Subgenre Sampler
Action/Adventure > Martial Arts: 300 Films to Buy & Rent
Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo (Zatoichi 20) (1970)
- Dir. Kihachi Okamoto
Feat. Shintaro Katsu, Toshiro Mifune
- An enjoyable spin on the Japanese samurai genre, depicts a comedic rivalry between Katsu and Mifune in a secluded mountain village. Although lacking…
Zatoichi: Festival of Fire (Zatoichi 21) (1970)
- Dir. Kenji Misumi
Feat. Shintaro Katsu, Tatsuya Nakadai
- One of the strongest of the later films in the 25–strong Zatoichi cycle (this is 21), with the blind masseur with the cane sword getting into…
Red Lion (Akage) (1969)
- Dir. Kihachi Okamoto
Feat. Toshiro Mifune, Shiwa Iwashita
- A fine samurai comedy from dir. Okamoto (KILL!), has a luckless soldier (Toshiro Mifune) don a brilliant red hairpiece (thus impersonating a…
Kill! (Kiru) (1968)
- Dir. Kihachi Okamoto
Feat. Tatsuya Nakadai
- A sharp and blackly comic tale set in 1830s Japan around two bedraggled swordsman – one a former samurai (Nakadai), the other a farmer aspiring…
Assassin, The (Da ci ke) (1967)
- Dir. Chang Cheh
Feat. Yu Wang
- More understated than later Shaw Brothers efforts, this costume actioner stars 'Jimmy' Wang Yu as a patriotic swordsman of ancient Han–era…
One Armed Swordsman (Dubei dao) (1967)
- Dir. Chang Cheh
Feat. Yu Wang
- Jimmy Wu Yang predates his one–armed boxer classic MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE as a disabled swordsman training in the art of…
Zatoichi: The Outlaw (Zatoichi 16) (1967)
- Dir. Satsuo Yamamoto
Feat. Shintaro Katsu
- A middle–installment in the longrunning Zatoichi series, sees the wandering masseur become embroiled in a violent plot involving two rival…
Daimajin: Wrath of Daimajin (1966)
- Dir. Kazuo Mori
Feat. Masahide Iizuka, Hideki Ninomiya, Shinji Hori
- One in a series of Japanese films about the great demon god Daimajin, who repeatedly comes to the aid of villagers when tyrannical warlords threaten…
Sword of Doom (Dai-bosatsu tôge) (1966)
- Dir. Kihachi Okamoto
Feat. Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai
- Based on a long–running Japanese newspaper serial, this stars Tatsuya Nakadai as an evil wandering samurai in feudal Japan who sees himself as…
Samurai Assassin (1965)
- Dir. Kihachi Okamoto
Feat. Toshiro Mifune, Keiju Kobayashi, Michiyo Aratana…
- Sharply delivered samurai epic based on the infamous Sakurada Gate Incident of 1860 in which a high–ranking shogunite official was assassinated…