User Reviews

Kenji Misumi directs Zatoichi himself (Shintarô Katsu) as the untouchable constable from Edo, Hanzo Itami. It is interesting to note that Kenji previously directed Shintaro in the Zatoichi series and followed it up by directing Shintaro's brother (Tomisaburo Wakayama) in the Lone Wolf & Cub series. This is the first in the Hanzo trilogy and is the only one directed by Kenji Misumi (each movie had a different director).

Hanzo has been a constable for 4 years but has not as yet taken the policeman's blood oath. He refuses to make such an oath because the police accept gifts from the daiyamo (lords), the brothels and tradesman for the purpose of mitigating punishment or the dismissal of offenses. Hanzo's duties (according to Hanzo) is not to protect the samurai and the rich, but is instead to protect the farmers and townsmen and to be allowed to perform his duties as peace keeper and enforcer of the law. This is the only thing that he will swear in blood to.

Hanzo is not your typical constable. He is well known in Edo. He is equal parts Dirty Harry, Robocop, and John Holmes. Hanzo's techniques are far from clean. His ends justify his means. As a constable he has to deal with the filth and unclean. Hanzo bears the scars of many torture sessions. During the sessions he reaches some sort of nirvana (past the pain) which helps him to effectively administer torture and to experience what those he tortures feel. It is also a cleansing technique for him (sometimes with unexpected results). He knows of many different type of cleansing techniques (a.k.a. torture) including :

1) kneeling on triangular wooden boards, tied to a pole and having his ex-criminals servants put giant stone slabs (5 to be exact) on top of his knees.

2) a hot bath followed by the pouring of hot water over his penis. Then the banging of his penis with a stick into a wooden board (he has done this so many times the stool has a "large" form indented in it). Finally he has sex with a straw bag full off rice while 70's sex music is playing in the background.

When Kanbei the Killer escapes, Hanzo is hot on his trail. This trail leads to places Hanzo did not expect (i.e. - Omino the magical woman with a Brazilian wax job). He gets this info by using his special torture techniques (in this movie he only tortures women). There are several techniques he uses and they both involve having sex with a bound woman. One confession was obtained in a hot tub with sake (Austin Powers style) and the other in a vertical cargo net dreidel-style.

This movie is typical of the chambara style (dramatic samurai movie set in the Edo period). Typical elements include sword fight sequences in which one man fights many opponents, yet never more than one at a time. It is like the checkout line at Duane Reade. Death sequences are often stylize and includes the vertical gushing of blood, graphic death and dismemberments (in this movie Hanzo uses spiked iron knuckles to burst eyes and concrete slabs), the use of makeup for the hero and crazy haircuts for the villains. The movie does reflect the era it was filmed in. From the walking montage and the "hero" theme music to Hanzo's side burns, this movie is crawling with 70's nostalgia.

The story and action is very straight forward. The S&M elements and Hanzo himself is what stands this movie apart from others of this style. Zatoichi is a blind masseuse with excellent sword skills. Lone Wolf was the Shogun's executioner and travels with his infant son in a carriage. Hanzo relies on his "training", "persuasive" technique with women and an unwavering sense of duty. I highly recommend this movie for fans of chambara and action fans in general.

-Celluloid Rehab

Wow - I have seen many Japanese sword films, many weird sexual exploitation movies but this one - where it combines so many genres (plus a film score that Issac Hayes would be proud of)this film is an oddity but also lots of fun. Hanzo is a tough cop who refuses to follow orders from his superiors. He is tough, he tortures HIMSELF to become even tougher. The actor is a bit pudgy with a double chin but his eyes - he is the real deal. Intense, a real bad ass. Another way he toughens himself up is to slam his own male member with a cane and then have sex with a huge burlap bag of rice (makes me think twice of ordering rice in a Japanese restaurant)- then when he needs to "interrogate" female suspects and/or witnesses - he uses his toughened flesh "sword" to get the women to comply. Strange, weird. The violence goes from clumsy to very real. My film group really liked it.

What can I say about this movie? It is the kind of a story you would describe to a psychiatrist and then add, "At that point, I woke up". A law officer, whose morals are above reproach, rapes female suspects to get them to confess. He also gets sexually aroused by torture.

One might get the impression that the star and producer, Shintaro Katsu, arrived at the conclusion one day that he had enough money to make a movie about his darkest sexual fantasies to watch in his old age.

