Machibuse, aka Ambush or Incident at Blood Pass (1970).
This was the second cinematic pairing of Toshiro Mifune and Shintaro Katsu, the first being Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo, released three months prior. This time the film was produced by Mifune-san’s production company.
Machibuse was directed by legendary Japanese director Hiroshi Inagaki (Samurai Trilogy, Yagyu Secret Scrolls, Rickshaw Man, The Birth of Japan aka The Three Treasures,Chushingura, Samurai Banners). This was the 20th or 21st film that Inagaki-San and Mifune-san made together (there are conflicting lists on the Interwebs). By contrast, the much celebrated collaboration between Mifune-san and director Akira Kurosawa lasted 16 films. This would also turn out to be the last film Inagako-san directed.
The film also featured another big star of samurai cinema, Kinnosuke Nakamura. Like Mifune-san, Nakamura-san had portrayed the legendary Miyamoto Musashi in a series of films that are better regarded in Japan than the more internationally famous Samurai Trilogy. Other famous roles he played included a very psychotic Tange Sazen in The Secret of the Urn, and Ogami Ito in the Lone Wolf and Cub television series.
I remember finding this film at a video store where it was touted as the “fourth and final film adventure of Mifune’s famous character, Yojimbo” (the others being Yojimbo, Sanjuro, and Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo). This is completely false. As I’ve pointed out in previous posts, Mifune-san’s character in Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo is the not the same as the ronin from Yojimbo and Sanjuro.
Likewise, Mifune-san’s character in Machibuse is not the same ronin. Heck, he’s not even the same character from Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo (which would’ve been a neat touch), although his character from all four films share many similarities. It also confuses things in that everyone else in Machibuse just calls him “yojimbo,” the Japanese word for bodyguard.
The film is more of a slow burn drama than action movie, although there is swordplay later on. The story involves a number of people who, through various circumstances, find themselves snowbound in a secluded roadside inn. No one is quite whom they seem, there are plots within plots, and a few double-crosses thrown in for good measure.
Some have compared Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight to Machibuse, pointing out the similar settings and character dynamics. I’ve never seen the former so I can’t speak to that. It’s not like Tarantino has ever been accused of lifting scenes, or entire plots, from other films for his own movies (he said, tongue firmly placed in cheek).
Machibuse is not the best film Mifune-san or Katsu-san have been in, but it a far cry from the worst either. It was not a commercial success at the time it was released. However, it’s great to watch Mifune-san and Katsu-san on screen together, and the film holds up very well more than 50 years later.
