Ryozo Kasahara Movies
Rutger Hauer plays a blinded Vietnam vet who also happens to be an expert swordsman. Twenty years after the war, Hauer finds himself waist-deep in gangsters when he tries to help the son (Brandon Call) of an old army buddy. Along the way, he reforms an ex-comrade in arms (Terrance O'Quinn) who was responsible for the accident that blinded him. Based on a series of Japanese films about a blind samurai (released under the blanket title of Zatoichi). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rutger Hauer, Brandon Call, (more)
- 1971
Samurai Assassin and Japan's Longest Day director Kihachi Okamoto offers a vivid dramatization of the bloodiest battle ever fought in the Pacific Theater with this combat film produced to portray the Japanese perspective on this landmark confrontation. The year is 1944, and when Allied forces descend on Okinawa the Japanese people become subject to horrors that would forever change the face of war. As the Japanese people struggle with all their might to endure an unrelenting attack, Allied forces receive a harrowing demonstration of what to expect when they take the fight to the Japanese mainland. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keiju Kobayashi, Tetsuro Tamba, (more)
- 1970
In this adventure, set in Japan, a Shogun warrior sets off to save the daughter of a Russian count. She is being held captive by Shimada who took her to defend himself from the count who cheated him. The warrior battles Mikuni, another warrior who is trying to return an arms shipment to his Shogunate. They engage in a sword-wielding duel which the good Shogun warrior wins. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1968
In this strange crime comedy, three disparate Japanese men travel from Tokyo to L.A. and find themselves thrown together for an adventure in Las Vegas. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In this Japanese actioner, the brave blind swordsman Zatoichi is assigned to escort a little boy to his father's home. En route he is set upon by five killers. Using his super-sensitive powers of perception, he kills them. Later an enigmatic samurai joins them and helps fight off a second gang. Eventually they make it to the boy's hometown where they discover that the father is being held hostage by smugglers. It is then that the mysterious fighter reveals that he is a government agent assigned to destroy the gang. Zatoichi agrees to help him if the samurai will return the favor. He cannot, and so the sightless fighter challenges the agent to a duel. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shintaro Katsu, Jushiro Konoe, (more)
- 1966
Originally Daiboken, this dark Japanese fantasy stars Hetoshi Ueki as an ambitious journalist. While investigating a gang of counterfeiter, Ueki makes an astonishing discovery: Adolf Hitler is alive and well and living in Japan. Unfortunately, the reporter has a reputation for fabricating stories, thus no one believes him. Meanwhile, Hitler-or at least a guy who looks an awful lot like him-plots and plans to take over the world with a fleet of battleships. Director Kengo Furusawa handles this material so well that he almost had us believing it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
This Japanese comedy follows the exploits of a magazine journalist and his best pal, a dancer. The story begins when the reporter helps the dancer get booked on an Asian tour. Their first stop is Hong Kong. The two are joined by a wealthy friend who wants to come. Unfortunately, she has no passport or ticket. Her two friends end up stuffing her into their suitcase and sneaking her through customs. In Hong Kong they meet a Chinese gentleman claiming to be a wealthy man--actually he is the secretary of the man he pretends to be. He promises to help them during their stay. The trouble begins when the dancer discovers that the promoter has taken all her money and disappeared. During her performance, the dancer is seen by the secretary's boss; he offers to make her his 13th concubine. Fortunately her friend comes to save her by threatening to expose the wealthy man in her magazine unless he allows his son to marry the singer instead. In the end, the three go home to Japan when they learn that their parents have alerted the authorities that they are missing. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1966
Exploring many of the same themes of Robert Altman's MASH (1970), (albeit with completely distinct overtones), Akai Tenshi is a brutal portrayal of individuals clinging to their humanity while enduring the horrors of war. Set in 1939, the film concerns Sakura Nishi (Ayako Wakao), a fresh young nurse who works at a field hospital during Japan's ill-conceived advance into China. In spite of the waves of broken men arriving at the clinic and the primitive conditions at their disposal (amputation is the only treatment available), Nishi tries to heal both the physical and emotional wounds of those she encounters but runs into a series of harrowing difficulties as she tries to compete with the insanity of war. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ayako Wakao, Shinsuke Ashida, (more)
- 1966
In this Japanese melodrama a youthful physician is loved by his foster sister. Though she has felt this way for years, she loses interest when he falls in love with the daughter of a Chinese trader. Later, the doctor is assigned to a work in a major Bangkok hospital, and it seems as he and his foster sister will again become lovers. But then they learn that her father has sold her to a Thai prince. A tragic parting ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yuzo Kayama, Yuriko Hoshi, (more)
- 1965
A middle-aged Japanese businessman (Hisaya Morishige) with an eye for the ladies infuriates his jealous wife (Asami Kuji) in this light situation comedy. Comedy relief is provided by (Norihei Miki). ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hisaya Morishige, Asami Kuji, (more)
- 1963
Nobuko (Hideko Takamine) is a gentle Japanese woman who endures several ordeals during her adult life in this somber, sentimental drama. She gives birth to a baby boy after she marries the man she loves, but the philandering husband is killed during the war. Nobuko raises her son as a single mother and is heartbroken when he grows up and marries a saloon girl against her wishes. When her son dies in an auto wreck, Nobuko finally accepts her daughter-in-law after learning she will soon have a baby. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hideko Takamine, Tatsuya Nakadai, (more)
- 1963
In this Japanese war drama, a regiment stationed in New Guinea begins to get depressed. To boost their flagging morale, a writer and actor is assigned to put on a play and oversee the building of a theater. During the last act of the play, a metaphorical snow begins to fall. Simultaneously, the Allies prepare their invasion. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1962
In this drama, a girl leaves her home in Hong Kong to study in Japan. There she tries to reject the advances of a would-be suitor because she believes that one of her friends is in love with him. The suitor is not easily dissuaded and even follows her home. She finally relents and agrees to marry him. Unfortunately, the lover then moves to San Francisco. The girl stays in Hong Kong to pursue her career. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
