Title: The Lone Wolf and Cub Series
Year: 1972-1974
Director: Kenji Misumi, Takeichi Saito, Kuroda Yoshiyuki, Robert Houston
Cast: Wakayama Tomisaburo,
Synopsis: Ogami Itto (Tomisaburo) was formally retained the great title as the Shogun’s executioner. After discovering that his family is brutally slain (except his infant son Daigoro) by the retainers of an abolished clan whose leader Itto executed it’s revealed that this is a double cross lead by the dubious and scheming Yagyu Clan hoping to destabilize the Shogunate by framing Itto as a traitor. Banned from his title, and branded a traitor Itto gives his son a choice; follow his mother in the land of the dead, or join his father on the road to vengeance. Trucking his son around in a tricked out baby cart with spears, hidden daggers, and bullet proof shields Ogami Itto and his son Daigoro become travelling assassins; …show more content…
Taking contracts along the way while occasionally fending off attacks from the ever watchful eye of the Yagyu clan, Ogami Itto and Daigoro are the Lone Wolf and Cub. This Manga went on to inspire eleven films (five in the Shogun Assassin series) a television series, and a TV show.
Critique: The original six films in The Lone Wolf and Cub series are some of the most well executed (haha) and definitive Jidaigeki films ever made. In my opinion, Kenji Misumi might be the unsung hero of Japanese cinema while he’s directed some of the foremost samurai films of all time, including the best of this and the Zatoichi series, (among a few others) he’s largely overlooked in North America. While the Shogun Assassin films are well-known cult items (especially in the wake of the Kill Bill series), they don’t even rank in the same category alongside the originals. Kenji Misumi brought operatic violence to a new level of distinction with bright red geysers of blood, buttressed with
Year: 1972-1974
Director: Kenji Misumi, Takeichi Saito, Kuroda Yoshiyuki, Robert Houston
Cast: Wakayama Tomisaburo,
Synopsis: Ogami Itto (Tomisaburo) was formally retained the great title as the Shogun’s executioner. After discovering that his family is brutally slain (except his infant son Daigoro) by the retainers of an abolished clan whose leader Itto executed it’s revealed that this is a double cross lead by the dubious and scheming Yagyu Clan hoping to destabilize the Shogunate by framing Itto as a traitor. Banned from his title, and branded a traitor Itto gives his son a choice; follow his mother in the land of the dead, or join his father on the road to vengeance. Trucking his son around in a tricked out baby cart with spears, hidden daggers, and bullet proof shields Ogami Itto and his son Daigoro become travelling assassins; …show more content…
Taking contracts along the way while occasionally fending off attacks from the ever watchful eye of the Yagyu clan, Ogami Itto and Daigoro are the Lone Wolf and Cub. This Manga went on to inspire eleven films (five in the Shogun Assassin series) a television series, and a TV show.
Critique: The original six films in The Lone Wolf and Cub series are some of the most well executed (haha) and definitive Jidaigeki films ever made. In my opinion, Kenji Misumi might be the unsung hero of Japanese cinema while he’s directed some of the foremost samurai films of all time, including the best of this and the Zatoichi series, (among a few others) he’s largely overlooked in North America. While the Shogun Assassin films are well-known cult items (especially in the wake of the Kill Bill series), they don’t even rank in the same category alongside the originals. Kenji Misumi brought operatic violence to a new level of distinction with bright red geysers of blood, buttressed with