Hideo Gosha: The Line Between Sleaze and Prestige Part 2 - The 1970s

Chiyo in Bandits Vs Samurai Squadron (1978)

Out of the gate Hideo Gosha showed that he was not a run-of-the-mill chanbara director, Sword of the Beast (1964) and Three Outlaw Samurai (1965) were both popular with audiences and with critics. Already, he illustrated to Shochiku and the film industry at large that not only can a TV director can make a proper feature film but also the Japanese New Wave had a new name. What next? Was the burning question.

His immediate output following the films of Part 1: Cash Calls Hell (1966) aka the first of several team-ups with the legendary Nakadai #NakadaiForever, The Secret of the Urn (1966), Samurai Wolf 1 and 2 (1966 and 1967), were met with varied results. Toei was disappointed was the critical and financial of the Samurai Wolf films as was Toho with Secret of the Urn. Later on, these developed a following with chanbara lovers but that doesn't mean a thing at the moment. This is a tight spot for any artist, regardless of format. Gosha was stuck. His career had a bombastic start but the follow through slowed his progression within the studios but not all of it was his fault. With his first films, he had control and Shochiku left him alone for the most part (aside from on set pranks from grouchy crew members). Suddenly working with Toei, he had no choice in his crew. Old hat cameramen worked on his Samurai Wolf series assigned by Toei. This was not the end of studio interference for him, it spread into casting and crew. However his go-to composer, Tsushima Toshiaki, did work on these. Gosha kept remixing the Yojimbo/Sanjuro formula with these films and tampering with the concept of samurai honor and traditions.

The next cinematic apex in his career was Goyokin (1969). This followed the pattern of reworking the Sanjuro character but with that bleak, cynical Gosha edge applied to it. It starred Nakadai and Tamba. These 2 continued to be his good luck charms throughout his filmography. Also in '69, Hirokiri was released. This was another chanbara and was penned by Kurosawa screenwriter - the recently passed Hashimoto Shnobu (Rashomon, 1950). Gosha and Hashimoto did not get along and clashed over the theme of the piece but this was eventually solved. Lone Wolf and Cub series editor, Taniguchi Toshio, cut the film after Daiei's assigned editor didn't understand Gosha's style. Despite his satisfaction with the film, it was not enough to save Daiei. It had provided Gosha with the prestige platform he had been looking for but this was temporarily. In this single year, he went from young hotshot to legitimate filmmaker.

Once the 1970s hit, you'd think that now Hideo didn't have to fight back to get his way. However, that didn't happen. He was a name but a minor name at that. The Japanese film industry was in a state of flux. Kurosawa was at his lowest, the chanbara genre was shifting into new territory, pinku and pinky violence were on the rise. As soon as Gosha's film career begun, the landscape was mid-shift. He made the transfer to crime and yakuza films following his 1960s output. He was done with traditional chanbara, which were not the popular style anymore. The hyper violent, blood hose fests like, Lone Wolf and Cub, were in vogue. Instead of try to directly compete with the newer, more brutal chanbara, he began infusing samurai films with the yakuza genre. Nikkatsu had made dozens, if not hundreds of these already so mashing these into a Reese's Cup of Classy Sleaze was next. Toho allowed Gosha to film The Wolves, which was another joint with Nakadai, this was a flop as was the next film, Violent Streets (1974).

Oren in Hunter in the Dark (1979)

 His collapse in the cinematic world was counterbalanced with his rise in the TV documentary world. Gosha managed to say afloat with work from Fuji TV to his chagrin and their delight. This was also just temporary. Again, his career got held up. By 1975, he was stuck and needed a movie to push him along. Around that time the Hideo was the victim of public attacks on him and his character. Not in a light teasing way, he was compared to the then recent Lockheed scandal for having yakuza friends. That included Ando Noboru. an actor and director, a frequent cast member in his films, who was an actual yakuza. The validity of whether or not he took bribes from yakuza is debatable but in addition to his recent critical reception and box office things could have easily stopped. Gosha kept fighting. He had to survive. The primal survival drive forced him through this particular deep, dark dip. The next two films took him to a higher level of prestige and sleaze.

