Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

The Razor: Who’s Got the Gold?: Toho Pictures
Rating: USA: Unrated

What would you get if you crossed Dirty Harry Callahan, John Shaft, and former Shogun’s executioner Ogami Itto? You’d probably get Itami ‘The Razor’ Hanzo, a tough guy samurai cop who has quite a way with the ladies.

Katsu Shintaro (star of the popular Zatoichi series) returns as Itami Hanzo for the third and final installment in The Razor trilogy, a film that is arguably the best in the series.

When Itami’s two bumbling ex-con assistants go fishing near the Shogun’s treasury, they encounter a female ghost. Frightened, they return and tell The Razor of the event, which inspires him to seek out the ghost himself (because he’s always wanted to have sex with a ghost). Unfortunately, the woman isn’t really a ghost, but that doesn’t stop Itami from interrogating her with his ‘iron penis technique’, first to her dismay, then to her delight.

Itami discovers that someone has been smuggling new gold coins out of the treasury by placing them in bamboo poles and throwing them into the lake. The female ghost was simply designed as a deterrent—to keep people away from where the gold was stashed. The young woman is just about to give up the goods on the thief (the iron penis technique can be very persuasive), but several samurai in ninja garb break in and kill her before she can spill the beans.

Itami kills these samurai with extreme prejudice, and is now intrigued by the mystery of who exactly is stealing the gold. The path to the real culprit is a long and twisted one, but with The Razor on the case, you can bet that the evildoer will be brought to justice. If all that weren’t enough, the script also throws in a small subplot which has Itami commissioning the building of a cannon—because he, unlike his superiors, understands that Japan cannot fight well-armed invaders with swords and spears any longer.

Inoue Yoshio helms this installment, but you’d be hard pressed to find many differences between the work of Inoue and Kenji Misumi (who directed the first installment). The gritty, almost spaghetti western-style visuals are all still here adding to the atmosphere of the film in innumerable ways. Perhaps the only major difference between the work of the two directors is in the handling of the action sequences. Misumi’s action set-pieces are a little more fun to watch primarily because Misumi always manages to pick the right shots for the scene. Inoue fumbles around a bit more, giving us some tight shots that are so tight that we can’t see the samurai action with any real clarity, or gives us longer shots with the opposite problem.

However, in Inoue’s defense, he does shoot the climactic duel between Itami and an assassin in an interesting mix of intercut shots from long, medium, and close range, which gives the scene a frantic feel that had been missing from the earlier sequences.

Katsu is once again excellent as Itami Hanzo. The character himself is interesting enough, but Katsu’s glowering stare, deep voice, and penchant for yelling really brings an added dimension to The Razor. Katsu is credible in the part, showing that he’s quite comfortable with the sword, and in the film’s few action sequences as well. Nothing can kill a samurai film faster than a lead actor who doesn’t hold the sword properly, or doesn’t know how to utilize it in a scene—fortunately, that’s never an issue here.

The character of Itami Hanzo is what makes these films as interesting and entertaining as they are, and this outing is no exception. The Razor has clearly been inspired by a myriad number of diverse influences (and at least some of them are western in origin) including the aforementioned Dirty Harry and John Shaft. Like his American counterparts, Itami Hanzo is essentially a renegade cop who can work outside of the system because his techniques, while morally questionable, always get the desired result. And while Itami’s morales may be questionable, they’re still absolutely sterling in comparison to his compatriots, superiors, and the nobility in ancient Japan. Hanzo the Razor isn’t above using blackmail, extortion, and various other double-dealings to get his way, but he always utilizes them for the causes of good.

Feminists will probably be outraged by the series sexual elements, primarily because Itami’s ‘interrogations’ always seem to border on rape in the beginning. Of course, they might be even more offended that the woman soon gives up on the protest and begs our samurai hero to not stop with the interrogation techniques. This could all be a moot point, though, because I doubt many ultra-feminists are sitting around watching samurai films from the early 1970s anyway.

Honestly, this is probably the most toned down, story-oriented entry in the trilogy. There are really only three sex scenes (none are particularly graphic—there’s very little nudity in this film given the subject matter) and once again there are only a few action sequences. The lack of action sequences once again hurts the film a bit—I like the concentration on plot, but those looking for a bloodbath a la the Lone Wolf and Cub films will invariably be letdown.

However, when there is some action on the screen, it’s exactly the stuff fans of this subgenre have come to expect. Itami takes on multiple enemies, his sword flashing and slicing through flesh, geysers of rich red blood shooting from the wounds. The action sequences are fast, frenetic, and a lot of fun (aside from the camera problems I mentioned earlier)—which only makes me wish that there had been more of them. Ah well, fans who want to see more of Katsu Shintaro in action would be well advised to pick up the Zatoichi series of films.

Animeigo’s Samurai Cinema division has once again done a fantastic job in bringing an old 1970s samurai film to laserdisc and VHS. The picture is sharp, presented in the original letterbox aspect ratio, and with nice color and clarity. The subtitles are excellent, in bright yellow and always on the black background for maximum readability. Once again, when multiple characters are speaking, each gets his dialogue in a distinct color to help the viewer differentiate who’s speaking. And last but not least, certain words and phrases that would be foreign to gaijin unfamiliar with samurai culture are explained in the a separate set of subtitles at the top of the screen. I hate to sound like a broken record, but the guys at Samurai Cinema have done a marvelous job bringing these films to American audiences. I simply can’t praise their work and devotion enough.

In the end, The Razor: Who’s Got the Gold is a fitting ending point to the Itami Hanzo trilogy. While the character is certainly one of the more interesting creations of samurai cinema, I can’t help but feel that further adventures would have offered little in the way of innovation, and instead just rehashed all the plot and character elements from the first three films. At any rate, if you’re a fan of samurai cinema, then this trilogy belongs on your ‘must see’ list. They just don’t make movies like this anymore.


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day