Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx

Ogami Itto, the shogunate's executioner accused of treason, is on the road as an assassin with his small son Daigoro. In this part a unit of female ninja is after him, along with three brothers waiting in the desert. The job is to protect a man carrying the secret of a dyeing technique. Kenji Misumi directed. Tomisaburo Wakayama plays Ogami. It is the second of the series' six films. The approach to combat avoids display: the sword strokes are short, the deaths sudden, and the blood sprays extravagantly. That style directly influenced later samurai and revenge cinema. The baby cart is used as an action device, and the blades hidden inside it are the series' signature. This entry has a particular place in the West: in 1980 it was combined with the first film and re-cut in English as Shogun Assassin, which became a cult item. Most of the world saw this film in that form first. Who it is for: viewers who like samurai cinema and hard fight choreography. Who it is not for: anyone troubled by blood; the film holds nothing back.