OKATSU THE FUGITIVE (1969)

(妖艶毒婦伝　人斬りお勝)

dir: Nobuo Nakagawa

Toei

April 10, 1969

89 minutes Fujicolor wide - Toei (Kyoto Studio) 

Victory ...... Junko Miyazono
Residence... Reiko Oshinoda
Yabei Makabe ................Akira Nishimura
Rintaro Makabe ......Masami Kondo
Saki ................Yukie Kagawa
Kamon Shiozaki ......Kenji Imai

My Review:

Okatsu the Fugitive (Japan, 1969)

The third in a trio of similar yet unrelated movies, it once again tells the revenge story of Okatsu (in the first film she was Ohyaku), played by Junko Miyazono.

It attempts to be more stylish than the first two films, and in some cases succeeds, but is overall very inferior. Even Reiko Oshida, looking as cute as ever, is wasted as the spunky young helper (this time in hot pants!), who does even less, and never even wields a sword. Still, it’s considered an influence upon the pinky violence genre, even if it does sort of miss the point by once again having a male come to the aid of the female hero (this time Tatsuo Umemiya).

In case you’re unfamiliar: Junko plays a character in old Japan, who is great with a sword (in this movie she actually looks her least comfortable with it), who’s family is tortured and killed, leading to her rape, and being betrayed by everyone she tries to trust, until she’s pretty much thought to be finished off - only to come back and kill all of those who’ve wronged her. The first one was dark and cool, the second was done right, and this one feels like a cheap knockoff.