Killer’s Mission (1969)

Original title: Shokin kasegi

The Dutch have sent a warship towards Shogunate Japan to incite a little civil war with a hold full of modern weapons. After first getting thrown out of the Shogun’s sphere, they start poking at a clan best suited for their plans. Not that everyone there’s completely into waltzing their country into an uprising and a civil war meant to soften its up for colonialist forces, but that’s what assassins are for.

The shogun’s usual spies are only of limited use in this situation, so the shogunate sends in spy-for-hire Shikoro Ichibei (Tomisaburo Wakayama) to somehow resolve the situation. Ichibei is a physician, a ladies’ men, a great shot, a master swordsman, a total badass and the owner of a very big penis (as certified by the film’s comic relief ronin), but even he will have certain troubles with this mission.

Of course, there are various other characters of varying trustworthiness and loyalties involved, like the just as badass female Iga ninja Kagero (Yumiko Nogawa), said comic relief ronin, and so on.

By 1969, Toei’s producers weren’t too keen on making jidai geki anymore, not even of the more marketable chambara style, but provided with the proper selling points, they could still be convinced of the viability of such projects – Tomisaburo Wakayama’s particular love for the genre must certainly have helped, in combination with his popularity.

In the case of Killer’s Mission – the first part of the so-called Bounty Hunter Trilogy, which doesn’t feature its hero doing any bounty hunting at all – that selling point was to cross chambara-style sword fighting action with elements of the Italian western as well as spy shenanigans following the James Bond mode. If you think like an exploitation movie producer, that sort of thing makes total sense; if you watch Shigehiro Ozawa’s Killer’s Mission it does doubly so.

Ozawa was already a veteran filmmaker at this point, but one very willing to go with the stylistic tricks of the time and coming up with zoom and slo-motion variants of his own to add to them. This would soon turn him into one of Toei’s best hands at modern, pop, exploitation cinema independent of genre, and the merry way Killer’s Mission goes from comedy to action to high drama to treason and honour really shows why. There are, of course, given genre, country and time, moments of lovely insanity here, but the more straightforward action of sword and gun, Wakayama’s beloved jumps and so on are just as great.

While the action is getting increasingly crazy and a Morricone trumpet blows through the score, the spy plot works rather well, too, with many a betrayal but also acts of honour you’d never see James Bond and co get up to. In fact, despite its closeness to several particularly cynical genres, this isn’t a very cynical movie at all. Rather it still believes in the possibility of honour even in dishonourable situations. Consequently, Ichibei may bluster and bluff like a hardened cynic – which Wakayama does of course excel at – but he also shows moments of compassion and genuine kindness the actor sells equally well.

Other attractions in this highly attractive movie are Kagero, who can match Ichibei at basically everything and does so with vigour;  and a scene where Ichibei for reasons best known to himself pretends to be a blind masseur. The latter is of course a broad parody of everyone’s favourite sword-swinging blind masseur Zatoichi, who just happened to be played by Wakayama’s younger brother Shintaro Katsu. And of course there are buckets – fountains - of artificial blood, but then, it’s a chambara, and a pretty damn fun one at that, so that nearly goes without saying.