WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Shogun Assassin 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:06.439 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:13.160 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:16.560 This is Rob Lamb and I am Joe McCormick, and 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:19.160 today we're going to be talking about a film from 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:25.720 the year nineteen eighty, the blood drenched samurai film Shogun Assassin. Rob, 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:28.440 this was your pick. How did you get to Shogun Assassin? 0:00:28.800 --> 0:00:29.000 Oh? 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:34.000 Wow? Mainly because I had subscribed to Criterion Channel in 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:38.080 order to watch Face behind the Mask for a previous episode, 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:40.680 and they have all these little collections in their little 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:42.760 playlists of movies to check out, and they had one 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:45.879 that was just called synth Scores. So of course I 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:48.120 had to dive in and see what kind of movies 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:51.720 they had included there. And they included one film that 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:55.240 I had heard of but I'd never seen, and that's 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:58.800 Shogun Assassin. And so I started playing it like I 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:00.960 think I was eating lunch by myself at the time, 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:02.840 and it was one of those films where before I 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:05.479 knew what had happened, I'd watched most of the film, 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:08.160 you know, like I had other things I really needed 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:10.280 to do that day, but I was already like sucked 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:15.160 into it. It's just if you've never seen it. I 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:18.959 highly recommend diving in as well, because I think it 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:21.280 will captivate most people who watch it. 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:24.880 It is incredible in many ways, and I can see 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:28.160 why it would be classified primarily in terms of its soundtrack, 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:32.199 because the music in this movie just it washes over 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:35.920 you like a like a dark rainbow. It's just unbelievable. 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:39.160 Yeah, so I'm really excited to talk about it here today. 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:42.640 I made sure to open up a can of my 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:45.960 Sun Tory Boss coffee here. I'll show it to you. Hear, 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:50.240 Joe did not buy it from a convenience machine on 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:52.240 the streets of Japan. This one is just from Super 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:56.520 h Mart. But they're not sponsoring this episode, by the way, 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:59.040 But I will be drinking my Sun Tory Boss coffee. 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:01.160 Wait, what is that coffee or is it some kind 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:01.600 of coffee? 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:05.919 Plus, it's just a coffee. It's inexpensive, like colbrew black 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:09.280 coffee in a can, nice with a fun ly logo 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:09.640 on it. 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:12.520 I have to try that one sometime. But oh so, 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:16.040 Chogun Assassin is a movie that I think we've done 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:19.000 films of this kind before, though I can't think at 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:21.280 the moment what they were but this is a movie 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:26.040 that is not an original artistic product, but rather is 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:29.760 made out of other products that already existed. 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:32.960 Yeah, we've talked about pictures on the show before that 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:37.320 exist in different, sometimes drastically different cuts. We recently did 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:41.280 that with Reptilicus. But yeah, today's episode is an extreme 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:45.440 case of something like this. Nineteen eighties Shogun Assassin is 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:49.240 a Western film release edited together from the first two 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:52.840 films in the famous Japanese Lone Wolf and Cub series, 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:57.280 those two films being both nineteen seventy two releases, Lone 0:02:57.280 --> 0:03:00.280 Wolf and Cubs sort Of Vengeance the first of six films, 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:04.120 and Lone Wolf and Cub Baby cart at the River Styx, 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:06.920 the second of six films. Warning that you know a 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:11.440 lot of these film titles. The translation is maybe a 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:15.240 little rough, but that's part of its time. So essentially, 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:18.320 the American filmmakers involved here set out to take the 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:21.880 best parts from these two films and stitch them together 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:25.840 into a single coherent narrative featuring, you know, the best action, 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:29.840 the coolest visuals, and all of this built around a 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:35.080 rather simplified plot. I'll describe the ways that they simplified 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:38.120 the plots a little bit as we proceed, but in 0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:41.640 essence they're just repackaging these two films for the grindhouse market. 