53 Stages of Action

0.0

Gambler Tales of Hasshu: A Man's Pledge

June 1963 •Japanese

This is one of the many films based on the legend of Chuji Kunisada, a wandering gambler and a defender of the weak in the Edo period. In other words, he was the Japanese Robin Hood. In this film Kunisada (Chiezo Kataoka) arrives to a small town terrorized by an evil gang. He insists that he is not Kunisada, as the word is Kunisada has been executed, but of course the audience know better. Sonny Chiba plays an unusual supporting role as a helpless young man unable to defend himself from the gangsters. He does, however, get to play taiko drums and dance with Junko Fuji (who makes her film debut here). Chiba's father, an old judge who helps Kunisada, is played by Takashi Shimura. The film hardly anything exceptional, but it's a pretty decent jidai geki / yakuza drama.

6.6

Gemini

September 1999 •Japanese

When his mother's untimely death quickly follows his father's, a doctor begins to believe a killer may be targeting him and his amnesiac wife.

0.0

Hirate Miki the Swordman

October 1954 •Japanese

The man is chased by losing the beauty and preciousness of love and the foundation of life without overcoming the hardship of life.

7.2

The Ambitious

February 1970 •Japanese

The story of Ryoma Sakamoto, considered to be the architect behind the downfall of the Tokugawa shogunate. He was considered an outlaw by his own clan, hunted by his government, and was despised by supporters of the Shogun as well as the Loyalists for desiring the opening of Japan to the West in order to learn its technology, in the hopes of one day defeating the West with a modern army and navy.

8.2

Samurai Rebellion

May 1967 •Japanese

The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped away from her husband by the lord. The husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to get her back.

7.1

The Lower Depths

October 1957 •Japanese

Residents of a rundown boardinghouse in 19th-century Japan, including a mysterious old man and an aging actor, get drawn into a love triangle that turns violent. When amoral thief Sutekichi breaks off his affair with landlady Osugi to romance her younger sister, Okayo, Osugi extracts her revenge by revealing her infidelity to her jealous husband.

7.8

The Twilight Samurai

November 2002 •Japanese

Seibei Iguchi leads a difficult life as a low ranking samurai at the turn of the nineteenth century. A widower with a meager income, Seibei struggles to take care of his two daughters and senile mother. New prospects seem to open up when the beautiful Tomoe, a childhood friend, comes back into he and his daughters' life, but as the Japanese feudal system unravels, Seibei is still bound by the code of honor of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedence. How can he find a way to do what is best for those he loves?

8.0

Ugetsu

March 1953 •Japanese

In 16th century Japan, peasants Genjuro and Tobei sell their earthenware pots to a group of soldiers in a nearby village, in defiance of a local sage's warning against seeking to profit from warfare. Genjuro's pursuit of both riches and the mysterious Lady Wakasa, as well as Tobei's desire to become a samurai, run the risk of destroying both themselves and their wives, Miyagi and Ohama.

9.0

Snowflowers: Seeds of Hope

January 2025 •Japanese

A touching true story which portrays a doctor who selflessly dedicated his personal fortune to spreading the smallpox vaccination for saving people's lives.

7.2

Zatoichi

September 2003 •Japanese

Blind traveler Zatoichi is a master swordsman and a masseur with a fondness for gambling on dice games. When he arrives in a village torn apart by warring gangs, he sets out to protect the townspeople.

7.1

Kubi

November 2023 •Japanese

Lord Oda Nobunaga plans to control Japan where rival warlords battle by waging war against several clans. His vassal Araki Murashige stages a rebellion and promptly disappears.

4.0

Yagyu Jubei: The Fate of the World

May 2015 •Japanese

The fate of Tokugawa’s world hangs in the balance as Yagyu Jubei is sent on a mission to discover what happened to 10 of the shogun’s spies that never returned. Matsukata Hiroki, one of the last surviving members of the Golden Age of Japanese Cinema proves that he has not lost a step as he portrays an older and wiser Yagyu Jubei in a movie that brings the best of samurai filmmaking into the 21st century. Summoned from semi-retirement by Shogun Iemitsu, Jubei is asked to take to the road and investigate a clan rumored to be preparing explosives for a rebellion. With help from a beautiful female ninja they head into the Shirakawa domain where the fighting skills of both are tested time and again as they strive to destroy a conspiracy that could bring a new Warring States Era. In the 1960's Yagyu Jubei was the signature role of the great Konoe Jushiro, father of Matsukata Hiroki. This brings the character full circle.

6.9

New Tale of Zatoichi

March 1963 •Japanese

Wishing to find peace, Zatoichi travels to his old village but only finds trouble when he ends up in a love triangle and finds old scores have followed him home.

6.9

Zatoichi the Fugitive

August 1963 •Japanese

After arriving in the town of Shimonita, Ichi finds that a price has been put on his head by a local yakuza boss. He's drawn into a trap, but after hearing of the slaying of a former love, Ichi furiously fights his way through the entire clan to face the killer, a hired ronin.

6.9

Zatoichi on the Road

November 1963 •Japanese

Zatoichi is sworn to protect the life of a young girl and without any real allies finds himself in the middle of a bloody turf war.

0.0

History of Jirocho Shimizu

March 1995 •Japanese

A historical chivalric drama with tears and laughter, telling the story of Jirocho Shimizu's family, his confrontation with Katsuzo Kurokoma's family, right up to the final battle on the Tenryu River to avenge Ishimatsu Mori.

0.0

Utamaro, Painter of the Woman

October 1959 •Japanese

Kitagawa Utamaro is a famous ukiyo-e artist known for his paintings of beautiful women. The courtesan who became his model became even more popular. Ocho, a resident of an apartment building, hears about this and secretly plans to follow Otose, the owner of Mizuta-ya, who became famous as Utamaro's model. At this time, the Kano school, headed by Kano Eikawa, which was under the control of the shogunate, is dissatisfied with Utamaro's fame and tries to compromise him…

7.0

Sekigahara

August 2017 •Japanese

The background to and depiction of a watershed battle in Japanese history, at Sekigahara in 1600, when Tokugawa Ieyasu's Army of the East defeated the Army of the West of Ishida Mitsunari. The story includes the intrigues and shifting loyalties of the various retainers, family members, and samurai.

0.0

Sure Death 6

May 1996 •Japanese

When an artist dies, the official cause of death is judged to be a stroke, but his daughter suspects foul play. She recruits the services of an assassin, who by chance encounters an old friend...

8.0

The Return

November 2019 •Japanese

Tatsuya Nakadai, the world’s greatest living actor, returns to the screen in a brilliant adaptation of a story by novelist Shuhei Fujisawa. A traveling gambler known as “Funeral Uno” he is now 86 years old and returning to his hometown for the first time in 30 years. Partly told in flashbacks, he is forced to face his lifelong nemesis, Boss Kyuzo, a vile yakuza portrayed by another superstar of samurai cinema, Atsuo Nakamura! Before the two old gamblers can settle a 30-year-old score they must put their lives on the line in a game of dice that can only lead to a bloody sword duel the likes of which has never before been seen! Superb performances all around in a film loaded with surprises and exciting swordplay!

53 Stages of Action

Genres

OverView

Others

Cast

Kinya Kitaoji

Hiroki Matsukata

Satomi Oka

Tetsuko Kobayashi

Mitsuru Takeuchi

Ukiko Kagurazaka

Shigemi Kitahara

Shunji Sakai

Kunio Kaga

Ikkō Ōkuni

Ryuji Kita

Kyoji Sugi

Shinnosuke Ogata

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