Overview

Recently back in the news as an inspiration for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, this deadpan parody of Japan's then-popular samurai film genre, Genta (Tatsuya Nakadai) puts down his samurai sword to become a freelance criminal. Meanwhile, Hanjiro (Etsushi Takahashi) is a poor struggling farmer who yearns for the power and respect being a samurai would bring him. Entering a sleepy village where a civil war is raging within the local ruling clan due to the machinations of the wily Ayuzama (Shigeru Kôyama), the pair of swordsmen must choose sides and fight.