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:46.760 I would say this movie is very loosely plotted. You 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:49.960 barely need to follow what's going on with the plot 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:52.840 or the machinations. It is more like a demo reel 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:57.080 of sights and sounds, and those sites are samurai action 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:01.080 with blood jets squirting, and the sounds are the dark 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:05.360 scinthed stylings of our composers who will get to later. Yeah. 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:09.960 Yeah, the plot is greatly reduced here, but in a way, 0:04:10.000 --> 0:04:12.400 it also makes it super fun to then dive into 0:04:12.800 --> 0:04:15.080 the full cuts of those first two Lone Wolf and 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:18.120 Cub films, which is exactly what I did after watching 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:21.080 Showgun Assassin. All of the Lone Wolf and Cub films 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:24.279 are available on a Criterion channel as well as of 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:25.040 this recording. 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:28.920 But I'm curious how significantly different is the mood. 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:32.320 I think the mood is pretty much the same, And 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:35.280 I think that's the really glorious thing about Shogun Assassin 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:38.560 is that it's easy to imagine all the ways that 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:41.839 a project like this could go spectacularly wrong, the way 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:45.400 that it could be disrespectful to the original pictures, but 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:48.359 I do think that the essential vibe is there. So 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:50.800 if you go from Showgun Assassin and you're like, yeah, 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:52.880 I would like more of this, well, the Lone Wolf 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:55.440 and Cub series is more of this, you know, because 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:59.279 it is, you know, the full plot, the full character 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:02.760 development of everything that is in Showgun Assassin that you love, 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:07.080 except for the score, a different score, but still effective 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:08.880 scores in the original pictures. 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:14.159 So regarding not the original films but Showgun Assassin specifically, 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:17.640 I've read this movie is esthetic described in terms like 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:22.200 poetic exploitation violence, and I think that's a good way 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:25.000 to put it, because this movie feels like it has 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:29.280 two souls at once. It is at once a work 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:33.400 of art and a piece of trashy grindhouse gore. So 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:36.800 on one hand, there really is a kind of poignant, 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:40.800 almost literary quality to the way details are observed in 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:43.560 a lot of scenes. Just one scene of many that 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:46.359 comes to mind is when the young boy is trying 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:49.599 to bring water from the river to his badly wounded father, 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:52.039 and he's trying to carry it in his hands and 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:55.280 it keeps leaking out between his fingers, so he eventually 0:05:55.279 --> 0:05:57.800 carries the water in his mouth to his father. I mean, 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:01.640 it's like a almost kind of beauty, full novelistic detail, 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:05.480 and also in terms of style, there is a quite 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:08.960 exquisite vision at play with the composition of the shots 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:13.880 and very again memorable details, strong misancen. But at the 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:19.039 same time, there is a campy Tom Savini Friday the 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:23.800 Thirteenth sensibility operating in quite high gear in most of 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:26.680 the action scenes, with like a real desire to just 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:30.160 see blood squirting and to get the camera all up 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:33.400 in the ridiculous wounds, the cloven heads and all that. 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:38.520 So it's an interesting combination. It's like some some gore 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:44.920 geek exploitation trash and a thoughtful, meditative historical art film 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:48.680 about a samurai father and son were merged into one entity. 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:52.200 Yeah, like the arterial sprays and there are quite a 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:58.640 few of them, will make your jaw drop and exclaim aloud. 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:02.360 But at the same time, yeah, there are such beautifully 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:06.039 poetic scenes in this picture, Like I cried, I teared 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:08.560 up at times, you know, I shed tears just to 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:11.720 showgun assassin. So it is both things at once. I 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:12.640 think it's a great. 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:16.760 Point, especially with the music. The music is a Digros theme, 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:19.400 especially that one was it was making me a little misty. 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:22.240 Yeah, that is a strong track. We'll come back of 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:23.040 that one for sure. 