Shogun Assassin

I started a spat over at Dan Dorman's blog. I asked Mr. Dorman about the proposed Hollywood version of Lone Wolf & Cub a series of Japanese samurai movies. Mr. Dorman was able to inform me, to my dismay, that the remake will be turned into a Western.
The discussion quickly turned to the first American incarnation of the film, Shogun Assassin. This was a re-cut, re-edited combination of the first two movies in the Japanese series. The plot was garbled. Somehow, the result is still regarded as brilliant. Even with the FM DJ voices doing the dubbing, it does achieve a strange brilliance from the Chinese fortune cookie dialogue, quick cut action, and psychedelic special effects added to the mix.
The Japanese movies were based on a comic book, or manga, which ran to 26 volumes. They tell the story of how the Shogun's executioner was framed by the shogun's assassins, and the long road to vengeance the excutioner and his son travel together. Blood runs thick through the pages as every (yes, every) weapon in the classical Japanese martial arts arsenal is brought into play. Even though the action always has central place, as the story develops Buddhist theology and philosophy come into play
One of the things the movie fanatics over at DD said was that obviously the gents who made Sin City saw Shogun Assassin a few times. Well, yes they did. Tarantino references the movie visually several times during both volumes of Kill Bill and near the end of the movie, The Bride watches the movie as a bedtime story with her newly found daughter. She compares her new relationship with the little girl to the Ronin and his child.
More importantly, Frank Miller -- credited as a co-director for Sin City, and author and artist of the comic book originals -- has been a huge fan of the Lone Wolf and Cub Manga since the early Seventies when a friend thrust them into his hands. Frank couldn't read a word of Japanese, but he devoured the art and the influence on his drafting style is obvious any time you lay the two side by side. In the perfect storm of the late seventies and eighties, Frank's Japanese obsession meshed with other cultural imports from the Asian archipeligo. Frank gave us the ninja assassin Elektra, her nemesis the Hand, and soon ninja were everywhere in comic books: Wolverine, GI Joe, the spoof Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which further morphed into a "serious" series... All directly influenced by Lone Wolf and Cub. Ninja became a household word partly because of Frank's efforts.

I have the first two movies in the LW&C series on DVD, and the last movie on Video tape. I also have the complete run of LW&C manga which Dark Horse Comics finished publishing about three years ago. You can actually find the LW&C manga in your local Borders, assuming you can step over the teenage girls who sprawl in the manga aisle so they can giggle over the romantic manga. And of course, I recommend all versions without reservation. Lone Wolf & Cub in any format is a towering achievement of imagination.