By Fred Blosser
In
the Old West, small homesteaders run afoul of a big landowner who controls the
local law and levies killer taxes on their ranches and farms. The homesteaders finally refuse to pay the
taxes, and petition the governor for
help. Meanwhile, expecting reprisal from
the landowner’s hired guns, they build a makeshift fort for refuge. They also send for help from a mercenary who comes
to their aid with his private army of four associates and a Gatling gun.
Just
kidding about the Western setting. This
is actually the plot of “Gonin No Shokin
Kasegi,†also known as “The Fort of Death,†a 1969 Japanese chambara by Eiichi
Kudo. Nevertheless, the similarities are there. The homesteaders are peasants, the landowner
is their oppressive feudal lord, and the higher official they’ve petitioned is
the emperor. It’s easy to squint and
superimpose an Old West setting out of an American B movie, with Audie Murphy
or George Montgomery riding to the rescue.
I’m
not joking about the Gatling gun, though. The film is hazy about the historical period of the action, but I would
guess the setting is meant to be the 1870s, when Western goods and weapons have
entered the Japanese economy.
Fans
of the Lone Wolf and Cub samurai movies will recognize the star of that series,
Tomisaburo Wakayama, as Ichibei, the head mercenary. The movie calls him a “bounty hunter,†and
“The Fort of Death†is one of three movies (1969-72) about the same character
that the reference books call the “Bounty Hunter†series. In this one at least, he seems more like a
soldier of fortune who might collect bounties one day and lead a team of
quasi-military specialists the next.
Wakayama
should be the poster boy for middle-aged, dumpy, homely males: the women in the
movie keep making passes at Ichibei, if not downright trying to get in his
pants, including a smokin’ hot lady ninja on his team of mercenaries.
In
contrast to his dour Lone Wolf and Cub ronin, Wakayama loosens up with Ichibei,
who runs a medical practice when he’s not fighting a war for downtrodden
peasants. There’s a funny, raunchy scene
where a jittery patient comes to Dr. Ichibei complaining about pain “down
thereâ€; Ichibei diagnoses the clap and somberly tells the poor bastard that
he’ll have to “cut it off.†When the
patient reacts in terror, Ichibei says, “Oh, all right†and directs his nurse
to bring a pump with a very long hollow needle, and . . . Trust me, you won’t
see a scene like that on “Grey’s Anatomy†or “Dr. Oz.â€
I
first read about “The Fort of Death†years ago -- I think in one of John
Willis’ “Screen World†movie annuals. I had the impression that the film was
intended to be a Japanese version of a Spaghetti Western, bringing full circle
a pattern that began when Akira
Kurosawa’s “Yojimbo†(1961) inspired Sergio Leone’s groundbreaking Spaghetti,
“A Fistful of Dollars†(1964). I don’t see much of a Spaghetti influence,
though, unless Ichibei’s Gatling gun was intended to remind contemporary
viewers of Franco Nero’s machine gun in Sergio Corbucci’s “Django†(1966).
Kurosawa’s
“The Seven Samurai†(1954) would seem to be more of a prototype, at least in
the basic premise of expert warriors coming to the aid of besieged
peasants. But “The Fort of Death†is
mostly action for action’s sake, without the deeper themes of honor and duty
that characterized “The Seven Samurai,†or for that matter Kudo’s own “The
Thirteen Assassins†(1963) and “The Great Killing†(1964). Presumably, an American company will someday
issue an official stateside edition of “The Fort of Death.†In the meantime, a good, home grown, letterboxed, sub-titled print is available on
the collector’s circuit.