This week’s review cuts like a Katana with THREE OUTLAW SAMURAI!

Repeat Special Guest Lecturer Jay Corso returns to lend an insightful hand on this fabulous 1960s Japanese Chanbara (sword-fighting) tale. A trio of Samurai warriors, all of which with intriguing and clashing personal backstories, become embroiled in a tense power struggle between desperate peasant farmers and a corrupt magistrate. Determined to make their voices heard after being subjected to poverty and oppression, the peasants resort to abducting the magistrate’s daughter. The magistrate retaliates using his influence and access to bloodthirsty mercenaries to strike back against the peasants. Moved by the peasants’ situation, the three Samurai rally to the defense of their new impoverished friends and battle against the magistrate’s army of killers!

THREE OUTLAW SAMURAI is a suspenseful chanbara thriller that offers as a counter to more famous period piece epics by the likes of Akira Kurosawa. Director Hideo Gosha generates feelings of claustrophobia and unnerving tension within the film, backed simultaneously with gritty acting and of course, violent sword fights. 

The Rad Revival House recommends viewers interested in exploring more lesser-known Samurai epics to watch THREE OUTLAW SAMURAI for a grittier look at Japan’s Katana-wielding warriors!