Kill! (1968)

Name: Kill!
Genre: Action, Comedy
Released: 1968-06-22
Duration: 114 min
Rating: 7
Cast: Tatsuya Nakadai, Etsushi Takahashi, Yuriko Hoshi, Tadao Nakamaru, Akira Kubo

Kill! (1968), directed by Kihachi Okamoto, starring Tatsuya Nakadai and Etsushi Takahashi.

06/22/1968 BR Action and Comedy 1h 54m

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Synopsis

A pair of down-on-their-luck swordsmen arrive in a dusty, windblown town, where they become involved in a local clan dispute. One, previously a farmer, longs to become a noble samurai. The other, a former samurai haunted by his past, prefers living anonymously with gangsters. But when both men discover the wrongdoings of the nefarious clan leader, they side with a band of rebels who are under siege at a remote mountain cabin.

Rokurô NishigakiCinematography
Kihachi OkamotoDirector, Screenplay
黒岩義民Editing
Tomoyuki TanakaProducer

About the film

Kill! (Japanese: 斬る, Hepburn: Kiru) is a 1968 Japanese comedy-chambara film directed by Kihachi Okamoto. The film had a screenplay written by Akira Murao and Okamoto, and is based on the story Torideyama no jushichinichi (lit. '17 Days at Fort Mountain') in Yamamoto Shugoro zenshu (1964) by Shūgorō Yamamoto.

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Plot

Tatsuya Nakadai stars as Genta, a former samurai who became disillusioned with the samurai lifestyle and left it behind to become a wandering yakuza gang member. He meets Hanjirō Tabata (Etsushi Takahashi) a farmer who wants to become a samurai to escape his powerless existence. Genta and Tabata wind up on opposite sides of clan intrigue when seven members of a local clan assassinate their chancellor. Although the seven, led by Tetsutarō Oikawa (Naoko Kubo) rebelled with the support of their superior, Ayuzawa (Shigeru Kōyama), he turns on them and sends members of the clan to kill them as outlaws.

Style

The film is a comically exaggerated exploration of what it is to be a samurai. The characters either give up samurai status or fight to attain it, and samurai are seen behaving both honorably and very badly. The film has a parodic tone, with numerous references to earlier samurai films.

Cast

Tatsuya Nakadai as Genta (Hyōdō Yagenta)

Etsushi Takahashi as Hanji (Hanjirō Tabata)

Yuriko Hoshi as Chino Kajii

Naoko Kubo as Tetsutarō Oikawa

Shigeru Kōyama as Ayuzawa

Akira Kubo as Monnosuke Takei

Seishirō Kuno as Daijirō Masataka

Tadao Nakamaru as Shōda Magobei

Eijirō Tōno as Moriuchi Hyōgo

Shin Kishida as Jurota Arao

Atsuo Nakamura as Tetsutaro

Ryosuke Kagawa as Mizoguchi

Takeo Chii as Yoshida Yaheiji

Susumu Kurobe as Ayusawa Kinzaburo

Isao Hashimoto as Konosuke Fujii

Yoshio Tsuchiya as Matsuo Shinroku

Hideyo Amamoto as Shimada Gendaiu

Release

Kill! was released theatrically in Japan on 22 June 1968 where it was distributed by Toho. It was released in the United States by Frank lee International with English subtitles in August 1968.

Reception

Along with Human Bullet and Judge and Jeopardy, Kill! gave art director Iwao Akune the award for Best Art Direction at the Mainichi Film Concours.

References

Sources

External links

Kill! at IMDb

"斬る (Kiru)" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved 2007-07-18.

Kill!: Pardon My Dust an essay by Howard Hampton at the Criterion Collection

Kill!: Rebel Samurai Cinema an essay by Chris D. at the Criterion Collection

Text from Kill! on Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill!

Trivia

It premiered on June 22, 1968, a Saturday.
It runs 1h54 — a typical feature length.
Its original title is "斬る".
This film's quiz has 11 questions — enough to play more than once without repeats.

Production

StudiosTOHO
CountriesJapan
LanguagesJapanese
StatusReleased

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Cast

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Crew

Rokurô Nishigaki Cinematography
Kihachi Okamoto Director
黒岩義民 Editing
Tomoyuki Tanaka Producer
佐藤勝 Original music
Kihachi Okamoto Screenplay
村尾昭 Screenplay

Questions about this film

What is Kill! about?

Kill!: A pair of down-on-their-luck swordsmen arrive in a dusty, windblown town, where they become involved in a local clan dispute. One, previously a farmer, longs to become a noble samurai. The other, a former samurai haunted by his past, prefers living anonymously with gangsters. But when both men discover the wrongdoings…

Who directed Kill!?

Kill! was directed by Kihachi Okamoto in 1968.

Who stars in Kill!?

The cast of Kill! includes Tatsuya Nakadai, Etsushi Takahashi, Yuriko Hoshi, Tadao Nakamaru and Akira Kubo.

How long is Kill!?

Kill! runs for 114 minutes, or 1h54.