Poruno jidaigeki: Bôhachi bushidô

"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.

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!

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?

There are more bare breasts than you can shake a stick at in "Boachi Bushido: Code of the Forgotten Eight". In fact it seems like there is scarcely a scene in the movie in which female nudity is not depicted, usually from many naked or topless women in the scene at once. Some of them are quite beautiful, but I didn't find it erotic.

The violence is overrated. Mostly it's just sword swipes with people falling over, and maybe a bit of blood, which of course looks like bright red paint. It's only in the climactic scene that legs and heads are chopped off, and you can clearly see the strings attached to these prop-body parts as they fly, or rather hang, in the air.

I'm not entirely sure what the movie was about. I get that it was something to do with a joyless samurai assassin who was hired by a guy who owns a cadre of cooze, but other than that, I don't really know. The guy who hires the anti-hero is pretty damn ugly, which black teeth, a pig like face, and an ability to talk without moving his mouth, apparently.

Most of the movie is just girls baring their breasts, walking around naked, being "stolen" by men, or molesting them. In one scene they molest a Western woman, who is tied to a bench, and then fight over her, saying they each wanted to taste her body.

There's no full frontal nudity in the movie though. Japan has always been weird like that. A country synonymous with tentacle rape, sharking, gokkun, futanari... but pubic hair and genitals are a bridge too far, to this day.

I still enjoyed the movie. It is not made without skill, and has a crazy, phantasmagoric feeling to it, like Jodorowsky.

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.