And yet, I liked the movie...as incomprehensible as much of the plot was... Obviously Katsu is an excellent actor. One sees absolutely no trace of the charismatic Zatoichi character in his Hanzo. He is a different person altogether. Zatoichi lived within society and corruption. Hanzo is fighting a one sided battle against it.

Great 70's samurai film. What separates it from other classics of the same era, like the Lone Wolf and Cub and Sleepy Eyes of Death series, is its decidedly tawdry sexual aspects- Hanzo's mammoth penis aka-"The Long Arm of the Law", and his 'interrogation' of female suspects. In essence it is one part samurai film, one part rouge cop/Dirty Harry flick, and one part soft core porno.

A bit slow in the action department, with a few brief sequences. The film mainly takes focus on Hanzo dealing with the ladies, as well as, the corrupt officials that try to undermine him. If you want action every five minutes, go elsewhere. If you want a super groovy soundtrack, look no further. Definitely hard to forget.

Samurai Shaft. Someone else grabbed that before I could, but the music in this film is unmistakable. Its as if Isaac Hayes himself scored the film.

The Samurai is a policeman, and has more in his bag of tricks that the usual Samurai swords. In fact, even when he is completely naked, he still has a formidable weapon to use in his unusual interrogations.

It doesn't just hang there either. He actually works it out. He beats it with a stick and rams it into what looks like a bag of pebbles to strengthen it. You just have to see it.

Of course, this wouldn't work if he had to interrogate males, so there are plenty of females that need to feel the long arm of the law. When he gets going, they will say anything to keep him from stopping.

Samurai exploitation? It appears that way. This is one Japanese film that will not be remade by Hollywood. I can't wait for Part 2.

Part Zatoichi, part Dirty Harry and part Dirk Diggler, Hanzo 'The Razor' Itami (Shintarô Katsu) is an incorruptible Edo-period lawman, highly skilled in the martial arts, and a big hit with the ladies, who are more than happy to tell him everything after receiving a thorough pounding from his over-sized trouser truncheon. In fact, Hanzo is so bad-ass, that he regularly tests his endurance to the limits, suffering extreme pain during prolonged bouts of self-inflicted torture, and dousing his massive member in hot water before bashing it with a stick and ramming it repeatedly into a bag of rice.

After apprehending a small-time criminal (by crushing his nose into a bloody pulp), Hanzo learns that a contract killer named Kanbei has somehow escaped from the island to which he was banished. As he follows a trail of deceit and corruption that leads all the way to the Inner Castle, home to some of the region's most powerful people, Hanzo upsets a few officials, inflicts major damage on those crazy enough to take him on in a fight, and interrogates a few lovely ladies in his own inimitable style.

Although I admittedly lost track of proceedings from time to time (over complicated plot or stupid viewer—you decide), the cool 70s trappings (surreal visuals, split screen, funky soundtrack etc), inventive soft-core coupling, incredibly bloody action (including ruptured eyeballs and assorted nasty wounds spurting geysers of blood), twisted humour, and general craziness ensured that Hanzo was a consistently entertaining piece of exploitation from start to finish.

In the first of a trilogy by famed Director of the "Lone Wolf and Cub" series, Kenji Misumi, Hanzo 'The Razor' Itami (Zatôichi himself, Shintarô Katsu) is an honorable Samurai. He will go after anyone corrupt, no matter how high up in society they are and isn't above rapeing women with his gigantic penis to get them to tell him what he needs to know (don't worry they all end up loving it and begging him not to stop). The training techniques to keep his penis in shape ALONE are worth the price of admission!! And with Hollywood currently being remake crazy, I glad to know that there are some films they wouldn't DARE touch. This film is greatness with it's extremely unPC humor. Plus it has an amazing kitsch '70's soundtrack. thats NEVER bad. The DVD available through HVE entertainment has at the 26 minutes and 13 seconds mark, about 25 seconds of missing audio and at 84 minutes and 15 seconds an uneven jump cut from a few missing frames. But they do mention that before the start of the movie. I'm just glad to have the Hanzo films on DVD at all. I wholeheartedly recommend this film, and the following two.

My Grade: B

DVD Extras: Merely Trailers for all 3 Hanzo the Razor films

Eye Candy: Both Yukiji Asaoka and Mari Atsumi show their heavy hangers, Mari bares her behind as well

No pun intended with my summary line. I actually did expect something along the lines of "Zatoichi" when I watched this at a local cinema, as part of Retrospective. Well I was in for a treat (and if you have seen the movie, you do know what I'm talking about), because it is anything but that.