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:23.960 Now. 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:26.600 One thing I promise not to do in this episode 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:30.800 is to painstakingly talk about all the differences between Showgun 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:33.680 Assassin and the first two Lone Wolf and Cub movies. 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:37.280 We'll come back to some of these details in a bit, 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:39.360 but just in broad strokes, I do want to mention 0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:43.000 that clips from the first film, sort of Vengeance, apparently 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:46.640 amount to only like twelve minutes of Shogun Assassin, mostly 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:49.840 dealing with the backstory of Lone Wolf and Cup of 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:53.160 our Ronan character and the child. 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:55.640 Oh well, but that's a lot of what the movie is. 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:59.320 I would bet that when people watch this movie and 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:04.040 then think back and reminisce about it, the primary thing 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:07.080 they probably remember is the feeling created by the opening 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:09.200 five minutes or so. Not that the rest of the 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:13.560 movie isn't good, but that is the feeling of this 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:17.920 movie is really established strongly at the beginning, again powerfully moody, 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:23.360 with this strong synth bass melody that plays under Diegoro's 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:29.080 the Child, the Child's narration as he describes the backstory, 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:32.120 and we see these scenes very rapidly cut together. They 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:35.679 condense a lot of story into not much space. But 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:38.120 it's quite effective in my opinion. 0:08:38.480 --> 0:08:42.080 Yeah, that narration by the child is quite excellent, and 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:45.600 that is something that is original to Shogun Assassin. There 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:48.360 is not something like that in the Lone Wolf and 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:53.200 Cub movies. We don't really have his insight or reflection 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:55.360 on what happens here. 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:58.280 Though his narration continues throughout this movie. I mean like 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:01.040 he gets to tell us how, you know. We see 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:03.920 them pushing the cart through the jungle and they look 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:06.600 around and see monkeys screaming at them, and the kid says, 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:08.160 this is how I get my education. 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:13.680 Yeah, so I'll come back to some of the details 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:16.120 about the differences, at least the ones that are really 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:19.640 key to understanding what's happening in the picture or why 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:23.400 things are, you know, proceding the way they are. But yeah, basically, 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:25.760 though more time is spent with the characters, of course, 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:29.439 more time is spent with the politics and the background. 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:32.679 More time is spent laying out the duties that ogami 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:38.719 Eto has. That's our main character, the Showgun's executioner. In fact, 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:40.600 the first ten minutes or so the first Lone Wolf 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:46.000 and Cub movie is just ogami Eto about to execute 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:50.760 a young lord, like a child that is the same 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:54.640 age as his own son, on the orders of the Showgun. 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:57.719 This is of course the sort of thing that if 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:01.000 you are a recent viewer of the excellent Hulu FX 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:05.680 mini series Showgun, which is of course more historically based 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:10.240 perhaps in some ways than Showgun Assassin, you'll be familiar 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:12.240 with this sort of thing. But it does just a 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:14.200 great job in the original picture, just laying out like 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:16.240 this is the kind of work he has to do, 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:19.280 you know, he has to do bloody deets for the 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:22.200 Showgun out of a sense of honor and duty, and 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:25.600 at night he prays for the souls of those that 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:28.280 he has killed. And then finally, I should also mention 0:10:28.360 --> 0:10:31.320 that both of these films had also already been released 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:35.959 in the US by Toho with subtitles, so it's interesting 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:37.360 to think about that as well. This is not It's 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:40.080 not like Shogun Assassin was the absolute first time US 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:43.280 audience has had a chance to see these films. You know, 0:10:43.520 --> 0:10:49.200 at least some moviegoers out there already were familiar with them. 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:51.320 But this was kind of like a you know, a 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:55.400 redistribution or repackaging of these films for a new audience, 0:10:55.440 --> 0:10:57.360 and it certainly seemed to have found its audience. 