Shogun Assassin

For a film edited from highlights of two films in a series of six, SHOGUN ASSASSIN is far, FAR better than it has any right to be. That said, track down the originals since they are all available on video in widescreen, subtitled editions. The cinematography will make you drool, and the swordfighting is probably the most impressive samurai-type swordwork ever put on film. Another plus is Lone Wolf, played by Tomisaburo Wakayama. Casting him for a handsome comic book hero is not what would come to mind immediately, but it is his middle-aged dumpiness that makes him utterly believeable during his fight scenes. Swordfight fans, you will reach Nirvana during this orgy of carnage! For a more impressive display of Wakayama's skills, check out LIGHTNING SWORDS OF DEATH (frequently found in rental shops as LUPINE WOLF), the third film in the Lone Wolf series which was actually released in the states six years before SHOGUN ASSASSIN during the kung fu movie craze. In LIGHTNING SWORDS, the film remains totally unedited from the original and features a showdown between Lone Wolf and army that is equipped with not just swords, but arrows and rifles as well!!!

I think this film is almost as famous for its tour de force editing,taking a min-series and making it into a coherent masterpiece of 86 min as it is for its action sequences.

The basic story is about a Lone Wolf. A very proud samurai who worked as the official decapitator for the shogun.The paranoid shogun sends out his ninja to kill lone wolf, but get his wife instead.At this point there is the classic "choose the(toy) ball and join your mother, choose the sword and join me" the son joins him and we hear the story from his eyes from this point.It is pure carnage from here on in, as the evil shogun sets his ninja out on Lone Wolf along with the brutal Masters of death.

There is a lot of carnage and blood in this movie...I MEAN a lot. But the father son relationship is touching and strongly developed.

This movie is a classic that is only just starting to show its age, my 8 might be a bit low of a vote really.

If you like fast sword play and quick deaths watch this movie.

'Shogun Assassin' is actually re-edited footage from two of the early 1970s Japanese Lone Wolf and Cub movies, dubbed into English. The brains behind this idea were Robert Houston, one of the stars of Wes Craven's horror classic 'The Hills Have Eyes', and David Weisman, the writer/director of the Edie Sedgwick cult classic 'Ciao Manhattan'. On paper this really shouldn't have worked, but it does. It not only "works", it's one of the greatest action movies ever made, and a source of inspiration for both John Carpenter and Quentin Tarantino. I only hope that Tarantino's references to 'Shogun Assassin' in 'Kill Bill' introduce it to a whole new audience. Martial arts veteran Tomisaburo Wakayama plays Ogami Itto, aka "Lone Wolf", a samurai who refuses to serve the evil Shogun. After the murder of his wife he hits the road with his young son, who he pushes along in a souped up baby cart. Lone Wolf has one thing on his mind - vengeance. Along the way many assassins and Ninja try to stop him, but he is a relentless one man killing machine. His journey finally leads him to a confrontation with the three Masters Of Death, who are escorting the Shogun's brother. Lone Wolf is one of the coolest figures in action movie history, and the baby cart gimmick really works, especially as his infant son narrates the story. The frequent fight sequences are exciting and very brutal, and there isn't a dull moment in the whole movie. I can't recommend 'Shogun Assassin' highly enough. For me it stands alongside 'Mad Max', 'The Driver', 'For A Few Dollars More' and (the original version of) 'The Getaway' as one of the most entertaining action movies of all time.

Released today, film fans across the world would be throwing copies of Shogun Assassin onto bonfires because technically, it is 100x worse than the type of 'rip offs' that people keep accusing Tarantino of lately. Essentially, Shogun is the first fifteen minutes or so of Sword of Vengeance followed by the majority of Babycart at the River Styx copy and pasted into an 80 minute film, with the addition of bad dubbing and some seriously cool music. But, as it stands, Shogun Assassin was 'made' in 1980 and did the full trip around grind house theatres so it has gained a cult following. So today it is looked back on as classic hack and slash cinema, as Kill Bill will probably be in twenty years time as much as some purists hate to admit it.

Speaking from my current state of mind I would say screw Shogun Assassin and go for the six Lone Wolf and Cub films. Even as a cure for film geeks lust for blood and guts, Shogun Assassin seems kind of strange. I never really understood why Houston didn't c & p some of the much more epic scenes of carnage from Babycart to Hades or Babycart in Peril. Still, the fight with the Hidari brothers (or 'Masters of Death' as they are known in Shogun) is one of the coolest in all six films. John Carpenter later used the brothers as prototypes for his '3 Storms' in Big Trouble in Little China, but if he was 'homaging' River Styx or Shogun Assassin we will probably never know.

Ultimately, Shogun Assassin works in the same way as Kill Bill, as a gateway to grind house cinema for the masses. How many people realise, respect and take advantage of this is where the problems start. Regarding Kill Bill, thousands of people see the films and see them as original without realising their true purpose. But it is difficult to argue that both films are not taking advantage of underseen cinema.

Alas, three paragraphs and I haven't actually said if the film is any good. The truth is, I will probably never watch it again because there isn't much point if you are into the LW & C films. But I won't have been introduced to 70s Japanese samurai 'grind house' cinema, which I regard as the best action genre there is, if it wasn't for Shogun. So I can't say it is rubbish, and to be fair, if you haven't seen LW & C it is far from crap, showcasing some of the coolest fight scenes ever filmed along with some seriously awesome music (which is the main reason I still have love for Shogun). Of course, the dubbing completely ruins Wakayama's performance and the Yagyu female ninja leader is turned into a useless loose end.

But Shogun's existence is important and a godsend is stopping 70s Jap samurai cinema from falling into nothingness in the west. If you don't know samurai cinema, watch Shogun once and you will turn into a nerd like me and become instantly obsessed with Japanese cinema. I would never know and love a lot of the films I do now if it wasn't for Shogun, and for that I hold it in the highest regard. Well, sort of.

I imagine that many Japanese cinema purists look down on Shogun Assassin, viewing it as bastardised art, the film consisting of the juiciest bits from the first two classic Lone Wolf and Cub films edited together and re-dubbed for the US market. I, however, see the film as a fond reminder of the video nasty era when, against the wishes of the BBFC, I proudly owned an ex-rental, big box VIPCO VHS copy of the movie; it was one of the highlights of my collection, a gloriously violent saga that introduced me to the world of unflappable samurais and arterial spray, for which I will be ever grateful.

Of course these days the censors have seen sense and all of the Lone Wolf and Cub movies are available in their entirety on DVD (pristine prints in their original language with English subtitles, no less); but while it's great to see the movies as the filmmakers intended, I still get a kick out of Shogun Assassin's incongruous American voice-over, grimy 80s synth score and erratic editing, elements that take me back to a time when collecting banned movies was a challenge and the viewing seemed more rewarding as a result. As soon as Daigoro's narration kicks in, I'm back in the darkened bedroom of my youth, revelling in all the stylish blood and violence wreaked by super cool rōnin for hire Ogami Itto (Tomisaburô Wakayama), enjoying the fact that I'm sampling forbidden fruit, and it tastes good.