Samurai Spy (1965)
Ibun Sarutobi Sasuke
99 min
Years of warfare end in a Japan unified under the Tokugawa shogunate, and samurai spy Sasuke Sarutobi, tired of conflict, longs for peace. When a high-ranking spy named Tatewaki Koriyama defects from the shogun to a rival clan, however, the world of swordsmen is thrown into turmoil. After Sasuke is unwittingly drawn into the conflict, he tracks Tatewaki, while a mysterious, white-hooded figure seems to hunt them both. By tale’s end, no one is who they seemed to be, and the truth is far more personal than anyone suspected. Director Masahiro Shinoda’s Samurai Spy, filled with clan intrigue, ninja spies, and multiple double crosses, marks a bold stylistic departure from swordplay film convention.
- Release date
- July 10, 1965
- Country of origin
- Japan
Where to watch
Subscription
Criterion Channel
Cast
- Kôji Takahashi as Sarutobi Sasuke
- Shintarō Ishihara as Saizo Kirigakure
- Eitarō Ozawa as Shigeyuki Koremura
- Kei Satō as Takanosuke Nojiri
- Rokkô Toura as Mitsuaki Inamura
- Tetsurō Tanba as Sakon Takatani
- Eiji Okada as Tatewaki Koriyama
- Seiji Miyaguchi as Jinnai-Kazutaka Horikawa
- Minoru Hodaka as Genba Kuni
- Misako Watanabe as Okiwa
- Yasunori Irikawa as Yashiro Kobayashi
- Jitsuko Yoshimura as Omiyo
- Jun Hamamura as Joshin temple priest
- Takeshi Kusaka as Narrator
- Hiroshi Aoyama
- Kentarô Imai
- Taku Kido
- Shin'ya Mizushima
- Ginzô Sekiguchi
- Osamu Hitomi
- Hisanobu Ichikawa
Crew
- Masahiro Shinoda · Director
- Yoshiyuki Fukuda · Writer
- Koji Nakada · Writer
- Shizuo Yamanouchi · Producer
- Tôru Takemitsu · Composer
- Masao Kosugi · Cinematographer
- Yoshi Sugihara · Editor