That’s gotta hurt… What we have here is an epic samurai situation! Koheita Mochizuki (Koji Yakusho: Shall We Dance) is rumored to be a hard drinking, womanizing magistrate (with the nickname Dora Heita-- alley cat) is sent by his Lord to clean up the corruption in Horisoto. He plays his hand slyly as he works his way into the confidence of the bosses and their henchmen, trusting no one, he doesn’t miss a trick. The screenplay was originally written by the "Four Knights" (Akira Kurosawa, Masaki Kobayashi, Keisuke Kinoshita and Kon Ishikawa) in 1969. Thirty years later it’s Ishikawa (the last of the Four Knights) who puts it to film.
His 74th film is like a time machine: I can smell the insense! The cinematography is lush and the samurai sword action quite impressive. Koheita’s spunky geisha girlfriend comes all the way from Edo to find him and bring him back with almost fatal results. In the end the bow is neatly tied and Yojimbo applauds!

Reviewed by Eric Michel, FilmCities