Three Outlaw Samurai
Directed by Hideo Gosha
Written by Kelichi Abe, Eizaburo Shiba, and Hideo Gosha
Starring Tetsuro Tamba, Isamu Nagato, Mikijiro Hira, and Mikyuki Kuwano

Hideo Gosha’s ‘Three Outlaw Samurai’ is a competently told samurai story that never really reaches levels of brilliance, but manages to remain consistently intriguing and entertaining. Three samurais become caught up in a microscopic class-war uprising that plays out as part siege film and part revenge film.

The film begins as a group of peasant men take the magistrate’s daughter hostage in an attempt to force a change in the treatment of local farmers. One of the men has written A wandering Ronin named Sakon Shiba (Tetsuro Tamba) happens upon the disturbance and decides to bunk within the hut of the peasants, curious to see what transpires. The magistrate hires his own samurai to resolve the issue, only to find one of the two, Kyojuro, trading sides upon discovering that he’s been hired to kill farmers. In an attempt to take the upper hand, the daughter of one of the peasants is kidnapped and used as a bargaining tool, which ultimately ends in tragedy. Sakon gives back the magistrate’s daughter and convinces him to let the peasants go free. In exchange, he will receive 100 strikes on the back as punishment for all of their actions. This leads to betrayal as the magistrate goes back on his word. In light of this, a third ronin samurai who was previously working against Sakon, joins forces with him and Kyojuro to seek revenge on the magistrate and deliver the peasants message of injustice.

Three Outlaw Samurai takes its time to tell its story, yet still manages to come in at a brisk 93 minutes. It’s the continual promise of action that might have some viewers slowly shifting to the edge of their seat, waiting for the eventual samurai bloodbath. In the end, the sword fights are great but not mind blowing; although I don’t really have high expectations for such things — or the ability to really discern a technically good sword fight from a bad one. I think my personal taste leans more towards weight and simplicity, and that’s definitely what’s on display here. Still, there has to be a some sort of driving force behind the violence, and I’m not entirely sure that’s present here. Sakon almost seems to have taken on this fight on a whim, which removes any sense of immediacy or personal stakes. I suppose you could say the same thing for many samurai films, and it certainly wasn’t a deal breaker. There is a section in the second act that helps his motivations along, but I just would’ve liked a more cathartic feeling of accomplishment. I guess I just didn’t recognize a real arc in Sakon.

Maybe my complaints about Sakon’s motivations and overall growth as a character might be attributed to the fact that Three Outlaw Samurai was a spin off of a TV show. As far as I can tell, the series came first and the film worked as a prequel, providing a background story to the characters in the show. It looks like there was also a second series, called “New Three Outlaw Samurai”, produced in 1970. This is actually a strange release for Criterion as this disc is completely void of supplemental materials (unless you still count a theatrical trailer as a bonus feature). I would’ve thought that some sort of featurette on or an episode of the TV show might have been beneficial, but this is a bare bones release at a lower-than-usual price point. It’s happened with a few released in the past, but is pretty rare. Luckily, the picture quality is typically great and will satisfy those who are uninterested in special features and simply want a solid presentation of the film itself. I have to say that I’m having a good time going through these samurai films. I can’t wait to keep sifting through this stuff. — Jay C.

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