Chanbara is a Japanese term referring to "sword fighting" films. When a Gaijin (someone not Japanese) says the word "Chanbara" they're specifically referring to samurai films. I LOVE samurai films. They're Japan's equivalent of the Western genre. What makes these movies so great? The friggin swords! If cowboys had swords then Westerns would be the greatest genre of film. In fact many great western films are based off of classic chanbara including A Fistful Of Dollars, The Magnificent Seven, and others. In the same way certain chanbara are inspired by westerns.
Kihachi Okamoto's KILL! (1968) is a black and white samurai film loosely based off of Akira Kurosawa's film SANJURO (another badass chanbara flick!) but this one adds a western influence. The film opens with twangy old west music and two hungry ronin wandering through a desolate ghost town with rolling tumbleweeds and dust devils. And there's a chicken they're both chasing after. The two ronin are Genta, a former samurai, and Tabata, a farmer who longs to be a true samurai. The high lord chamberlain and his men happen to wander through town at that moment. Genta and Tabata sit back and watch as the chamberlain is ambushed by seven samurai.
Genta and Tabata discover that the samurai were acting under orders by their lord to assassinate the evil chamberlain. An emissary of their lord arrives instructing them to hide within an old monastery and await further instructions. The seven soon realize they have been duped by their lord into carrying out his dirty work while he denies any association to the crime. The lord sends 30 men armed with muskets and bows and arrows to eliminate the seven men. The old monastery proves to be a powerful fortification difficult to infiltrate without suffering heavy casualties. So another 10 men are hired to go in and kill the seven and (unbeknownst to the 10) the 30 riflemen and archers will then kill all who remains.
The seven samurai believed they were doing good, each one a noble hearted man. The ten hired ronin are good men too, just trying to pay debts and take care of their families. The lord and his 30 men are the bastards in this story. Our heroes Genta and Tabata end up on opposite sides of the dispute. Tabata, in his relentless pursuit to become a samurai, is one of the hired 10 men. Genta, seeing the corruption of the so called "Samurai," just wants to save the good men risking their lives. Long ago when he was a samurai he was ordered to do something he did not believe in. The life of his friend ended because of that order. Now he wanders the land in search of repentance.
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Dozens of plot threads, scores of characters, one evil S.O.B., and two unlikely heroes. This film captures your attention from the get-go and never lets go. The film was produced by TOHO, the studio responsible for many legendary films such as GODZILLA and SEVEN SAMURAI. Many actors from those films appear in this, actors I've watched since I was a child. Yoshio Tsuchiya, Akira Kubo, Shin Kishida and Yuriko Hoshi star in this film (all actors featured prominently in the Godzilla series). Susumu Kurobe, the lead in the classic show ULTRAMAN also has a part in the film. Our two heroes are played by Etsushi Takahashi (Tabata) and Tatsuya Nakadai (Genta). Both actors are wonderful in the film and Tabata almost steals the show! Tatsuya Nakadai however is one of my favorite actors in all chanbara films. He is an extremely versatile actor often playing opposite the great Toshiro Mifune (the greatest actor ever!). He has played descent into madness roles as in SWORD OF DOOM and light hearted roles like this film. He is probably best known for HARA-KIRI however, another incredible film.
If you like samurai films and you haven't seen KILL! yet you should. It is perhaps the most fun and delightful chanbara film I've ever seen, complete with spurting blood, severed limbs, real heart, and wildly entertaining. Seven Samurai is great but it is also "heavy reading" if you get my meaning. Kill! is light reading but not lacking in any way. It's chanbara perfected.
Overall Ranking: 9 out of 10
There. You've just been introduced to one of the films in my Top Ten List.
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