Poruno jidaigeki: Bôhachi bushidô

Bohachi Bushido is the story of an ex-samurai named Shiro. Believing life and death to be the same hell, he tries to kill himself by jumping into a river. A very hard man to kill, Shiro is revived by members of the Clan of the Forgotten Eight- an organization of men and women who have discarded god, servitude, loyalty, trust, propriety, justice, conscience, and shame. The Forgotten Eight run Japan's cruel sex industry and they recruit Shiro to rid them of their competition. Shiro agrees to work for them, more out of boredom than any real convictions.

So, we have a bad ass samurai running through the sexual underworld of 17th century Edo directed by Teruro Ishii for Toei studios in 1973. That means blood, lots of nudity, perhaps some misogyny, a couple moments of brilliant cinematography, and maybe just a little more nudity. Not a great movie, but definitely a lot of fun!

Tetsuro Tamba plays a wonderful "Shiro", both pained and bemused by the hell of life. Gorou Ibuki as "Kesazo Shirakubi", the Bohachi second in command, has a great chemistry with Tamba. Ibuki would pretty much play the "Shiro" role in another Bohachi film a few years later as a similar (but sicker) life loathing ex-samurai in "Bohachi Bushido: Saburai" with the lovely Reiko Ike as a pistol wielding Bohachi woman.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into and it turned out to be quite the ride. Now let's say the obvious thing and adress the elephant in the room: This is sleazy! If you think women are portrayed in a good light here, don't even consider watching this. Fortunately the focus switched a bit during the movie. After a very nicely shot and edited beginning (action wise), it gets quite dark and you see some despicable things.

Now as I mentioned it shifts gear, right before our main character is going over or rather crosses a line, I know I wouldn't have been able to overlook. But even so, apart from him there are quite a few despicable and quite obnoxious characters. Sleazy would be another word to describe them. Now I had not seen or read the Manga this is based on, but the DVD gives you a comparison option. You can see some of the drawings and the movie seems to come very close to those (changes were made of course).

So quite a lot of blood and violence and at least as much nudity (upper area and behind) made people call this "adult". For the 70s it more than was ...

A sober and very well-made story about some of the dark clans that moved behind the shadows of the shogunate in feudal Japan ...

Both the fight of the first scene, and the end are great, especially that brutal closure. Liters of blood, enough sex without reaching vulgarity and Tetsuro Tamba making a dark, nihilistic and surprising Ronin in search of the path of death ...

What more you can ask?

Pursued by the authorities, rōnin assassin Shiro (Tetsurô Tanba) is taken in by the immoral Bohachi clan, who use the warrior's awesome sword-fighting skills to help them seize control of the local prostitution industry. When no longer of any use, the evil Bohachi leader tries to dispose of Shiro by getting him addicted to opium and caging him up with a syphilitic whore; but even stoned out of his gourd, the assassin proves to be a formidable opponent...

I'm of the opinion that, like cyborgs and dwarfs (and cyborg dwarfs), gratuitous female nudity and gore can make virtually any film more entertaining; director Teruo Ishii clearly agrees, loading Bohachi, a delightfully sleazy Chanbara movie, with countless naked Japanese cuties and very bloody sword-fights, which means that when the screen isn't full of tits (no muff: this being a Japanese film the ladies keep their hands in front of their nether regions at all times), there's severed body-parts flying everywhere instead. Sometimes, Ishii even combines the two, having his naked Bohachi women whipping out weapons and partaking in the violence themselves—something I'm all in favour of.

The name of the game here is clearly 'exploitation excess' meaning that on top of the all the wonderful big-breasted Asian babes and bright crimson blood, viewers can also expect a smidgen of torture, a smattering of lesbianism, and some opium-fuelled sex (with hero Shiro entertaining not one woman, but four!), all realised with hyper-stylised direction that uses strong experimental lighting effects to really add to that cool 70s vibe.

7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

"Porno Jidaigeki: Bohachi Bushido" aka. "Bohachi: Clan Of The Forgotten Eight" of 1973, should be interesting to all my fellow fans of Japanese Exploitation cinema, as it is a film that combines the work of Teruo Ishii and Kazuo Koike. Teruo Ishii is the brilliant director responsible for films such as "Female Yakuza Tale", "The Black Cat's Revenge", "The Executioner" or "Horrors Of Malformed Men". Kazuo Koike is the genius writer behind such masterpieces as the "Kozure Ôkami" films with Tomisaburo Wakayama, the "Hanzo The Razor" films with Shintaro Katsu, or "Lady Snowblood" with Meiko Kaji (Koike wrote the comic-books these films were based on, and, in most cases, the screenplays). The pairing of Koike and Ishii promises something stylish, brutal and sleazy, and this memorable film truly has all these attributes. While "Porno Jidaigeki" is not one of the most memorable Chambara/Sexploitation crossovers (films like "Hanzo The Razor: Sword Of Justice" and "Sex And Fury" come with my highest possible recommendations) this is definitely a very interesting, blood-soaked and delightfully sleazy film that fans of Japanese Exploitation cinema should not miss.

In 17th century Japan, a Ronin named Shiro (Tetsuro Tamba) is recruited by the ruthless Bohachi-Clan, which controls prostitution in the area. The Bohachi-Clan's forces include the 'Bohachi Women', some sort of mixture between prostitutes and beautiful but lethal (and mostly naked) female assassins. Shiro is to wipe out the Clan's competitors in prostitution business... Tetsuro Tamba is stone-cold and bad-ass as always, and he was the perfect choice to play Shiro. The yummy female cast members are naked for about 99% of their screen time, and the film is filled with vast amounts of perverted sleaze as well as lost of stylish bloodshed, so most of my fellow Exploitation-lovers should be satisfied. The score is also pretty cool, and the photography and choreography are great. The story may be a bit messy, but the film's great style, and, especially, the sexy female cast and tons of sleaze and violence make up for this easily. Overall, "Bohachi: Clan Of The Forgotten Eight" is a more than entertaining film that should satisfy all my fellow fans of Japanese Exploitation cinema. Highly Recommended.