Three Outlaw Samurai (Japan, 1964) – 4/5
A wandering ronin (Tetsuro Tamba) gets caught up in the middle of a conflict between rebelling peasants and corrupted officials in Hideo Gosha terrific samurai thriller that was also the master’s big screen debut. While technically superb and well acted it’s the psychological undertones that are the strongest area. Honor and duty have started losing their value when the samurai have been made outlaws and guns for hire against their own will, and the officials pay anyone willing to do their dirty work. Some try to follow the traditions, others think about survival, and some try to find a balance between the two. As the film’s third outlaw samurai Mikijiro Hira puts it: â€