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:00.679 Well, yeah, that makes me think, what is your understanding 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:03.280 of the original reception history of this movie. Was it 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:06.120 literally like a you know, midnight movie grindhouse kind of 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:06.760 kind of thing. 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:10.440 That's my understanding. This was like a grindhouse sensation, you know, 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:15.560 in which the expectations for cinema were you know, at 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:18.520 the extreme. People were tuning in to see those brilliant 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:22.880 arterial sprays, the violence and some of the psychedelic sequences, 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:27.400 you know. But and and it's through this that Shogun 0:11:27.400 --> 0:11:32.040 Assassin ended up really resonating with various various folks, everyone 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:35.320 from like you know, Quentin Tarantino, members of Wu Tang 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:38.240 clan and so forth. There's a lot here that's been 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:41.400 sampled elsewhere and so forth. So I think it it 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:44.119 also does a great job of just you know, introducing 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:48.120 the world of Lone Wolf and cub to a different audience, 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:49.400 a wider audience, if you will. 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:51.000 You can think of it kind of like one of 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:53.319 those sitcom episodes where they do a clip show from 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:55.920 the other episodes, but here it's it's a clip show 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:58.040 of Lone Wolf and Cub, so you get a you 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:00.319 get a flavor of the different adventures. 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:04.120 It's hard to imagine another project doing something like this, though, 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:07.240 Like can you imagine taking say Predator one in Predator 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:11.120 two and then editing them together into one film. 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:14.120 It would be easier if they had the same main character. 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:17.920 But yeah, I guess. Or how about Godfather one and 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:23.000 two edited into a single ninety minute film? Call it 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:24.520 Mafia Assassin. 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:27.600 Brilliant? I love it. 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:30.920 That's maybe more app because in an effort like you 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:33.720 would have to like boil out, you know, reduce it 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:36.199 and remove all of most of the politics and get 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:40.040 down to just like an ultra simplified like you know, plot, 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:44.120 which is what we have in Shogun Assassin. Well, on 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:46.120 that note, why don't we go ahead and listen to 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:48.720 a little trailer audio. This is from the This is 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:51.360 the trailer to be clear, to Shogun Assassin, not the 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:53.520 original Lone Wolf and Cub films. We're not going to 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:55.240 listen to all of it because it is it's kind 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:57.040 of long, but I want to make sure we get 0:12:57.120 --> 0:12:59.599 a little bit of that music and of course, the 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:01.840 nearer saying the title of the picture. 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:17.760 Return to the vanished kingdoms of ancient times, the journey 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:26.800 through a lost empire of man, wizards, wish and barbaric passions. 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:35.760 Behold the saga of a legendary warrior, a loving father 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:40.600 who has the power of a dozen armies in one. 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:42.319 Sweep of his mystic blade. 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:57.559 This is a story of honor, disgrace, vengeance, massacre. 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:05.280 A man who became a demon Shogun Assassin. 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:15.640 All right, so, if you would like to watch Shogun 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:19.840 Assassin and perhaps all six Lone Wolf and Cub films, 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:23.760 it's all currently streaming on the Criterion channel. I've been 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:27.000 really digging this resource recently. There's also a great looking 0:14:27.040 --> 0:14:31.120 Criterion collection box set of the six films. Showgun Assassin 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:34.080 itself has been released on Blu ray and DVD, but 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:36.880 I think that one might be harder to grab right now. 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:39.480 But of course, if you have some sort of rental 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:42.960 service at your disposal, be it Videodrome here in Atlanta, 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:46.800 whatever your local video rental option is, or even maybe 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:49.600 the public library, as a listener brought up in the 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:54.160 recent Listener Mail episode, Yeah, don't discount your public library 0:14:54.200 --> 0:15:05.800 they might have some Showgun Assassin waiting for you. All right, Well, 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:08.560 let's talk about some of the people involved here before 0:15:08.600 --> 0:15:11.960 we get into the plot and so forth. So again, 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:16.800 this is a nineteen eighty film release composed edited together 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:20.960 from two