Films
A total of seven Lone Wolf and Cub films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama as Ogami Ittō have been produced based on the manga. They are also known as the Sword of Vengeance series, based on the English-language title of the first film, and later as the Baby Cart series, because young Daigoro travels in a baby carriage pushed by his father.
The first three films, directed by Kenji Misumi, were released in 1972 and produced by Shintaro Katsu, Tomisaburo Wakayama's brother and the star of the 26 part Zatoichi film series. The next three films were produced by Wakayama himself and directed by Buichi Saito, Kenji Misumi and Yoshiyuki Kuroda, released in 1972, 1973, and 1974 respectively.
Shogun Assassin (1980) was an English language compilation for the American audience, edited mainly from the second film, with 11 minutes of footage from the first. Also, the third film, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades was re-released on DVD in the US under the name Shogun Assassin 2: Lightning Swords of Death.
| No. | English Title | Year | Japanese | Romanization | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance | 1972 | 子連れ狼 子を貸し腕貸しつかまつる | Kozure Ōkami: Kowokashi udekashi tsukamatsuru | Wolf with Child in Tow: Child and Expertise for Rent |
| 2 | Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx | 1972 | 子連れ狼 三途の川の乳母車 | Kozure Ōkami: Sanzu no kawa no ubaguruma | Wolf with Child in Tow: Baby Cart of the River of Sanzu |
| 3 | Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades AKA Shogun Assassin 2: Lightning Swords of Death | 1972 | 子連れ狼 死に風に向う乳母車 | Kozure Ōkami: Shinikazeni mukau ubaguruma | Wolf with Child in Tow: Baby Cart Against the Winds of Death |
| 4 | Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril AKA Shogun Assassin 3: Slashing Blades of Carnage | 1972 | 子連れ狼 親の心子の心 | Kozure Ōkami: Oya no kokoro ko no kokoro | Wolf with Child in Tow: The Heart of a Parent, the Heart of a Child |
| 5 | Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons AKA Shogun Assassin 4: Five Fistfuls of Gold | 1973 | 子連れ狼 冥府魔道 | Kozure Ōkami: Meifumado | Wolf with Child in Tow: Land of Demons |
| 6 | Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell AKA Shogun Assassin 5: Cold Road to Hell | 1974 | 子連れ狼 地獄へ行くぞ!大五郎 | Kozure Ōkami: Jigoku e ikuzo! Daigoro | Wolf with Child in Tow: Now We Go to Hell, Daigoro! |
| Shogun Assassin | 1980 | An English language dubbed film with 12 minutes from Sword of Vengeance and most of Baby Cart at the River Styx. | |||
The films are renowned for an incredible amount of stylized violence. In fact, after the second film, each movie climaxes with Ogami slaughtering an entire army single-handedly.
The films closely resemble the comics. Entire panels of the manga are recreated in perfect detail throughout the film series.
In addition to the six original films (and Shogun Assassin in 1980), various television movies have aired in connection with the television series as pilots, compilations or originals. These include several starring Kinnosuke Yorozuya (Nakamura) (see section Television series), in 1979 a film called Lone Wolf With Child: An Assassin on the Road to Hell better known as Baby Cart In Purgatory where Hideki Takahashi plays Ogami Ittō and Tomisaburo Wakayama as Retsudo Yagyu.
In 1992 the story was once more made into a film, Lone Wolf and Cub: Final Conflict also known as Handful of Sand or A Child's Hand Reaches Up (Kozure Ōkami: Sono chiisaki te ni, literally In That Little Hand), directed by Akira Inoue and starring Tamura Masakazu.
Read more about this topic: Lone Wolf And Cub, Media
Famous quotes containing the word films:
“Television does not dominate or insist, as movies do. It is not sensational, but taken for granted. Insistence would destroy it, for its message is so dire that it relies on being the background drone that counters silence. For most of us, it is something turned on and off as we would the light. It is a service, not a luxury or a thing of choice.”
—David Thomson, U.S. film historian. America in the Dark: The Impact of Hollywood Films on American Culture, ch. 8, William Morrow (1977)
“Right now I think censorship is necessary; the things they’re doing and saying in films right now just shouldn’t be allowed. There’s no dignity anymore and I think that’s very important.”
—Mae West (1892–1980)
“The cinema is not an art which films life: the cinema is something between art and life. Unlike painting and literature, the cinema both gives to life and takes from it, and I try to render this concept in my films. Literature and painting both exist as art from the very start; the cinema doesn’t.”
—Jean-Luc Godard (b. 1930)