Kôya no toseinin

The Drifting Avenger makes for a fascinating viewing experience, as with most Ramen Westerns, it involves Japanese filmmakers taking on a genre so entrenched in US culture. Shot in the desert outback of Australia, Junya Sato's take on the genre once again pairs him with screen icon Ken Takakura and like their more widely seen collaborations, I'm engrossed from the get-go. It's come to a point where I will watch literally anything with Ken Takakura in, playing the stoic hero with a strong sense of dignity once more, his presence alone is enough to gage a watch.

The Drifting Avenger takes those genre cliches of the classic American Western and adds that unique Japanese sensibility to it, continuing the cross-pollination of the Samurai film with the Western, one stealing from the other and vice versa and this is an example of a literal overlap. The movie follows a checklist of the common tropes found in the genre but is executed with Sato's signature style - featuring intense and dramatic build-ups to thrilling gunfights, long sweeping landscapes married to acoustic guitars and to top it all off, Ken dramatically unsheathes his katana to face his final foe in a gripping last act. A grand tale of deadly proficiency within a blood-drenched quest of revenge, The Drifting Avenger makes for an incredible watch for fans of either genre archetype.

While in the US Air Force and stationed in Japan, I had the opportunity to be an extra in this movie. I had understood it to be an Australian movie where the indoor scenes were shot in Japan. However, maybe it was just a low budget American film with the outdoor shots made in Australia and the indoors shots in Japan. It was about a Japanese family settled in the old west and a group of stagecoach robbers sought refuge in the Japanese family house. The young son hid under a bed and the bad guys killed his parents. He therefore became the Drifting Avenger. I would like to get my hands on a copy as in one scene my image filled the sliver screen!

My uncle was "Mike the boy" in this movie alongside the very famous Japanese actor Ken Takakura. The movie itself is okay, but I too am trying to get my hands on a copy of this movie simply because my relative was in it. The movie was originally shot in English and then dubbed over in Japanese. Although I have the Japanese version, I am trying to get a copy of the original. The National Film and Sound archive in Australia has a copy, but Toei, the Japanese company that produced the movie is refusing to give permission to make a copy for personal use. Anyhow, any help would be greatly be appreciated. A Japanese western? Can't say that there are too many of these. Can't say there would be any reason for Japanese to be dressed as cowboys, except that someone thought that it would be fun to ride horses and shoot people.

An interesting Western , a Japanese family living in the west , gets treated badly and killed, their surviving son lives to avenge their senseless murder, he lives with no purpose only to adapt to western culture and learn to kill using a gun, a learns to quick draw very well and taught how to be a cowboy by a older saddlebum, he learns of his killers whereabouts and seek revenge, Ken Takakura presence alone makes this film highly watchable, he always play the stoic hero with a strong sense of dignity , and the ever present samurai type of character his fans are very familiar with, the movie moves quickly and you don't get a sense of Ken's being a foreigner fighting an injustice, shades of Death rides a horse, Shane And a few other westerns come to mind when you watch this highly entertaining film.

Koya no toseinin is a terrific action packed film. A Japanese western set in the American west but filmed down here in Australia with some great local talents seamlessly dubbed into Japanese ! With a uniquely Japanese slant, from ugly villains, saloon bar fights, to dramatic shootouts the film covers all the familiar territory of the western genre. The Australian settings are expansive and beautifully portrayed, Star Ken Takakura is an outstanding actor his every move captivating, here he replaces his yakuza sword with a six shooter and rifle, which he uses in revenge with deadly proficiency, however he does get to draw upon his slain fathers samurai sword to fulfil the blood-drenched quest... The Drifting Avenger is a wonderfully entertaining action film, if you enjoy western film, Classic Japanese samurai yakuza , Ken Takakura, there is much to enjoy in this unique Toei production. Highly Recommended !