It's been awhile since my last entry. I have been distracted by a new hobby.....digging for images posted by bloggers around the world. This hunger for images is totally addictive. I've been spending hours and hours at home just searching for images, after images, after images. Not totally a waste of time really. There are literally millions of images (besides porn) out there on line. Many of them are beautiful, many are thought-provoking. It's a great way to escape.
OK...back to my own personal blog. I have been a huge fan of the Zatoichi movies ever since the 60's. I was too young then to go to the cinemas to see the original Zatoichi movies. They were considered too violent for kids of my age. However, my parents were loyal fans of the movie series also. I always heard their reviews when they came back from the cinemas. In fact the original movies with Shintaro Katsu playing Zatoichi were an immensely popular franchise in the 60s. They were publicized so much it was hard to miss them. So when the original movies became available on VHS in the 80's, I watched almost all of them. Then again on DVD when they came out in the 90's.
There were originally 26 Katsu Zatoichi movies made. Unfortunately only 25 of theme are available on DVD now. Apparently the rights for number 14 of the series "Zatoichi Pilgrimage" was tied up with the Miramax company. It's like the holy grail for Zatoichi collectors. It has never been released in NTSC.
Then in 2003, Takeshi "Beat" Kitano recreated the character in an updated version of "Zatoichi". There are hundreds of reviews out there on line. I personally thought it was a good but not outstanding remake. Nobody can beat the coolness of the one and only Shintaro Katsu. Just like Sean Connery created the screen version of James Bond. Shintaro created the screen version of Zatoichi.
Not too long ago, I found out that there was yet another re-incarnation of the Zatoichi character recently released in the form of a young blind girl. Haven't seen any DVDs of this new movie yet. I can't wait to see it one day. Theoretically the premise works. A young blind girl in the chaotic male dominant Samurai period of Japan. One can easily imagine the dangers that the girl must have to encounter. Anyone who has already seen the movie please feel free to add your review or comment.
Can you believe I've never seen any of the Zatoichi films?! I've seen plenty of Japanese films (old and new) but somehow have managed to miss these.
ReplyDeleteBTW, there was a series of Japanese films in the late 60s about a blind swordswoman: The Crimson Bat.
Oh Dave you MUST watch at least the first 3 or 4 Zatoichi movies with Katsu playing the blind swordman. He is so charismatic. Do you know the actor who played Lonewolf in "Lonewolf and a Baby Cart" movies was his real brother?
ReplyDeleteI think I watched "The Crimon Bat" on VHS long time ago. I can't recall. However, one Japanese Samurai TV series I watched when I was a kid was about a woman who is a police chief of a small village. She dressed like a traditional woman in those days, but she carried a steel rod type of weapon inside her obi. Her sidekick was a Ninja girl who has a big pony tail and wore a black netted see through tight tops and black pantyhose. I just remember she did a lot of fighting and flips. The show might have been called "The Red Sparrow". I'm not sure because it was translated into Cantonese for TV. Unfortunately nobody remembers this series. Love to see that again.
OK, I'll put those at the top of my Netflix queue!
ReplyDeleteThat TV show sounds pretty cool! I grew up watching Japanese TV shows, but in the U.S. we got stuff like Ultraman and Spaceship Yamato. I don't remember them showing any samurai or ninja shows.