Stub DB

When I first saw this film as a teenager in the late ‘80s/ early ‘90s I thought this was one of the best films ever made. Now with DVD and the readily available original and uncut version of this film (originally entitled Lone Wolf & Cub 3: Baby Cart to Hades) this one doesn’t seem as special any more.

This is the original US release version with its atrocious dubbed dialogue and over six minutes of film cut out and/or rearranged. This film is no masterpiece (and probably not so in its original version either) but is nevertheless entertaining and at the time was ground breaking. Very few films of its kind were imported here to the states and as such were atrociously dubbed by way of most of the Godzilla films of the same period.

One of the saving graces in the Kenji Misumi directed film is Tomisaburo Wakayama’s performance as Ogami Itto, one of the most infamous samurai in the land who dispatches his enemies without blinking an eye. He brings a lot of weight to a role that requires him to be stoic all the time.

One of the detractions of the film is the story by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima which goes off on more tangents then any story ever should but just when you think the film is going no where its saved by Wakayama’s intense and extremely fluid battle sequences where he is sometimes pitted against an army of opponents.

I’ve yet to see the film in its original unbutchered version and at times I’m afraid to because it might ruin the memory I had of see it long ago when I was but a small child and this film was an epic violent masterpiece of mayhem.