Akô-jô danzetsu (1978)

Akô-jô danzetsu: Directed by Kinji Fukasaku. With Shin’ichi Chiba, Kinnosuke Nakamura, Tsunehiko Watase, Masaomi Kondô. This is the story of “The Forty-Seven Ronin.” Based on historical events in 1701-2, the movie tells the tale of the Asano clan’s downfall and the revenge of its former samurai on the perpetrator of the catastrophe.

“I rented this movie in spite of Fukasakuu0026#39;s name, so Iu0026#39;m perhaps not the most objective judge. In fact, it turned out not to be as bad as I expected, particularly after the completely inappropriate 70s cop-movie theme music. (I kept expecting one of the investigators to slam Asano up against the wall and ask him if heu0026#39;d ever picked his feet in Kamakura.) But itu0026#39;s still basically a Fukasaku movie. Where itu0026#39;s a straight retelling of the 47 Ronin story, itu0026#39;s OK. Where Fukasaku inserts his own special brand of action melodrama, itu0026#39;s not; I defy anyone to sit through the murder-suicide scene without laughing.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe climax is considerably more Sonny Chiba than Chushingura, and I donu0026#39;t mean that as a compliment.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd how much did Toei Studios have to shell out to get Toshiro Mifune for a role that could easily have been played by a bit player who would have been glad to do it for scale? Itu0026#39;s not that his presence makes the movie worse, exactly, itu0026#39;s just that…why is he there?”