Fight, Zatoichi, Fight

In this 1964 entry in the Zatoichi series, the blind swordsman falls in with a young woman travelling home with her baby. When bandits mistake her for Zatoichi and kill her, the infant is left, and Ichi takes on getting the child to its father. A pickpocket who helps reluctantly joins them on the road. Directed by Kenji Misumi, the film is built unusually for the series on care and responsibility rather than action: carrying a baby, feeding it, quieting it and staying alive at the same time. Ichi growing attached to the child, and the father's reaction turning out to be nothing like what was expected, give it one of the saddest endings in the run. There is little swordplay, but it lands. Who it's for: followers of chanbara series and viewers who like genre films with emotional weight. Who it's not for: anyone expecting constant action; for long stretches this becomes a road story.