nineteen seventy two films. We can't do justice 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:23.600 to all the folks involved in these different projects, so 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:25.440 I want to mostly single out some of the key 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:27.800 folks from the first two Lone Wolf and Cub films, 0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:31.520 as well as key people responsible for the Showgun Assassin cut. Okay, 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:35.200 all right, So starting I think at the top where 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:41.640 where credit is deserved. The director of both Lone Wolf 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:44.800 and Cub films one and two this is Kenji Masumi, 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:49.240 who lived nineteen twenty one through nineteen seventy five. Very 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:54.160 well regarded Japanese film director, best known certainly internationally for 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:57.080 his work on four of the six Lone Wolf and 0:15:57.120 --> 0:16:00.280 Cub films that's one, two, three, and five, as well 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:04.280 as his Zatouichi films. His other movies also include nineteen 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:07.840 seventy two's Hanzo the Razor, Sword of Justice and nineteen 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:13.840 sixty six's Return of Damigen. This is a Tokusatsu film 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:17.440 about a giant demon god. I haven't seen these films, 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:19.640 but this was the second in a series that had 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:23.840 started earlier that same year. Like a big statue type dude. 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:27.680 Well, like a giant statue of a samurai warrior. 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:32.120 Yeah, exactly, with a scowl on his face and so forth. 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:35.720 See screenshots of one scene where he appears to be 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:40.800 walking through a parted see ooh, I don't know. I'll 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:43.920 have to flag this one. Come back to it, all right. 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:48.800 We also have to credit the creators of Lone Wolf 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:53.760 and Cub, two individuals worth singling out here. The first 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:58.240 as Kazuo Kooki, who lived nineteen thirty six through twenty nineteen, 0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:05.520 writer creator of He's the legendary Japanese manga writer, novelist, screenwriter, lyricist, 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:09.520 and entrepreneur apparently best known for co creating the Lone 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:12.280 Wolf and Cub series, not only writing it but also 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:15.600 adapting it for the screen. In both of these the 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:19.280 pictures that are used to create Shogun Assassin. He'd continued 0:17:19.320 --> 0:17:23.080 to do this with numerous other works of his that 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:26.560 were adapted to the screen, including nineteen seventy two's Hanzo 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:30.240 the Razor. He also wrote a Wolverine story for Marvel. 0:17:30.320 --> 0:17:33.160 I think I think it's from two thousand and three 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:37.760 X Men Unlimited Volume one, issue fifty and he is 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:40.919 a member of the Eisner Hall of Fame. And then 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:43.000 the artists that were the manga artists that worked with 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:46.400 him on this was Goseki Kojima, who lived nineteen twenty 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:49.919 eight through two thousand. Yeah, he worked with him on 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:51.919 the Lone Wolf and Cub film, so very much a 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:57.000 part of the original alchemy of bringing this idea of 0:17:57.040 --> 0:18:01.119 life on the page. All right, now, turning to the 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:05.960 folks heading up Showgun Assassin, we have we have a 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:11.080 Shogun Assassin director and writer Robert Houston born nineteen fifty five. 0:18:11.800 --> 0:18:15.960 So this individual is an Academy Award winning director for 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:20.040 a two thousand and four short form documentary titled Mighty 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:23.080 Times The Children's March. This was produced by HBO and 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:25.440 the Southern Poverty Loss and are dealing with the Birmingham, 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:30.440 Alabama civil rights Marches of the nineteen sixties. Long before this, though, 0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:34.679 he played Bobby in Wes Craven's nineteen seventy seven Mutant 0:18:34.680 --> 0:18:38.280 Mayhem movie The Hills Have Eyes. What I included it 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:42.240 a still for you here Joe's If anyone remembers, he's 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:46.360 the blonde kid in the T shirt. Okay, yeah, that's him. 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:47.480 That's our director. 