between his front teeth, to use the leaf as a dart by blowing the leaf at any adversaries.  Come to think of it, that would be a good addition to the separate thread on weird weapons!

To get back on track about Sword-fights, there was a lot of Sword-action in this other series, Onihei Hankacho>>

 

 

 

I definitely am a fan of Bunta Sugawara's Monjiro character from the early 70s film but I've never seen the popular TV series directed by Kon Ichikawa. Is that TV version worth seeking out? I know it stars Atsuo Nakamura as Monjiro but I'm so used to Bunta in that role.

[Bus]

Moon Warriors and the recent Swordsman were both ok. Shinobi shadow over blade or something like that waz good too

[Shosetsu]

On 12/14/2020 at 5:01 PM, Yihetuan said:

I definitely am a fan of Bunta Sugawara's Monjiro character from the early 70s film but I've never seen the popular TV series directed by Kon Ichikawa. Is that TV version worth seeking out? I know it stars Atsuo Nakamura as Monjiro but I'm so used to Bunta in that role.

Yes, correct, it was Atsuo in the TV version.  Atsuo also acted as a ninja in the TV series, Secret Travels of Princess Yuki, in which a princess travels undercover.  In the series, the princess dresses up in samurai outfit with hakama, so everybody thinks she's a man-- although to the viewing audience, it's obvious it's a Woman.

Anyway, actor Atsuo in that series helps out the princess on occasion, and he uses the disguise of a street peddler.

By the way, you mentioned Bunta Sugawara.  Sounds like you like Yakuza films.  Have you seen the ones with Hiroki Matsukata?  The reason I bring up Matsukata is because he passed away just a few years ago.

[Yihetuan]

6 hours ago, Shosetsu said:

Yes, correct, it was Atsuo in the TV version.  Atsuo also acted as a ninja in the TV series, Secret Travels of Princess Yuki, in which a princess travels undercover.  In the series, the princess dresses up in samurai outfit with hakama, so everybody thinks she's a man-- although to the viewing audience, it's obvious it's a Woman.

Anyway, actor Atsuo in that series helps out the princess on occasion, and he uses the disguise of a street peddler.

By the way, you mentioned Bunta Sugawara.  Sounds like you like Yakuza films.  Have you seen the ones with Hiroki Matsukata?  The reason I bring up Matsukata is because he passed away just a few years ago.

I've seen a lot of Matsukata films but strangely, my favorite role of his was not a yakuza or jidaigeki film but the period kaiju film, The Magic Serpent.

I also know actor, Atsuo from the Water Margin series. It was released on blu ray + dvd from Fabulous Films a few years ago but unfortunately only in a dub version. I have no idea about the Secret Travels of Princess Yuki at all. The little info I gleaned from the internet was that it was an early 80s TBS drama. Has that ever been available subbed anywhere?

Edited December 23, 2020 by Yihetuan

[Shosetsu]

On 12/22/2020 at 7:07 PM, Yihetuan said:

I've seen a lot of Matsukata films but strangely, my favorite role of his was not a yakuza or jidaigeki film but the period kaiju film, The Magic Serpent.

I also know actor, Atsuo from the Water Margin series. It was released on blu ray + dvd from Fabulous Films a few years ago but unfortunately only in a dub version. I have no idea about the Secret Travels of Princess Yuki at all. The little info I gleaned from the internet was that it was an early 80s TBS drama. Has that ever been available subbed anywhere?

No, not that I know of.  But it was a pretty good series.  The actor who played the master swordsman Aoi Shinnosuke looks familiar.  I'm pretty sure it was the same actor who played Suke-san on one of the many seasons of Mito Komon, but I don't know the actor's name.  There are some actors who I've seen many different times on different TV shows but I did not know their names until much later.  For example, Tetsuo Ando.  He almost always plays villains.  But then I was surprised when he had a regular recurring role as a constable on the TV version of Zenigata Heiji.  This is of course the one starring Okawa Hashizo in the lead-role-- because very recently came a New version starring Murakami Hiroaki.  

For those of you not familiar with Zenigata Heiji, he is a constable who uses Coins as weapons.  He throws each coin very forcefully to disarm or stun his adversaries.  A movie- museum in Tokyo has on display the very coins that actor Hashizo used in his Heiji role.

When I say constable, I usually mean a feudal-era police-character who usually uses a Jutte as a weapon.  There were quite a number of different TV shows with that kind of character.   For example, Hanshichi Torimonocho, of which there were at least two versions I know of, one starring Satomi Kotaro, and another starring Sanada Hiroyuki.  There was another constable series starring Nakamura Umenosuke, but I don't remember the name of that series.  My favorite Umenosuke series was his Daruma Daisuke series. 

Yes, the Serpent movie starring Matsukata was very good.  What was unusual was the choice of actor who played the villain, namely the actor Ryutaro Otomo.  Very surprising because he normally plays heroes such as Tange-Sazen.  The Serpent movie was the Only time I saw Otomo play a villain.

By the way, I don't suppose you know of any subbed version of Matsukata playing the role of Araki Mataemon, do you, Yihetuan?  I need that one because it's based on the true-history of that famous Sword-duel between Araki and Kawai Matagoro.  What was interesting is that Mataemon had a very difficult time at getting the okay for the vendetta because the Shogun's law at that time allowed only a younger brother to take revenge for an older brother, but not the other way around.  So I assume most of the movie dealt with Araki finding a way to cut through that red tape.

 

  

 

 

 

[wuxiaman]

For me, it would be:

• Duel to the Death (1983)
• The Sword (1980)
• Swordsman II (1991)
• Rurouni Kenshin Trilogy (2012, 2014)

[Yihetuan]

@Shosetsu, sorry I'm not aware of the Hiroki Matsukata version of the Araki Mataemon tale. I've only seen the Toshiro Mifune and the Hideki Takahashi versions but definitely have the Utaemon Ichikawa one on my list (that's the one with Hashizo Okawa too).

[Shosetsu]

@Yihetuan   While we're at it about Matsukata-- did you see the films where he took over the Nemuri Kyoshiro role after the original actor Raizo passed away?  What I heard as to why the Matsukata version failed is because his version came out during the same year that Raizo died, so the fans felt offended that the new version came out much too soon after Raizo's death.  Because culturally in Japan when somebody passes away, there follows at least a year to mourn his death.  But obviously that respect for mourning was neglected when Daiei Studios in trying to keep up the momentum of the Nemuri series, brought in the Matsukata version much too soon.

Edited January 18, 2021 by Shosetsu

[Shosetsu]

In addition to what was already said about Nemuri, what should be also noted is his clan-symbol as shown on his kimono garment.  At first glance, it is a cluster of crosses.  But in Japanese numerology, the cross is also interpreted as "ju" which is the Japanese word for the number 10.  This is of especial significance to Nemuri because the symbolism of number 10 is the completion of a cycle or circle.  And circle is specific to Nemuri because his Sword-technique is the Engetsu which means a full circle or full-moon cut.  Interesting because Nemuri is one of the very few characters whose Sword-technique has a name.  So the "ju" or #10 with its meaning of numerology is certainly appropriate for his Sword.

[Shosetsu]

Ninja-gang attack against Mondo the Crescent-Scar Swordsman, so called because of the crescent-shaped scar on his forehead.  This version is actor Kitaoji Kinya.