Okaminosuke (Isao Matsuyagi), a penniless master swordfighter, drifts
into town, not much more than a mail relay with a few houses and a brothel
attached, to drop a dead body he has found after a mail robbery, something
not uncommon in the region, because you know, as insignificant as the mail
relay may seem, Nizaemon, the shogun's "messenger", wants it
because of its strategic position. Thing is, Chise, the blind widow who
runs the relay, isn't willing to give it up at any cost - so she hires
Okaminosuke to aid her. He reluctantly accepts because he's in desperate
need for work, however temporary, on one side, but he also feels for the
widow. Soon enough, Okaminosuke has killed some of Nizaemon's fiercest
fighters (though mostly in self defense), so Nizaemon can't helpt but take
notice ... and thus he hires masterless master samurai Sanai to take care
of Okaminosuke. The two have a duel, and it soon becomes clear that Sanai
outclasses Okaminosuke, but upon setting his eyes on Chise, he breaks off
the duel and leaves. The next day, Chise and company have to handle a
fortune in gold, and they are almost certain that Nizaemon and gang will
attack, so Okaminosuke leads the treck carrying the gold ... and indeed
they are attacked, but eventually, Sanai, who has gotten quite friendly
with a local whore, steals the wagon carrying the gold and tries to
hightail it with his girl - but the wagon crashes, his girl dies, and he
has to learn it was carrying nothing but stones, as Chise has actually
sent the gold off with a group of soldiers dressed as harmless farmers and
the treck was only a decoy. Back at the relay, Nizaemon has taken Chise
prisoner to lure Okaminosuke into a trap - but what he doesn't know is
that Chise is actually Sanai's long thought lost wife, and now that Sanai
has found her he frees her and asks her to leave with him. Without
having Chise as bait though, Nizaemon has nothing to lure Okaminosuke into
his trap no more, and he and his man die at Okaminosuke's hands. Finally,
all culminates in the duel between Okaminosuke and Sanai over Chise, whom
both love and who still has feelings for Sanai but feels more drawn to
Okaminosuke. In the end, Sanai dies at the hands of Okaminosuke, but he
might have just sacrificed himself. After that though Okaminosuke leaves
and advices Chise not to follow him. A film that ably
demonstrate to what extent Easterns (and especially chambara movies) and
Westerns (from both the US and Italy) inspired one another in the 1960's:
While Seven Samurai and Yojimbo
served as virtual blueprints for two of the most influential Westerns of
the era, Samura Wolf is clearly influenced by Western movies, with a story
typical to Westerns and many genre mainstays (including a shootout) being
rather smoothly introduced into Japanese culture. The outcome is ...
pretty cool, actually. It's by no means the most influential samurai
flick, but it's a well-shot and well-paced piece of genre cinema with the
occasional inventive scene and plenty of action to keep everyone happy. No
classic maybe, but immensely watchable.
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