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:50.240 Wow, Pads crossing, I had no idea. 0:18:51.080 --> 0:18:54.119 Yeah. He appeared in a handful of late seventies and 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:57.520 early eighties pictures before heading up the Showgun Assassin project 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:02.439 for producer David Weisman, which would ultimately be released by 0:19:02.520 --> 0:19:06.560 Roger Korman's New World Pictures. His subsequent directorial and writing 0:19:06.560 --> 0:19:11.760 credits include an array of thrillers, erotica, an episode of 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:15.440 Doogie Howser MD, and of course, Academy Award winning documentary 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:20.880 shorts How Strange. Yeah, all right, now. David Weisman, who 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:23.200 had just mentioned he is credited with as a writer 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:25.800 and a producer on this. He lived nineteen forty two 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:29.320 through twenty nineteen. He was apparently part of a splinter 0:19:29.400 --> 0:19:32.840 group from Andy Warhol's factory back in the sixties, and 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:35.120 he went on to produce such films as nineteen eighty 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:38.679 five's Kiss of the Spider Woman. All right, now, getting 0:19:38.920 --> 0:19:43.320 back into the original Japanese cast, the actors who bring 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:46.399 this picture to life, it's lone Wolf and cubs. So 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:49.840 let's start with Lone Wolf the character of Ogami Eto, 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:58.040 the Shoguns executioner turned ronan. He's played by Tomisaburo Wakayama, 0:19:58.119 --> 0:20:00.720 and he lived nineteen twenty nine through nineteen nine two. 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:03.439 He brings a lot to this movie in that he 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:08.800 is an absolutely lethal action hero, but he does not 0:20:09.880 --> 0:20:14.240 I don't know he he doesn't have a very active aura. 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:18.080 He brings a lot of stillness and patience. Do you 0:20:18.080 --> 0:20:20.040 know what I'm getting at here? Yeah? 0:20:20.160 --> 0:20:23.080 Yeah, And I think it's it's something that's easy to 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:27.479 sort of not really process all the way, especially if 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:29.600 you're just watching Shogun Assassin, and maybe if you just 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:31.480 sort of have it on in the background or something. 0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:34.680 But it begins to make more and more sense once 0:20:34.720 --> 0:20:39.720 you really absorb the character, because you know, he he 0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:43.480 doesn't talk much, but it is a full body performance 0:20:43.640 --> 0:20:46.920 of kind of this mix of silent honor and determination, 0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:51.000 but all of it burning within this scowling husk of 0:20:51.040 --> 0:20:53.400 shame and sorrow, Like he is a man who's been 0:20:53.400 --> 0:20:57.840 brought low, who's been betrayed, who is marked for death, 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:01.880 you know, and all these circumstances are out of his control, 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:05.080 but inwardly he's remaining true to his principles while the 0:21:05.080 --> 0:21:07.480 whole world either turns their their backs on him or 0:21:07.520 --> 0:21:11.040 turns their blades on him. And then when he does 0:21:11.160 --> 0:21:15.639 unleash his fury, oh man, it's just this fluid artery 0:21:15.760 --> 0:21:17.760 severing machinery. 0:21:17.880 --> 0:21:18.080 You know. 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:20.639 It's the and right down to when he's finished, like 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:23.240 the fluid sheathing of his sword. You know, it's like 0:21:23.280 --> 0:21:26.359 a final signature on a regal contract of death. 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:31.480 Yes, his presence in the action scenes is very much 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:34.280 like a he is a machine where the valve is 0:21:34.400 --> 0:21:38.159 closed and then suddenly it explodes open and there is 0:21:38.200 --> 0:21:40.960 a release of activity and then it closes again. 0:21:41.840 --> 0:21:46.080 Yeah, it's it's such a great performance. And when you 0:21:46.119 --> 0:21:49.080 when you learn a little bit more about Wakayama, like 0:21:49.119 --> 0:21:51.399 his background makes sense when you see this, because he 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:55.400 was an accomplished kabuki actor, uh and a judo practitioner 0:21:56.200 --> 0:21:59.840 that you know that ended up then getting into film acting. 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:02.199 So I can you can, I can see that, like 0:22:02.200 --> 0:22:06.320 that control of the body, fluid movements, and and then 0:22:06.480 --> 0:22:08.760 like his his ability to use these often like just 0:22:08.800 --> 0:22:12.840 smoldering facial expressions, you know, like where he's not just scowling, 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:14.720 he's not just like well, I'm gonna look like a 0:22:15.600 --> 0:22:17.680 like like a badass for this scene. Like, no, there's 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:21.000 the there there's stuff going on behind the eyes and 0:22:21.040 --> 0:22:21.760 you can sense it. 0:22:22.160 --> 0:22:25.480 Yeah, there's something more sad and also in a way 0:22:25.560 --> 0:22:29.280 threatening about the kind of the blankness that he often brings. 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:36.120 So yeah, just just a wonderful performance, you know. He 0:22:36.119 --> 0:22:39.240 he's mostly known for, you know, for for these films, 0:22:39.280 --> 0:22:40.840 the Lone Wolf and Cub films. He's in all of 0:22:40.880 --> 0:22:44.200 these Original Six pictures. He also had some starring roles 0:22:44.200 --> 0:22:50.360 and some other Toho Martial Arts films, but outside of Japan, 0:22:50.560 --> 0:22:54.159 he only ever appeared in two Western films. He pops 0:22:54.280 --> 0:22:56.880 up as a coach in nineteen seventy eight's The Bad 0:22:56.920 --> 0:23:01.920 News Bears Go to Japan. What, Yeah, I haven't seen 0:23:01.960 --> 0:23:05.480 that one. But then he also has has a turn 0:23:05.560 --> 0:23:08.360 as a as a key yakuza boss in Ridley Scott's 0:23:08.359 --> 0:23:11.200 Black Rain from nineteen eighty nine. Now I haven't seen 0:23:11.240 --> 0:23:14.160 that one either. It's, you know, one of Ridley's like 0:23:14.320 --> 0:23:17.119 non sci fi fantasy film, so I've never gotten around 0:23:17.160 --> 0:23:20.280 to it, but I've seen some stills. He looks like 0:23:20.280 --> 0:23:22.399 he has a really smoldering presence, and I think he 0:23:22.440 --> 0:23:26.080 gets to deliver a monologue that features the title of the. 0:23:26.040 --> 0:23:31.040 Picture Oh Wow, nineteen eighty nine. Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia, 0:23:31.400 --> 0:23:37.000 Kate Capshaw. Yeah, oh this looks worth seeing. 0:23:37.920 --> 0:23:41.239 I remember seeing trailers for it as a kid and 0:23:41.280 --> 0:23:43.960 thinking like, oh, it's more Blade Runner, and then I realize, oh, wait, 0:23:44.000 --> 0:23:46.560 it's not Blade Runner. This takes place in the real world, 0:23:46.640 --> 0:23:47.880 and then I don't watch it. 0:23:49.040 --> 0:23:53.360 But hey, the poster is hilarious. I see Michael Douglas 0:23:53.400 --> 0:23:56.000