Zatoichi 19: Samaritan Zatoichi (1968)

In Samaritan Zatoichi, blind swordsman extraordinaire Zatoichi (Shintaro Katsu) makes an early mistake that causes him to spend the rest of his time making desperate reparations and fans get one of the more colorful and action-packed episodes thanks in large part to the unique visual styling of director Kenji Misumi.

Episode 19 of 26 in Shintaro Katsu’s magnificent chambara series begins with Ichi joining a gang of yakuza strongmen to collect a debt in blood from one of their own. Ichi himself cuts down the man right before Osode, his pretty sister arrives with the money he owed. As the strongmen attempt to take Osode, it becomes clear to Ichi that this was all a ruse by their boss to get the girl. Ichi helps her to escape and the two find themselves on the same road as Osode makes her way back to her hometown with the yakuza gang in pursuit. Osode initially seeks revenge against Ichi for her brother’s death and Ichi for his part, goes out of his way to protect her in a series of adventures. Finally believing Osode to have been captured, Ichi storms the gang’s headquarters with his yakuza buddy Shinkichi (Takuya Fujioka) and eventually duels with an independent swordsman named Yasaburo Kashiwazaki (Makoto Sato) who desires Osode for himself.

Samaritan Zatoichi is like a warm up for director Kenji Misumi’s last film in the series, The Festival of Fire (1970). It possesses his typically rich visuals and intensely dramatic camera framing with vibrant action and comedy. There is even a humorously-quarreling couple in both episodes, with the latter being the more outrageous. In every scene of this movie, no shot is wasted or could be considered a throwaway. The composition of each shot is outstanding and includes imaginative close-ups and meticulous perspective placement with Shintaro Katsu always looking his best.

The action isn’t particularly bloody, but does start out with some finger-cleaving and follows with the series’ usually fast-paced swordplay. In a new twist, Ichi gets aid from a fellow yakuza played by Takuya Fujioka (Zatoichi the Outlaw, Zatoichi and the Chess Expert). He’s an easy-going character who battles side-by-side with Ichi before they both escape through a yakuza dragnet dressed in disguise. Ichi also finds himself in some rather compromising circumstances while attempting to aid Osode, such as riding horse at full gallop, awkwardly climbing through a skylight to escape and even getting caught cheating at dice. This results in him getting unceremoniously wrapped in a wicker mat with the intention of being tossed in a river. He’s narrowly saved from this predicament only to be left in the hands of the yakuza gang. It goes without saying that Ichi makes the most of the situation and manages to come out on top.

Ichi’s main dueling opponent is suitable for providing viewers with a good action finale, but he is otherwise unremarkable. As Yasaburo, Makoto Sato is a stereotypical swordsman who Ichi repeatedly bumps into before having to finally battle. He’s mean, greedy and lustful, but otherwise underdeveloped and unrelated to the main plot. Misumi shoots their duel much like his dramatic end battle in Zatoichi Challenged where Ichi faces a samurai working for the government. Misumi just replaces the snowfall with a thin mist as the soundtrack bellows out thundering drums. With fierce swordplay and beautifully-rendered shots, it works.

There isn’t a lot of development of Katsu’s character this time around. Yet seeing him actually working for a yakuza boss as a freelancer is somewhat unique. Apparently, he didn’t learn his lesson after doing dirty work for another bad boss in Zatoichi the Outlaw. If anything, were seeing Ichi as increasingly fallible. He falls in a river, kills a man for the wrong reasons, gets caught cheating at gambling, falls off a horse, and walks off into the sunset victorious in our eyes, but feeling mighty low. Somehow, this ends up being one of the more endearing qualities of the series. No matter how implausibly-skilled Ichi is with his cane sword or how often he sticks up for the oppressed, he continues to screw up and prove that he’s just human after all.

Samaritan Zatoichi is a yet another wonderful entry in the series, made especially good by Kenji Misumi’s brilliant direction. If fans were to only chose a select number of Zatoichi films to own, all six that are helmed by Misumi are safe bets.