Samurai auteur Okamoto takes the same source novel as Kurosawa’s Sanjuro and turns it into a dark send-up of the genre. Tatsuya Nakadai brilliantly portrays a down-on-his-luck swordsman slumming with yakuza who eventually teams up with a farmer-turned-fighter to turn clan intrigue on its heels amid classic violent, sword-slashing fury.

In Japanese with English subtitles

Double feature with Three Outlaw Samurai— two for the price of $20!