By Fred Blosser
In the Old West, small homesteaders run afoul of a big landowner who controls the local law and levies killer taxes on their ranches and farms. The homesteaders finally refuse to pay the taxes, and petition the governor for help. Meanwhile, expecting reprisal from the landowner’s hired guns, they build a makeshift fort for refuge. They also send for help from a mercenary who comes to their aid with his private army of four associates and a Gatling gun.
Just kidding about the Western setting. This is actually the plot of “Gonin No Shokin Kasegi,” also known as “The Fort of Death,” a 1969 Japanese chambara by Eiichi Kudo. Nevertheless, the similarities are there. The homesteaders are peasants, the landowner is their oppressive feudal lord, and the higher official they’ve petitioned is the emperor. It’s easy to squint and superimpose an Old West setting out of an American B movie,...
In the Old West, small homesteaders run afoul of a big landowner who controls the local law and levies killer taxes on their ranches and farms. The homesteaders finally refuse to pay the taxes, and petition the governor for help. Meanwhile, expecting reprisal from the landowner’s hired guns, they build a makeshift fort for refuge. They also send for help from a mercenary who comes to their aid with his private army of four associates and a Gatling gun.
Just kidding about the Western setting. This is actually the plot of “Gonin No Shokin Kasegi,” also known as “The Fort of Death,” a 1969 Japanese chambara by Eiichi Kudo. Nevertheless, the similarities are there. The homesteaders are peasants, the landowner is their oppressive feudal lord, and the higher official they’ve petitioned is the emperor. It’s easy to squint and superimpose an Old West setting out of an American B movie,...
- 6/25/2014
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Eiichi Kudo isn't a name that comes up too often when the casual film fan talks about the great Japanese directors. However, with the recent huge success of Takashi Miike's remake of Kudo's 13 Assassins, he's undergone something of a reexamination among film fans, and who is there is provide us with more fuel for the fire but the ever dependable AnimEigo. Last month the indie label released Kudo's original 13 Assassins on DVD for the first time in the Us, and this month they continue with his follow up to that masterpiece, The Great Killing, which is pretty spectacular on its own.The similarities between The Thirteen Assassins and The Great Killing are difficult to avoid. We have a group of rogue samurai and others...
- 6/29/2012
- Screen Anarchy
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