My Cultural Diet

If you want evidence of the influence that spaghetti westerns had on samurai films — an influence that, for the record, went both ways — look no further than Hideo Gosha’s Samurai Wolf. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine this film even existing without Sergio Leono’s films. Isao Natsuyagi stars as a rough-looking samurai whose braggadocio and scruffy appearance bely a surprisingly noble spirit. But that spirit gets tested when he arrives in a remote village beset with danger and corruption. Samurai Wolf feels pretty by-the-numbers as far as samurai films go, with deadly foes arriving every other minute and a doomed romance or two, plus some routinely over-the-top melodrama. But it does have some interesting twists and Gosha spices up his film with surreal slow-motion, Dutch angles, and some well-placed arterial sprays.

I may earn an affiliate commission on items you buy through Opus. These commissions will go directly to support the site and my blogging.