Bandits Vs. Samurai Squadron (1978, 2 hours 43 minutes) - A disgraced samurai, Nizaemon Kumogiri (played by the always wonderful Nakadai Tatsuya #NakadaiForever), forms a collective to get revenge on his former lord (also Shishido Jo #ChipmunkCheeks pops up). All the while, the Bureau is hard at work trying to stop them at all costs. Some Bureau samurai are corrupt and in the lord's pocket but one man slowly sees the corruption, Abe Shikibu (played by Matsumoto Koshiro). Abe and Kumogiri are on different paths heading the same direction. Abe quits the Bureau. Kumogiri fakes his death and continues to survive.

Hunter In The Dark (1979, 2 hours 15 minutes) - A one-eyed assassin, Tanigawa (played by Harada Yoshio), becomes the bodyguard to Gomyo (played by Nakdai Tatsuya #NakadaiForever). Quickly, they bond and become a formidable pair. At the same time, the local lord (played by Tamba Tetsuro) is trying wipe out the remaining Kitamae clan. Tanigawa has amnesia and a mysterious past. Jihei considers retirement after his friend and corrupt government official Shimoguni (played by Chiba Sonny) offers him a slice of land in exchange of helping him with wiping out the Kitamae clan. Tanigawa's past slowly gets revealed as one of the last of the Kitamae. Instead of giving up his bodyguard, Gomyo wants to cash in and get that sweet retirement. He retires whether or not the rest of the gang wants to. Tanigawa returns to his original home but gets ambushed. He dies afterwards. Shimoguni and Gomyo duel in a chicken coop, killing each other (Not the only Nakadai film with a climatic chicken coop fight).

First things first, these are the most Gosha Gosha films up to this point. They contain all the hallmarks of his filmography - Classism, sleaze, aftershock of violence, survival, powerful women, complex plots, rough and ugly fights, animalistic/instinctual behavior, questioning masculinity, and most importantly Nakadai. When I think of what constitutes a Gosha film, Hunter in the Dark and Bandits Vs Samurai Squadron are not only his biggest films but biggest representation of him as an artist. Even though, in real life he didn't like to talk about his films in an artistic way. This isn't to say that he didn't make artistically constructed and specifically detailed films. He just didn't like talking about those things in depth.

Survival is the key his films. In his own life, survival was his always at the forefront. He survived being a kamikaze pilot. He survived the post-WW2 struggle. He was one of the few people in his immediate family to survive the war. Life was a battle for him. He survived nearly losing his career at several points. However, survival does not mean winning and succeeding. It just means living another day which is a victory in itself. In Three Outlaw Samurai and Sword of the Beast, no one wins. The townspeople petition in Three never goes through. In Beast, Gennosuke does not stop the destruction of an entire clan at the end. This is no coincidence, no one wins in his film. Survival isn't a guarantee but it's on the table. 

Gomyo in Hunter in the Dark (1979)

Kumogiri (Nakadai) in Bandits and Tanigawa (Harada) in Hunter come from the same place. They were lower class men in service to a higher class lord that got wronged. Tanigawa accidentally kills his father in an assassination mission to prevent the destruction of his clan, Kitamae. The Kitamae survivors change their names and go into hiding, things get so dire for them. Kumogiri was scapegoated and left for dead. His lord's treachery led to picking Kumogiri as the blame. Both men's lives were destroyed with fire. Fire could be a reference to the fire bombings of Tokyo during WW2 or not. Either way fire is the ultimate weapon. A man can be stopped easily, you just wait for the right moment. Fire on the other hand, is a force of nature. After losing a significant part of their lives, they became forces of destruction like fire but a focused force of destruction. Surviving made them harder, more cynical men. There is a key difference though Tanigawa developed amnesia after his betrayal. His path slightly varies. He found a new master in Gomyo (Nakadai), who actually cares for him. It's borderline romantic the way they care about each other. There's still the difference in class but the respect goes both ways. 

