Just like the martial arts movies in Hong Kong movies, the sword and sword films are also iconic works that must be mentioned in Japanese movies.
Swords and halberds are two weapons commonly used by Japanese samurai, so as the name suggests, sword blades are naturally based on fighting and killing as the main buying points. In this type of film, the protagonists are mostly samurai or ronin, and the usual bridge section is cold weapon hand-to-hand combat, pursuing more realistic sensory stimulation.
Stills from "The Sword of Death"
As a genre unique to Japan, the kenji film began with Kanemori Vientiane's Ukiyo-e: Purple Turban in 1923, and was finally established and continuously improved in the 1950s and 1960s through the efforts of directors such as Hiroshi Inagaki, Akira Kurosawa, and Kenji Misumi. In the end, it crossed the gap between cultural exchanges between the East and the West, opened the precedent of oriental film and television, and made oriental films attract international attention for the first time.
Among them, the most well-known is a series of works by Akira Kurosawa, such as "Seven Samurai", "Shadow Warrior", "Chaos", and "Tsubaki Sanjuro". Of course, compared with the sword films of other directors, Akira Kurosawa's films have an extra layer of profound meaning and philosophy, which is probably the reason why Akira Kurosawa can become an international film master, while other sword and sword film directors can only be respected in the circle of fans.
Stills from The Seven Samurai
The original sword and sword film was filmed and produced in imitation of the mode of Hollywood Westerns, and the beginning and end of the story and the setting and development of the plot were all Westerns. After the 1960s, a large number of historical novels were frequently adapted to the big screen, among which the novels of Zimu Sawaku and Yamamoto Goro were the most famous.
In the early 1960s, Kenji Misumi first put "Humpback City" on the screen by His mother Sawahiro, starring Shintaro Katsu, who was not well known at the time, and the response was great and loved by the audience. It was not until the 1980s that the "Humpback Market" gradually receded, during which time the "Hutou Market" was filmed more than two dozen times. The 1960s were almost the world of Humpback. Even in 2003, Takeshi Kitano made "Humpback City" again, which not only sold for the seat, but also won another "Silver Lion Award" for Japan.
Stills from Takeshi Kitano's version of "Humpback City"
In the 1970s, Shintaro Katsumi and kenji Misumi joined forces again to target Kazuo Koike and Tsuyoshi Kojima's popular manga "Wolf with a Belt". However, Katsu Shintaro no longer starred this time, but only served as a producer, and the protagonist "Bai Yi Dao" was played by his younger brother Wakayama Tozaburo.
The series consisted of 6 episodes between 1972 and 1974. The main plot of the film is: In the Edo period, The head of Yanagisei, YanagiSei Liedo, coveted the position of the executioner of the Execution Department, Bai Yidao, and plotted to kill his entire family, leaving only Bai Yidao and his two-year-old son Ōgoro to escape the clutches of the devil. Bai Yidao and his young son wandered the rivers and lakes, pseudonymized as "Wolf with Children", on the one hand, acting as a killer to make a living, on the other hand, he was fighting with the pursuers of the Liusheng family to the end.
CC poster for the Wolf with The Ribbon series
A legendary classic in the sword and sword film was born from this point, and has influenced a large number of other films in the future. Although the audience that has seen this series of movies is not many, and the number of people labeled under each Douban entry is only about a few hundred, there are many movies that we are familiar with that directly or indirectly get inspiration from it.
For example, the blind samurai played by Liang Chaowei in Wong Kar-wai's classic "East Evil and West Poison" has a very classic line before his death: I have heard people say that if the knife is fast enough, the blood spurts out of the wound like the sound of the wind, which is very good, and I can't imagine that the first time I heard it was my own blood.
The screenshot of "East Evil west poison" This line is obviously a reference to a line that the protagonist Bai Yidao said before he died in the second part of the "Belted Wolf" series when he hacked the main villain in the desert.
Screenshot of Wolf with a Belt 2
In addition, the plot setting of Wang Jing's "New Shaolin Five Ancestors" is also derived from the "Belt Wolf" series; the ronin character of the pair of martial arts "father and son partners" in Shinji Fukasaku's "Must Kill IV:Snow Hate" is also referenced; the last amazing beheading shot in Jiang Wen's "The Devil is Coming" is also suspected of stealing from "Belt Male Wolf 3: The Original Ghost Gate"; even the original ideas of "Road to Destruction" directed by Sam Mendes and starring Tom Hanks in 2002 are all from this "Road to Destruction" "Road to Destruction" directed by Sam Mendes and starring Tom Hanks. As for the movie "Kill Bill 2", the movie that Bill's daughter watches on TV is also this classic series - "The Wolf with The Band".
Stills from "Wolf with The Belt 3: The Original Ghost Gate"
The reason why the "Wolf with The Ribbon" series can become a classic in the sword and blade film is on the one hand because of its inheritance and continuation of the tradition of the sword and blade film; on the other hand, more importantly, it has made different degrees of alienation and deformation in complying with the requirements of the times. Especially in terms of character shaping, fighting style, and image characteristics, the characteristics of cult films have been developed on the basis of sword and sword films.
