Samurai Wolf 1 & 2

Last year Eureka released Hideo Gosha’s Violent Streets (1974), and kicked off 2024 with his two Samurai Wolf films (1966 & 1967), apparently influenced in equal parts by Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo and the spaghetti western. It’s an intriguing and almost surreal juxtaposition: after all, perhaps the greatest influence on the spaghetti western was Yojimbo, famously being the source for A Fistful of Dollars, and unoffically for so many more. I was excited to see what Gosha might do, after all I’d enjoyed Violent Streets, and also his excellent chanbara: Three Outlaw Samurai.

In our first feature presentation: the furious wolf, ronin, Kiba (Isao Natsuyagi) while travelling witnesses a murder and finds himself siding with Lady Chise, the blind owner, of a transport post against those that seek to ruin her and take it from her.  

In our second feature presentation: again on the road, Kiba finds himself taking a job to escort a disgraced ronin who was tricked into murdering the guard to the Shogun’s gold mine, by the man who has been robbing it, only for disgraced ronin to escape and take revenge.  

That Gosha started in television is arguably noticeable in how both films are barely over 70-minutes in length (to me this is no bad thing) and often move at breakneck speed. Both Samurai Wolf films are beautifully shot in black and white, often visually enthralling and especially the first film, in one scene where Kiba or his interlocutor are constantly seen in the reflection of his sword is truly gorgeous and worthy of Kurosawa. So one aspect you cannot fault the films on is their look. True some people may not always like how sometimes the camera tilts vertiginously at times but it is does so sparingly and for effect, rather than just some stylistic conceit. Gosha also does one thing I love, use silence to emphasise screen action. Seijun Suzuki often uses silence beautifully, and Gosha does too, often especially in the first film, during fights, to really heighten the sense of what is happening. The silence then sudden use of sound really emphasises the action, and takes it to levels where sound is not required. It’s beautifully done, as is his occasional use of slow motion. Slow motion I often find is misused in films; when used for tension it’s lazy and pointless, here Gosha uses it for visual impact, where it is often best used. Again, like the occasional camera tilts, it’s never over-used (flashbacks to Ong-Bak's tedious overuse of slow-motion repeat of stunts to the point of wanting to scream...). So when it comes to style Gosha absolute has his films nailed.  

Of the two films the first impressed me the most, like Three Outlaw Samurai at times it felt like it was hitting close to jidaigeki, allowing itself moments of more thoughtful, character driven reflection, which then intermingle with its more overtly chanbara, violent action aspects. Of the two films the first feels the closest to Yojimbo and Isao Natsuyagi’s Kiba seems a little bit like Mifune’s wandering bodyguard: he has Mifune’s honesty though curiously Kiba is far more overtly good-natured. Though he describes himself as being a furious wolf he’s remarkably virtuous. Elements of the story, two sides fighting, and even the law being bought off, is narratively similar to Yojimbo though after a while story takes over more than it does character in Kurosawa’s film. One thing both Samurai Wolf films have in spades is story. So much story packed in and in our first film it feels almost overwhelming but as it ends all the narrative threads weave together so elegantly that the almost excess of story never matters, and it is balanced by the film’s more elegant and thoughtful moments. It helps that Natsuyagi as Kiba is himself a presence worthy and capable of leading a film. He has a stringy violence matched by a film that allows you to believe his essential good nature – the film starts with him eating an enormous meal that he cannot pay for and noticeably he openly suggests to pay for it with work, and not just that but with work that most samurai would believe beneath them: fix the roof, chop wood: Kiba is not a character, oddly, with much ego yet he’s compelling.

Lest we not forget the films are influenced by the spaghetti western and this come out in part in terms of the amount of story that often remorselessly unfolds, with plots within plots within plots. In our first film this works wonderfully well, and one act of underhandedness is understandable and that it is forgiven never feels like a conceit. Another aspect is the violence, which often is very bloody for the time, taking cues from the showdown from Sanjuro and making it more, more, more bloody; the films also have the rawness you often see in the spaghetti western, especially our second feature, which starts off with a bang and never looks back. Considering the first film integrates moments of reflection, our second feels more like a series of exciting events stitched together and while undoubtedly exciting I felt the film lacked the first one’s cohesion. A few times too often I was left trying to work out if the samurai whose style Kiba offends are aligned to those that are stealing the gold or hold some other allegiance. The number of narrative threads do not feel as well stitched together, and as such there is an aspect of simplicity missing that detracts at times from the film. Again, perhaps Gosha’s origins in television come to the fore, trying to cram in too much rather than allowing the film to flow more elegantly. That said because the film is so swift you can forgive it this, and maybe could not if it were longer.  

The performances beyond Isao Natsuyagi as our titular wolf, across the board, too, are surprisingly good, the standout being Ryohei Uchida in the first film as the ronin Kiba could become in the future and who leads us to some surprising narrative revelations.  

Reflecting on the films, the first feels like something of a cult classic, a short sharp but remarkably effective shock of samurai cinema, whereas the second feels just a bit too disconnected, maybe too rushed in its production, to match the first. It would have been fascinating if more of these films had been made, to see where the furious wolf may have gone. But nevertheless, this release shows us how Hideo Gosha’s films deserve a wider distribution, and I would certainly welcome more.