Kill! (1968)

"Samurai aren't as great as you think"

“Kill!” was a 1968 film adapted from the same book Kurosawa Akira used for Sanjuro (1962). Just as with Sanjuro, “Kill!” had a hero who didn’t want to kill yet ended up having to take lives to save lives. The honor of the samurai was called into question as Genta, the itinerant ronin, found himself working to rescue a handful of loyal samurai from a corrupt system. With his wild eyes and hair, Nakadai Tatsuya perfectly played the humorous yet lethal swordsman.

Tabata is a farmer who sold his land to buy samurai swords and is in town seeking a yakuza family that is hiring swordsmen. More than anything he wants to be a samurai. Well, almost anything. He hasn’t eaten in five days when he arrives in a town nearly destroyed by a recent revolt. Tabata meets another hungry ronin named Genta, as they both eye a scrawny chicken that would have made Moana’s Heihei* proud. In town are seven dedicated samurai who kill a corrupt official that has stepped out of line with their lord. The local chamberlain, Ayuzawa Tamiya, gave his tacit agreement for the assassination. Tabata goes to work for Ayuzawa while Genta sees a plot that may cost the seven loyal samurai their lives and begins to covertly work on a way to extricate them from the trap they have fallen into.

The first 30 minutes of the film felt needlessly complicated, though I suppose when introducing two dozen characters it was inevitable for there to be confusion. Nakadai Tatsuya played Genta, the wandering ronin who gave up being a samurai two years prior. Quick witted and quick with a sword, it was hard not to like Genta, especially as played by Nakadai. I have come to truly appreciate his wild eyes and cocksure smile. He looked like he was having great fun playing the skilled samurai masquerading as a vagrant. Takahashi Etsushi’s Tabata had a heart and physical strength greater than his brain power. Though not the sharpest katana in a battle, he made up for his lack in enthusiasm. The two unkempt swordsmen would find themselves on opposite sides but never truly enemies.

“Kill!” had numerous humorous moments yet never more than dipped its toe into slapstick. Other samurai films were alluded to without diving into parody. The samurai fell into “the good guys,”“the bad guys,” and “the average guys,” who were just trying to make a living. Swords, arrows, and bullets didn’t care which category the men belonged to and there was one death that particularly hurt. “Kill!” had several narrative issues, but I enjoyed it based mostly on Nakadai’s performance. The unlikely duo of farmer and reluctant samurai was entertaining as they attempted to save the “good guys" and “the average guys” all while trying to stay alive themselves. Once the film found its footing this chambara was entertaining. If you liked Yojimbo or Sanjuro, “Kill!” is one to try.

14 January 2025

*Spoiler---The chicken lives!

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Cool and quirky chanbara. Maybe it's too fast paced made the intrigue  and polemic a little hard to follow. it's not that complicated though, only again there this flow of narrative -to me- been sacrificed. Not help when many characters -which some supposedly intriguing, and they were-  also  became abruptly introduced, developed and resolved. i guess it's still fair on this kind of flick.
the fights,  humors, the absurd circumstances is strong  on this one. the points that remind me of the work of seijun suzuki. only talk kihachi okamoto , he has some social commentary implied, in this case ridicule obselete samurai code of duty to a complete laughing stock.

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