Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (1972)

Samurai daddy take your kid to work day

Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance was the first in a series of movies about a disgraced ronin caring for his baby son while seeking revenge on the people who murdered his wife and framed him for treason. This ronin of few words left a trail of spurting arteries along with piles of limbs and decapitated heads.

Ogami Itto was the honored executioner for the Shogun until one day the treacherous Yagyu clan decided they wanted his position for their clan. They murdered his wife and set him up on treason charges. The wily swordsman not only escaped the executioner's blade but won his freedom as long as he stayed out of Edo. Pushing a secret weapon laden baby cart, he had a sign reading "Sword for Hire" and "Son for Hire." No longer using his feared name, he and his son were now known as the Lone Wolf and Cub. An assassination job took him to a hot spring in a mountain village being terrorized by bandits. Playing a sheep looking after his lamb he found himself among captured travelers. It didn't take a fortune teller to know what the fate of the bandits would ultimately be.

Ogami had his own code of righteousness formed by his job and his responsibility to his son. It meant when he saw a woman being raped and her father murdered that he didn't step in, which didn't exactly grant him a halo. Nor did it stop him from servicing a prostitute in front of crowd in order to "save" her. A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. Like other 1970's movies, there was plenty of sexploitation. Had they toned down the naked women and sexual violence I would have enjoyed this movie more.

This film felt like they were setting the table for more courses to come. I was surprised how quickly the movie was over and how little happened in the present as there was copious use of flashbacks. Wakayama Tomisaburo was an accomplished martial artist and his skill showed during the fights. At least the fights I could watch when I wasn't closing my eyes during the severing of limbs and buckets o' blood spewing everywhere.

Lone Wolf and Cub reminded me of the Mandalorian only with more blood and flying body parts. Ogami's son could have given Baby Yoda a run for his money in the cute kid with a lethal daddy department . If you can overlook the '70s sexploitation and are in the market for an old school gore fest samurai with a baby who is also seeking revenge film, this is it.

8/31/23

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