I like Zatoichi-style action, don't get me wrong and there is quite a bit of action on display here. But mainly the "sword of justice" might be something else than you'd expect. Unless you know what you are getting into that is. Speaking of "getting into" ... well better not, I don not want to get to graphic here. The movie is doing more than a good job, so I leave it to the film to blow your mind (if you can get your head around the idea and weirdness of it all, that is). The ending did seem a bit rushed though ... but I guess that happened for a reason.

Don't watch this one with your female significant other unless she's cool.

Misumi plays a law enforcer with a huge "razor" and uses his "razor" to get women to talk. He also beats the living mess out of every person who messes with him. He hates the government and is sticking it to the man.

All the things you don't want to see are in this film: torture, sex, rape, extreme violence, and dick jokes.

This is a hilarious series. If you love black dynamite or Shaft, this movie is in that VEIN.

See what I did there?

This is the first 1970's ultra gory Japanese samurai movie I have seen, and I must say I consider myself a fan. (Although I have only see one other). There are some especially violent scenes, lots of fake blood, lots of sex, and a funky soundtrack. Interesting sexual activity too, maybe be offensive. There is also lots of comedy in this picture, mostly about Hanzo's penis. This film will shock you, and make you laugh with disbelief, but you will ultimately be amazed

Super disappointing tbh. While a couple of action scenes are fun and the sometimes funky, sometimes jazzy score proves unique, it's really dull in places, and has a surprisingly boring ending.

Expected more from Katsu and Misumi, seeing as they made plenty of good Zatoichi movies together, and Misumi also directed four Lone Wolf and Cub movies around this time too, and they're great.

The worst part is how dirty this movie makes you feel- there's some really gross scenes and I don't know if they really justify themselves. Potentially just shock for shock's sake... they made the movie unpleasant in parts, and I don't like coming out of a movie feeling dirty if a movie didn't have a good reason to make me feel that way.

The following review is an extract from the book ""Lone Wolf and Cub": ...and other samurai stories from cinema and TV", which is now available on Amazon. Highly recommended for all chambara fans!

"Itami Hanzo is a police officer in the city of Edo (now Tokyo) during the last years of the Tokugawa Shogunate. When the time comes for him to take the oath of allegiance before his superiors and comrades, he refuses to do so, as he is aware that the body to which he belongs is extremely corrupt. His sense of honor prevents him from signing with his own blood a document that is nothing more than a hollow bureaucratic formality. Hanzo is disgusted by the double standard: the rich and powerful, those who are "connected" to the upper echelons, the "big fish" of criminality, are never bothered; and the shogunal police has to arrest only petty criminals.

Hanzo's immediate superior is Magobei Onishi, nicknamed "Snake". Hanzo has in his service two rehabilitated ex-criminals who work for him as servants. The incorruptible officer, who practices extremely forceful methodologies when interrogating suspects, voluntarily submits himself to very painful physical tests: "The tortures I apply, I must know them myself". Thus, perhaps following the Nietzschean precept that "what doesn't kill me makes me stronger", he orders his servants to place thick cement blocks on his legs, while he sits on his ankles on a wooden plank with sharp points...

The story of Hanzo, and his fight against corruption in the upper echelons of the Shogunate (which was then in its final stages), does not end in this film. A year later, in 1973, the sequel would be shot; and in 1974 the third part would come out. However, neither of the two sequels was directed by Kenji Misumi.

Shintaro Katsu, as Hanzo, plays a role quite different from that of Zatoichi, to the point that it is almost unrecognizable to those of us more accustomed to seeing him in his role as the blind swordsman and masseur. Hanzo and Zatoichi have very different characters and temperaments, but nevertheless share the same ethical code and sense of honor.

Hanzo is a sort of nineteenth-century Japanese "Dirty Harry", with very expeditious methods; a police officer for whom the end justifies the means; and who repudiates nepotism, elitism and hypocrisy.

Goyokiba is a jidaigeki trilogy that, because of its sexual content and subtle black humor, is close to the pinku eiga genre. It is reminiscent at times of Norifumi Suzuki's films "The Empire of Sex" and "The Lusty Shogun and His 21 Concubines", both from 1972 (due to the content, but also because of the tipically seventies soundtrack, which bears little relation to traditional Japanese music).

Kamisori Hanzo's story is based on a manga by Kazuo Koike, also author of "Kozure Okami" ("Lone Wolf and Cub") which was also brought to the screen as a mini-series by Kenji Misumi and other directors. In the excellent "Kozure Okami" the main character is Tomisaburo Wakayama, Shintaro Katsu's brother.

