Synopsis
A chance meeting between two traveling gamblers leads to a case of mistaken identity when the farmers transporting gold to the governor think they are about to be robbed as the two gamblers face off against each other swords in hand.
A chance meeting between two traveling gamblers leads to a case of mistaken identity when the farmers transporting gold to the governor think they are about to be robbed as the two gamblers face off against each other swords in hand.
Kaze to onna to tabigarasu, Wind, Women and Vagabonds, Wind, Woman And Traveling Ravens
Wandering Yakuza gambler, Sentaro (Rentaro Mikuni), is on the road aimlessly when he meets a spirited fellow gambler in Ginji (Kinnosuke Nakamura), whom he takes an instant liking to due to being a similar age to his deceased son. Ginji is heading to a local town to visit his mother's grave and together the pair walk the road awhile until Ginji decides to draw his sword for a friendly duel, which to a convoy protecting a gold delivery on the road below looks like a bandit attack, leading them to abandon their treasure and make for safety while the hapless pair of gamblers look on puzzled. They decide to return the gold, but when one of them is wounded in…
Aka - Kaze to onna to Tabigarasu
This is an early film in the career of Japanese director Tai Kato before he began his Yakuza and Samurai trademark films in the 1960s. Previously, Kato was directing some of what are termed Jidaigeki films, ie period dramas, that includes some sword fights. But it also edges into what was coming; the Japanese New Wave movement of youthful rebellion and disaffection. It makes for a thoughtful if slow moving film.
Two wanderers, one an older man with a disreputable past and a younger man with a hatred for all around him bump into each other and strike up an odd friendship. Sentaro (Rentaro Mikuni) is reminded of his dead son by the…
“In his portrayal of traveling gambler in Wind, Women and Hobos, Nakamura Kinnosuke is reminiscent of the unaffected youth depicted in Nicholas Ray’s 1955 masterpiece Rebel Without a Cause, delivering his lines in a “hip” contemporary style and acting without make-up — an unusual innovation in this kind of genre film. Although nobody can match the gambler in a duel, he in turn makes no effort to hide his moral weakness and greed. Kato thus presents, in this character, a figure quite off the beaten track of traditional samurai-movie moralism.” - Shigehiko Hasumi, Samurai Loyalty: A Film Genealogy of Kato Tai
“Kato Tai not only had Nakamura Kinnosuke and all other cast appear without make-up, but also had Nakamura Kinnosuke…