First of all, in the shaping of the character image, the protagonist of "The Wolf with the Belt" Bai Yidao is no longer the kind of stubborn and stubborn samurai we think of, who is completely loyal to Bushido, but is a veritable killing angel. In his own words, it is: see God destroy God, see Buddha destroy Buddha.
Screenshot of "Wolf with a Belt", Shura Dao
According to the website Movie Body Counts, Tomisaburo Wakasayama ranked fifth on the "Screen Killer List" with the result of killing 226 people in the movie (the top four were Arnold Schwarzenegger 369, Chow Yun Fat 295, Stallone 267, and Dolf Lundgren 239), and the most killed in a single work was "Band Wolf 5: Journey to Hell!" Daigoro! Wakayama Tominaburo kills as many as 150 people in this film.
Even so, the light of humanity that flashed on Bai Yidao's body was still incomparably moving. He went from being an executioner in the shogunate to becoming a bounty killer, and it was his transformation from a high-ranking samurai to a masterless ronin that gave him an understanding of the humanity of the bushido spirit.
Stills from "The Wolf with the Belt", samurai and stroller at sunset
For example, in "Wolf with The Belt 3: Alone in the Ghost Gate", Bai Yidao tells the Fallen Ronin that the true Bushido in his mind is "born to death". This is consistent with Yamamoto's view of life and death, as Tsuneyoshi yamamoto said in the Book of Leaf Tales, "Bushido, the word of death is also." Of course, this is also the inevitable result of Bai Yidao's escape from the jianghu with his three-year-old son and entering the Shuluo Dao. Therefore, he even used his son as a shield when dueling.
Because for them, life and death have long been put aside, and the only thing that supports them to continue is revenge. This is also the main reason why Bai Yidao betrayed the samurai ritual religion that "the king wants to die, and the subject has to die", in "The Wolf of the Belt 1: Decisive Battle Liusheng", Bai Yidao did not submit to the monarch's orders, but chose the "courage" in Bushido, and chose to resist and flee for revenge.
Stills from "The Wolf with the Belt"
It can be said that Bai YiDao's understanding of traditional Japanese Bushido is profound and astonishing. On the one hand, there are inherent norms for dealing with the world, paying attention to the etiquette of the samurai, not being humble and unobtrusive, and impressive; on the other hand, it is also learning and applying, not foolish and not proud, compassionate and compassionate, and chivalrous.
Secondly, the "Wolf with The Belt" series can stand out from the sword and blade routine, which is inseparable from its unusually violent and bloody video style. The inherent routine of the sword blade is the beauty of the sharp and concise lens, the samurai duel is often between one move and one style, and the slash is not the key, but the essence lies in the quiet of the moment when the confrontation is held, as if everything in the world lies in the moment when the sword is drawn. This style of still-motion shots is the most fascinating part of Japanese sword films.
Stills from "Wolf with a Belt 3", master duel
The "Wolf with The Belt" series has certainly achieved the ultimate in this regard, and the moment when Bai Yidao has repeatedly dueled with the top masters, a picture, and the mood is all out. But what is more powerful in this series is that the fight scenes are becoming more bloody and violent, challenging the limitations and conservatism of traditional sword and blade films in many ways.
Taking "Wolf with The Belt 2: Desert Battle" as an example, the appearance of Liusheng Women's Hall can be described as extremely violent and late. In order to show off their superb martial arts, they seized the opportunity to rush up and brutally cut the black loach ninja trapped in the middle into pieces of meat, from severed hands and feet to finally cut off their heads. Director Kenji Misumi also focused on the rendering and further improvement of the blood and the model of the body props, so that it eventually evolved into a classic, such as a fake and bloody cult film.
Stills from "Wolf with The Belt 2"
Finally, there is another point that must be mentioned in the "Wolf with a Belt" series, which is its erotic display. In the past, sword and sword films were mostly serious period dramas, and the fight scenes were the most eye-catching of them. In the "Wolf with The Belt" series, each episode will show a young and beautiful woman with a good figure who will have a good feeling for the vicissitudes of the rough worship knife, and trigger many warm nephrite pictures.
For example, the prostitute who was raped by bandits on the side of the road in "The Wolf of the Belt 1: Decisive Battle of Yanagi", or the Yanagi Kaori who fell into the water after falling into the water in "The Wolf of the Belt 2: The Great Battle in the Desert" and bai yi knife and Daigoro naked to hold the warmth. In particular, the female killer in the fourth part of the film, "Wolf with The Ribbon 4: Tattoo Snow", has a terrifying tattoo on the chest and back, and bravely shows it in front of the camera.
Stills from "Wolf with The Belt 4", The Killer's Tattoo
This display of women's beautiful carcasses, and even a long-term close-up display of women's breasts, was undoubtedly one of the killer tools that attracted many male audiences at that time.
Therefore, the "Wolf with a Ribbon" series is a superior work in Japanese sword films, and even if it is more than 40 years later, you can still feel the cold under the knife, which is really one of the classics that cannot be missed. What is more worth mentioning is that many people may not be able to watch it because of poor picture quality before, but the restored blu-ray produced by CC companies last year undoubtedly provides an excellent opportunity for everyone.
Poster of "The Wolf with the Belt"