BLIND WOMAN'S CURSE (1970) 怪談昇り竜 directed by Teruo Ishii Production: Nikkatsu Distribution = Dainichi Utsuhai June 20, 1970 85 minutes Fujicolor Cinemascope Meiko Kaji as Akemi Tachibana Hoki Tokuda as Aiko Gouda Makoto Sato as Tani Shouichi Toru Abe as Dobashi Shiro Otsuji as Senba-tatsu Before Lady Snowblood and before Female Prisoner Scorpion movies - in fact, around the time she was first getting noticed in the Stray Cat Rock series, SOMEONE had already figured out that the soft spoken, demure Meiko Kaji had an onscreen intensity about her that was suited for the oncoming stylistic shift in Japanese cinema. (Meiko Kaji) Blind Woman's Curse is the story of Akemi (Meiko Kaji) who has assumed the role of her father's crime organization in pre-modern Japan. While fighting a rival clan, she accidently blind's the leader's sister. She notices a stray black cat lapping up the blood from it - cursing her... (Meiko Kaji ) After getting out of prison, she tries to tak...
HANZO the RAZOR: SWORD OF JUSTICE (1972)
御用牙
directed by Kenji Misumi
Production: Katsu Production through Toho Studio
Dec 30, 1972
94 minutes Color
Shintaro Katsu as Hanzo the Razor
Mari Atsumi as Orayu
Ko Nishimura as Magobei 'Snake' Onishi
Yukiji Asaoka as Yoshino
For those going into this thinking it would be a traditional samurai movie, they’d get a big surprise.
Set in feudal Japan it begins with a ceremony of police officers signing their blood oath of upholding the law - but Hanzo refuses. He finds it hypocritical that certain factions of the community pay off the police to look the other way - how can he sign such an oath when this is a part of the daily norm? It’s a perfect scene to set up Hanzo’s… personality and style… and each scene after that for the first part of the movie introduces us to who Hanzo is and how he goes about things differently than others.
(Having some insight into how Koike Kazuo writes, I suspect this follows the way the manga was done - now I’m curious to read it!).
But what REALLY sets Hanzo apart is his massive dong… yep, his massive manhood, that he uses to interrogate women to get information. In a lesser movie, this might be truly offensive, or done so crass as to be uncomfortable - but here it’s so… obviously comical it’s almost bizarre.
(Especially the second time he does it, involving Mari Atsumi - 30 pounds heavier and virtually unrecognizable from 2 years earlier in ‘The Hot Little Girl. Still beautiful and attractive, just… a completely different look).
Played with a perfectly serious demeanor by the great Shintaro Katsu (Zatoichi), Hanzo is a cult hero across the land, as shown in a final small segment at the end of the movie. He just knows what to do and when it’s right to do it. Not for his own gain, but for the benefit of everyone.
Mari Atsumi as Orayu
The pace of the movie chugs along nicely, though it ends somewhat incomplete, as Hanzo has higher to go in his quest. And I kept thinking, this could be just a BIT more… over the top and it’d be GREAT… yeah, I hear the sequel is even better!
Mari Atsumi got some hooters out of her weight gain...
Yukiji Asaoka as Yoshino presented as a 'gift'.
Mari Atsumi as Orayu
Dec 30, 1972
94 minutes Color
For those going into this thinking it would be a traditional samurai movie, they’d get a big surprise.
(Having some insight into how Koike Kazuo writes, I suspect this follows the way the manga was done - now I’m curious to read it!).
But what REALLY sets Hanzo apart is his massive dong… yep, his massive manhood, that he uses to interrogate women to get information. In a lesser movie, this might be truly offensive, or done so crass as to be uncomfortable - but here it’s so… obviously comical it’s almost bizarre.
(Especially the second time he does it, involving Mari Atsumi - 30 pounds heavier and virtually unrecognizable from 2 years earlier in ‘The Hot Little Girl. Still beautiful and attractive, just… a completely different look).
Mari Atsumi as Orayu
The pace of the movie chugs along nicely, though it ends somewhat incomplete, as Hanzo has higher to go in his quest. And I kept thinking, this could be just a BIT more… over the top and it’d be GREAT… yeah, I hear the sequel is even better!
Mari Atsumi got some hooters out of her weight gain...
Yukiji Asaoka as Yoshino presented as a 'gift'.
Mari Atsumi as Orayu
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