Eleven Samurai

Eiichi Kudo was a chanbara director who only got started in the golden age of Japanese cinema in the 60s and turned to television when the industry collapsed in the 70s. He made a trio of impressive samurai films known as "the revenge trilogy"-13 Assassins (1963-which was remade by Takashi Miike in 2010), The Great Killing (1964), and Eleven Samurai (1967). The final film is about revenge taken on Lord Nariatsu (Kantaro Suga) who is a psychopath, but also the brother of the shogun and son of a former shogun, so he is protected from his criminal ways. Lord Abe witnesses Nariatsu kill a peasant for no reason, and demands that he leave at once for his own fief. So Nariatsu puts an arrow in the eye of Lord Abe of Oshi, killing him. Hayato (Isao Natsuyagi) leaves the clan to be a ronin, but really so that he can pursue the assassination of Nariatsu, before the publication of a legal cover-up that will result in his clan being abolished. He then amasses a group of samurai to help him get the job done. However, their first attempt to ambush Nariatsu goes awry and they have to plan a second attempt which takes place at a rest stop along the Nakasendo road to Edo. An epic battle in the rain ensues (inspiration from Seven Samurai is likely here). It has suicide bombers, epic feats of swordsmanship, a duel with Nariatsu's Chamberlain Gyobu (Ryutaro Otomo) all in gorgeous black and white on location in the wilds of Japan. All in all another satisfying samurai epic from an under-rated master of the genre.