Under new direction from Buichi Saito, this fourth entry in the six-volume LONE WOLF AND CUB chambara series from Katsu Production and Toho Company maintains the distinctive, blood-soaked havoc wrought by assassin-for-hire Ogami Itto (Tomisaburo Wakayama) and his young son Daigoro (Akihiro Tomikawa) while adding to the series’ already magnificent action and dramatic presentation.
This time the pair has been hired to kill Oyuki (Michie Azuma), a female street performer with a distinctly tattooed chest and back, deadly knife-fighting skills and a bitter grudge against a samurai who wields a flaming sword. Yes, it’s a samurai sword that emits flame on command. When the reputation of a feudal lord is threatened by the outcome of this situation, Retsudo (Tatsuo Endo), leader of the Yagyu Shadow Clan lays blame on Ogami in a bid to finally destroy his enemy. With Gunbei (Yoichi Hayashi), the only man to have defeated Ogami lurking in the shadows, the Lone Wolf and Cub face their greatest challenge yet as Retsudo and an army of Yagyu ninjas ambush the heroes as a lead in to what becomes an epic fight to the finish.
Each film in the series has a different theme that reveals more layers of the main characters and BABY CART IN PERIL is no exception. Parenthood is the underlying theme of this feature. Early on, Ogami gets separated from his son and even though the boy proves to be resourceful enough to escape a brush fire and stand up to another threat until reunited, it’s made clear that both father and son have an unshakable and deep emotional bond. We’re reminded of this near the end as Daigoro silently reaches out to touch his father’s bloodied hand.
Parenthood is explored in another way through the relationship between Oyama and her father who is the leader of a nationwide guild of street performers. He acknowledges his daughter’s mistakes that have led her to be targeted for assassination and accepts this fate, even to the point of bonding with Ogami, her “executioner,” and coming to his defense. Both men have a shared understanding that Oyama has committed sins that far outweigh the value of her life. In one scene Ogami suggests that in certain circumstances wishing for the death of a child can be a form of love by the parent. It’s an idea that may seem hard to swallow unless you know of a child whose mind has become so troubled by personal trauma that they repeatedly lash out at others and hurt them, in turn creating a cycle of violence. It’s a weighty issue for a chambara movie and shows that Kazuo Koike had more on his mind than simply making another nihilistic actioner. It’s subtext like this that is often overlooked by latter filmmakers who are inspired only by the violence in films like BABY CART IN PERIL. Try to find similar explorations of morality in a Quentin Tarantino or Robert Rodriguez movie and all you’ll discover is an empty shell.
BABY CART IN PERIL marks a few changes in the series. After directing the first three films, Kenji Misumi is replaced by Buichi Saito who previously worked with Tomisaburo Wakayama on the last of the highly exploitive WICKED PRIEST series, also known as GOKUAKU BOZU. Wakayama is credited as co-producer for the first time in place of his brother Shintaro Katsu, suggesting that the star was beginning to exert more creative control over the series. The character of Retsudo Yagyu, Ogami Itto’s bearded nemesis was played by Tokio Oki in the first film, SWORD OF VENGEANCE. In this fourth entry he is replaced by Tatsuo Endo who made frequent appearances in the ZATOICHI films and also had a couple supporting roles in two of Sonny Chiba’s STREET FIGHTER films.
Despite these changes, BABY CART IN PERIL closely follows the formula that made the first three films a hit, in some cases following it a little too closely. The finale features a fantastic fighting performance by Wakayama as he uses the terrain of what looks like a rock or sand quarry to cut his way through dozens of ninja. While wonderfully choreographed and shot with a mixture of tight shaky camera work and dramatic panning and wide shots, the scene is still somewhat similar to Ogami’s previous showdown in BABY CART TO HADES.
There are other aspects to this movie that offer not only highpoints but greater distinction from the previous films. Most striking is the role of Oyama, played by Michie Azuma. Kazuo Koike’s original Lone Wolf and Cub comics frequently featured strong female characters with the ability to strike down men with their fighting skills. Nudity was also common. Both aspects are brought together in Oyama, a woman who has had her breasts and back tattooed specifically to distract her enemies. That means she frequently fights with her upper torso exposed. This could have been a simple exploitation gimmick with poorly choreographed moves but Saito and his fight coordinator Eiichi Kusumoto do not waste an opportunity to show a different style of fighting that is every bit as interesting as Ogami’s Suio-ryu sword fighting techniques. Because of her short blade, Oyama fights close in to her enemies where their long swords are ineffective. She’s able to do this by dodging attacks and spinning in close or ensnaring her enemy’s weapons with an object such as a basket.
The wide variety of combat moves by Ogami is on full display and given an even more polished representation than seen before. Wakayama glides through the air, no doubt on trampolines, the same way that David Chiang did in Hong Kong martial arts classics THE HEROIC ONES and HAVE SWORD, WILL TRAVEL. In tight corridors of sand and stone, Ogami darts about slashing at disoriented opponents from every angle. He uses naginatas, swords, spears, hidden guns, and just about any weapon within reach to take on overwhelming odds. Although some standard dueling and classic samurai combat is present, there is a renewed freshness and creativity to how the action scenes are presented by Saito that recalls SWORD OF VENGEANCE.
A scene where Ogami is ambushed by mud-covered ninjas in a temple has a vividly horrific and otherworldly quality to it that could double as a stylized, live-action representation of Dante’s Inferno. The ninjas are quickly cut down, many of them graphically having limbs cut off. Even as they lay there, covered in muck and dying in their own pools of blood they begin to crawl back to Ogami like tortured and deformed monsters. Even Ogami is taken aback when one of them bites his leg in a futile attempt to complete his mission. In a way, the scene is humorously reminiscent of the Black Knight episode in MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (1975) and yet it still works as a serious action sequence that is more than a little disturbing. Ogami frequently compares the carnage he is pressured into participating in as the crossroads to hell and never has a scene in the series more appropriately fit this description.
One disappointment with the action or lack of it is with the flaming sword that appears in the film. It’s a neat trick but is never used as we might expect, perhaps because the technology of the day would not have safely allowed for a full fight with a burning sword. Of course, today the flames would just be digitalized unless we’re talking about a Tony Jaa movie. Still, it would have been nice to see the sword in action.
If BABY CART TO HADES felt a little too slow or sidetracked at times despite being a masterful film in its own way, this follow-up from Buichi Saito remedies the situation. BABY CART IN PERIL is the perfect blend of old school jidai geki drama and modern-styled action and presentation that has yet to be surpassed 35 years after its release. It’s another example of everything coming together at the right place and time to form a work of uncompromising film art. There is no PG-13 designation hanging over this film, no weakening of the source material or watering down of the underlying messages that fuel the action. This is genre filmmaking as it was meant to be; smart, unfettered, beautiful, riveting, and devilishly compelling. If you’re not thoroughly entranced by the exploits of the Lone Wolf and Cub by this point, then it’s time to write the chambara genre off your viewing list because it doesn’t get any better than this, well, except maybe the next LONE WOLF AND CUB film.
Related Topics:
chambara • Eiichi Kusumoto • gallery • jidai geki • Katsu Production Co. • Lone Wolf and Cub 4: Baby Cart in Peril (1972) • ninja • Shintaro Katsu • swordplay • Toho Co. • Tomisaburo Wakayama • Videos