Saw this movie recently on a whim without knowing what it entailed and was pleasantly surprised. The "Razor" is all about the ultra-macho superhero archetype. Excellent with the sword, true to upholding one's honor and principles and most of all a supersized male organ to back it all up.

Sword of Justice is the film that kicked off the Hanzo trilogy, where each film was done by a different director. The original title Goyokiba means something like "Honorable blade user" or something like that, according to Google Translate (yeah...). The producer and the star is Shintaro Katsu (most famously known as Zatoichi), while the writer is Kazuo Koike, who made the original manga of this, Lone Wolf and Cub, and Lady Snowblood. The director of the first film is Kenji Misumi, better known for his Zatoichi, Sleepy Eyes of Death and Lone Wolf and Cub films.

This trilogy is like a mix of samurai-sploitation, soft-core porn and crime-sploitation. Kind of like a mix of Shaft, Dirty Harry, Yojimbo and pinku flicks. Even the slick title theme sounds like it's based on Shaft's. It's like a miniature '70s time capsule.

The protagonist, Hanzo Itami, is a bad-ass Edo-era officer striving for justice with his sai blades in his one hand and his penis in the other. He's against corruption and willing to fight the system all the way up to the top, but he also likes to torture himself for testing the limits to this particular punishment, and he also likes to train his c*ck for maximum strength. He beats his d*ck with a stick, splashes it with hot water and f*cks a bag of rice and pebbles to make it more resilient. Why? Because he needs it to interrogate the suspects.

You see, the ladies he encounters literally get the information f*cked out of them, as he uses his Long Arm of the Law to rape them until they confess. This may sound strange enough, but the thing is; the ladies quickly start to enjoy it. Therefore, Hanzo threatens that he'll stop raping them unless they spill out all the info, in which case they'll be awarded with further rape (!!!). Obviously, this isn't the kind of a film you'd have to take seriously, it's more like a sex fantasy with a budget (once again I stress, the film was produced by Katsu). To say that they don't make them like they used to is an understatement. A movie like this would never, never get made in today's times. It's really a curious piece of history that something like this exists.

I forgot to mention that the second rape scene is as follows: the woman is held in a suspended net, which is lowered by Hanzo's assistants, allowing their boss (who's calmly laying on the floor) to f*ck her without moving. I admire the creativity, at least.

The plot of this film is typical over-plotted mess, a soup of characters characteristic for a film like this. Whether or not the story makes sense or not, you don't really care, as long as you have Hanzo murdering the f*ck out of everyone with his psychotic arsenal of weapons and a booby trap-laced house. There are some loose ends and many, many things which weren't clear to me at all, including the digressive sub-plot taking place in the last 10 minutes, where Hanzo ends up being a saint for euthanazing a dying dude by hanging him, but really, this isn't the type of film that benefits from the plot. It's a sick sexual fantasy which needs a pseudo-plot to make it somewhat justified.

Oh but let me tell you, this movie is really visually inventive. Sharp editing and quick cuts, split screen, all the modern goods. I like how whenever Hanzo has to travel to the other side of the town, he's shown running in front of maps of Edo in the background, until he gets to the destination. I'd also like to point out the outrageously weird shot where Hanzo is raping a woman; his stone-cold face is placed in the right corner, her "I'm trying so hard not to enjoy this" face is positioned on the left, while the middle is a huge superimposed POV-shot of his d*ck entering her vagina. I'm not kidding. Almost 40 years before Gaspar Noe got the same idea for Enter the Void.

Also, you really have to admire the way things are framed here. Someone put actual effort into the visuals of this film. And it looks incredible. It follows the zen-framing politics of many samurai films, and it looks absolutely astonishing. The woman's face seen through the net of a straw basket, the water surface reflections of characters dominating the frame, it's all so beautiful.

And then you remember what this movie is about, and, well...

Misumi seems ill-at-ease doing a kind of extremely cartoonish and lurid sexploitation film where the emphasis is on Hanzo's 'interrogating' techniques (read forced sex which the victims end up enjoying so much they spill everything he needs to know as a constable - how's that for PC?) rather than anything resembling a samurai movie. That's probably why it verges on the incomprehensible and the experimentations with style and form are as disjointed as the silly script against which they're supposed to work as diversions. In one of the greatest strokes of irony in Japanese cinema, where Misumi failed, Yasuzo Masumura (a director know for more art-house fare) succeeded beyond all expectations in the second entry of the Hanzo series, basically by doing what Misumi opted to avoid: a serioud dark movie. The kind of film Misumi made a career out of.