Bohachi: O Clã Dos Oito Esquecidos

It's been a while since I first laid eyes on this film, I now feel it's my duty to share my feelings and views on what happened here. Firstly, if the opening scene does not grab you and slam you into your seat, then you don't really enjoy Grindhouse Chanbara! From the vivid colors to the stylish camera angles, to the Badassery of the lead character Shino, Bohachi - Clan of the forgotten 8 is a masterpiece of sleaze that no male should miss! Nudging elbows with the Baby Cart series, Bohachi adds tons more skin to get your blood pumping even more. Many scenes are reminiscent of a comic, same style as Baby Cart. Violent, while not going over the top reaching gorebore. There is plenty red stuff spraying to keep your utmost attention. It screams style, cult and just looks so damn beautiful doing it. Shino could be related to Ogami Itto, or even Charles Bronson in fact! This film may be wildly off the wall, but it takes it's self dead serious, I believe. All you men, next time girls night out comes around, treat yourself to this beast!

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.

This film is so typically an effort of Teruo Ishii, adhering strictly to a range of conventions enacted by the director himself, that one may have hardships in distinguishing it from his other works. As significant drawbacks, the protagonist has rather restrained expressions of his substantial nihilism and other characters are seemingly superficial, even to the extent of being trivial. For those who search for a glimpse of the dark and wicked Bohachi universe, I would better recommend Takashi Harada's inspiring masterpiece, which gets to reveal Goro Ibuki's true potential to incarnate a surrealistically genuine nihilistic yet overtly conscious character, opposed to the one he is assigned in this film.

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.

Staggering soft-porn samurai picture that impresses by stunning visual, utterly choreographed on those numberless mist night fights, almost shot at sound stage which is easily noticed on the projector focuses the light on the Ronin during one fight scenes, a clever insight of the director of photography, also a well-conceived story about a lonely Ronin Shinô Ashita (Tetsurô Tanba) on his fabulous dexterity on the use of sword against a crowd, he is invites to enter in a mighty Borachi's clan, led by an old wicked Shirobei Daimon (Tatsuo Endo) and their evil lackeys, the appealing is about the rules to became one of them, the applicant ought swear outright leave all eight virtues which he got, regret, lowliness, magnanimity, charity, meekness, temperance, continence and finally forgiveness, the Clan exploits a high profile w.h.o.r.e.d.o.m.

He is accepts on the Borachi's clan even had failed on a phony test, nonetheless the thoughtful boss has a bold plan to stand out of the opposite Yoshihara's Clan that shares the same dirty business on nearby on the town with cheapest prostitutes, also the gorgeous women are used as skillful bodyguards, thus the forthcoming and relentless clash took effects, ends up in the bloodshed, the emperor's forces spring into action at Magistrate's behest, the strife has to be end, although it has a price, a fair agreement which both sides must yeld, the sneaky Boss also shall deliver the expendable Shino's head.

Based in a grass-roots comic book the cunning and dared director Teruo Ishii made a masterful feature, even being labeled as pornographic, whereby it is today an eligible soft one only, where the most hard-nose puritans wouldn't give a s.h.i.t for it, actually a bashful eroticism deployed gave a faint hope for those that were seeking something a little harder, a fine piece of sexploitation mixing with epic samurai tale, colorful and essential, I've agree with a reviewer who wrote that stuff sounds like Russ Meyer did in America and was thereafter worshipped by countless fanatic cinephiles including myself !!

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First watch: 2021 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8.