This subversive period film features a hotheaded young samurai, Kurodo, who threatens to commit harakiri in response to the humiliation meted out to his family by the Shogun. The film critiques the inhumanity of feudal obligations, and Uchida’s direction slyly satirizes the contemporary cinematic audience, whose taste for onscreen bloodshed is mirrored in a crowd gathering to watch the protagonist’s planned suicide. The Master Spearman is imbued with Uchida’s characteristic blend of dark humor and stylized action, and Ryutaro Otomo gives an admirable performance in the lead.
大友柳太朗
as Takasada Tomita
淡島千景
as Sakon Murayama
花園ひろみ
as Umeme
山形勲
as Mitsunari Ishida
原健策
as Kazunobu Tomita
織田政雄
as Kichibei
小沢栄太郎
as Ieyasu Tokugawa
黒川弥太郎
as
片岡千恵蔵
as Toshinaga Maeda
香川良介
as
片岡栄二郎
as
尾上華丈
as
