Criterion Reflections – Episode 12 – Kihachi Okamoto’s ZATOICHI MEETS YOJIMBO

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:04:21 — 74.5MB)

Criterion Reflections is David Blakeslee’s ongoing project to watch all of the films included in the Criterion Collection in chronological order of their original release. Each episode of this second season of the podcast features conversations with a variety of guests offering insights on movies that originally premiered in 1970 and were destined to eventually bear the Criterion imprint. In this episode, David is joined by Robert Taylor and Jon Laubinger to discuss Kihachi Okamoto’s Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo, starring Shintaro Katsu and Toshiro Mifune, the 20th installment in the long-running film series about a blind swordsman who wanders across the Japanese countryside of the late Edo period (mid-1830s-1840s).

Episode Links:

Kihachi Okamoto

• Midnight Eye

Shintaro Katsu

• Cagey Films

Toshiro Mifune

• Senses of Cinema

Ayako Wakao

• Wonders in the Dark

Reviews

• New York Times (1971)
• Blood Brothers
• Eternality Tan
• Film Fanatic
• Lard Biscuit
• Passport Cinema
• The Spinning Image
• Things That Don’t Suck
• This Island Rod

PREVIOUSLY:

BAAL

UP NEXT:

THE HONEYMOON KILLERS

MORE!

• Criterion Reflections blog (1922 – 1967)
• Criterion Reflections columns on CriterionCast (1968)
• The Eclipse Viewer
• A Journey Through the Eclipse Series

CONTACT US:

• David Blakeslee [ Twitter / Website ]
• Jonathon Laubinger [ Twitter / Website ]
• Robert Taylor [ Website ]

Outro Music: Badfinger “Come and Get It” from the LP Magic Christian Music, released January 1970