Pointed, powerful imagery litters both films. The use of fire isn't just fuel for character depth. It's a shorthand for passion. In scenes of grit, passion, and preceding violence, Gosha has controlled fire lingering about. The pent up tension only gets amplified by its presence. It can and will lead to tragedy but we aren't sure when things will detonate. Adding to this, we see caged birds throughout both films. The central characters are lower class and trying to better themselves the easiest way possible. They are caged in by society. Typically, the wealthy characters are the ones with these kept animals that just want to fly away. Animals act on instinct, but that isn't strictly on the animals. Every character acts on their fight-or-flight sense. In the beginning of Bandits, a pack of dogs even run through the streets before the initial raid on a brothel. Heavy-handed, yes, but dogs are wonderful. Bestial behavior leads to the clashes in the plot and ending in long-winded, rough violence. 

The explosions of steel, rage, and blood come at the least expected moments. No one is safe. The world is cynical, shitty, and most importantly dangerous. Violence in Gosha films never feel extraneous. Vengeance, anger, and passion lead into brutal battles of life and death. The larger focus on the life aspect. There is a buildup, release, but never for the sake of violence alone. Each act of violence has repercussions throughout the rest of the story. It affects everyone and everything in its vicinity. The best example, early in Hunter, there is an assassination in a sleazy gambling joint with a stripper dancing on stage. After the kill, blood drips down and onto the woman's bare chest. Everyone is gets involved whether or not they want. The opening to Bandits starts out as a raid but ends up with prostitutes getting killed (and one is raped), samurai getting killed, 2 teams of bandits entangling and colliding, and countless bloody bodies left behind. Violence propels the need to survive. Everyone who lives, have to scrap together what's left, regroup, survive, and get ready for the next ugly outburst. Fights are fun and exciting but they lack the hyper stylistics that were popular at the time.

Bandits Vs Samurai Squadron

One specific move in the climatic fights is impalement. This is not your run of the mill impalement. Slowly, the moist sound of steel penetrating flesh for what feels like an eternity reeks of sexuality. It always ends in a sudden and forceful spray of blood shooting out of the newly made corpse. It's not erotic but it's striking and very off-putting. Kumogiri (Nakadai) in Bandits uses this as his go to finisher after gracefully slashing several men clad in black scaled armor. Sexuality infuses more than this though. Both feature a stripper dancing to powerful percussion driving every movement of their routine. These raw scenes of sexuality are brief but infect the rest of films. They add to the seedy nature. It titillates while adding to a sense of eventual violence. The moves are both graceful and jagged, each woman exudes power and sexuality in her routine. The accompanying music isn't smooth and sexy. Intense drum beats make your heart race while audibly hinting that now isn't the time to relax. Relaxation is a luxury that no one can afford. 

Within the gangs, it's not exclusively men. There are ball-busting women in the wings who are more comfortable and more intelligent. Sexuality is a part of their arsenal but they use it with deadly precision. Men can't help but give in to their primal drives when around them. None of them are raped, just want to get that out there. However, the position of these women - Chiyo (played by Iwashita Shima), Omatsu (played by Baisho Mitsuko) in Bandits and Omon (played by Kishi Keiko) and Oriwa (played by Ishida Ayumi) in Hunter - each have carved a life in these male-dominated careers that demand respect. They will kill without a moment of hesitation, if provoked. Their colleagues and targets aren't just in awe of their self-assurance and confidence but they're split second decision making. They are the ones that are fully aware of the situations at hand. No one else is nearly as prepared as them. In the next decade, Gosha would double down on this aspect and make women-centric films until his death.

Bandits Vs Samurai Squadron

Hideo's career had the deserved comeback. He had worked in the realm of legitimate film before and this was the turning point. This was not as big as a leap compared to Suzuki Seijun, who jumped from cheap B movies to art film. Unlike Suzuki, who struggled with working with budgets, producers, and stars he didn't want, Gosha was lucky and this led to the most productive and consistent era of his career. At the end of the 1970s, he had peaked again even higher than before. The next decade would prove a bit more difficult, to put it lightly.