Reviewed by Justin Bateman
Stars Shintarô Katsu, Yukiji Asaoka, Mari Atsumi, Kô Nishimura, Kei Sato, Toshio Kurosawa,
Kazuko Ineno, Mako Midori, Mikio Narita | Written by Kazuo Koike, Yasuzo Masumura & Takeshi Kanda
UK cert 18 | UK RRP £12.99 | Runtime 263 minutes | Directed by Kenji Misumi, Yasuzo Masumura & Yoshio Inoue
Hanzo "The Razor" Itami is a police officer in 17th century Edo, the former name for Tokyo, Japan. Obsessively moral, he will do anything to ensure the local people are protected from robbers, murderers and corrupt government officials. Like a samurai Dirty Harry – Dirty Hanzo if you like – but with added sex. For Hanzo has a prodigiously large penis which he toughens up by beating it with a stick, pouring boiling water over it and thrusting it repeatedly into a basket of dry rice. Really.
As you can tell, this is no ordinary character and these are no ordinary samurai films. The trilogy comprises Sword of Justice (1972), The Snare (1973) and Who’s Got The Gold? (1974) and all have a similar theme, with Hanzo battling with his superiors to find the best way of dealing with criminals. Inevitably, this tends to be by dispatching them with a combination of artful swordsmanship and booby traps in his gadget-filled James Bond-esque home. In order to get to these baddies though, Hanzo must first wheedle confessions out of the wives, lovers and priestesses in Edo, something he does not through torture but with his colossal appendage. But although he is essentially raping the women – usually involving a large net and a pulley system operated by his assistants, reformed criminals Devilfire and Viper – it is all clearly tongue in cheek and his prowess as a lover is so great that the women confess so that he might continue his "interrogation", rather than to make him stop.
The violence is very much of the comic book variety, which is to be expected given its original source, and the bloodletting is slightly comical and incredibly vivid. (What on earth did they use for fake blood in those days?!) But beyond the scenes of surreal sex and violence there is a more serious social and political comment on endemic governmental corruption and its effect on the people of Edo. Perhaps most importantly, every film is fantastically well made. Stylishly edited, beautifully photographed, and with lavish sets to boot, they look exactly how sexploitation Japanese samurai police thrillers ought to look. Not only that, but the traditional period music is complemented by a 70s funk soundtrack which should feel utterly out of place but somehow fits in brilliantly. Very, very weird, and wonderful in its own unique way, Hanzo The Razor is well worth a look.
EXTRAS Just the theatrical trailers.