13 Assassins (1963)

 

            My favorite samurai movie is “13 Assassins” (2010), so I was interested in how it compares to the original which came out in 1963. I am glad I saw the remake first because it is easier to follow the plot of the original, which tends to brush over key plot points. Both movies are about an evil warlord who is so despicable that the 13 are sent to assassinate him.

            The 1963 version starts similarly with Matsudaira killing a family. The movie is not as graphic as the remake, of course. But it does a decent job convincing you that Matsudaira is evil. The film goes through the recruitment process. There is less coverage of the thirteen, but some of the scenes are reimagined in the remake. For instance, Sahara joins for the money. Shin mentions booze and girls. Just mentions. Hanbei visits, but he has a vague conversation with Shinzaemon. It is not as clear that the two are rivals. The journey to the town is uneventful and they don’t meet a mystical hunter who provides comic relief. The fortifying of the village is brief. You get the mandatory practicing scene common in movies like this. The fight for the village is a long set piece with plenty of stabbing and slicing. The duels are similar, but not as well choreographed. Some of the dueling is smile-inducing. The ending is less satisfying.

            1963 may be a classic, but in no way is it better than the remake. The characters are not fleshed out. It needed to be longer. It clocks in at 125 minutes which is not significantly shorter than 2010’s 141, but the newer version is deeper and more comprehensive. The final battle is 26 minutes and the fighting is decent action. However, not nearly as scintillating and the deaths are bloodless, which is unavoidable in a 1960s film. The villain is average and certainly is not loathsome like in the newer film. The acting is decent and does not include the kind of scene-chewing associated with some Japanese films from that era. There are no melodramatic deaths.

            Viewing these two films is a good way to see the differences between a 20^th Century samurai movie and a 21^st Century one. The one word that best characterizes the newer movies is bigger. The villain is more dastardly, the battle is more graphic, the opposition is larger (so there are more deaths), and the effects are grander. The audiences changed and the movies reflect that. This is the reason 1963 is tame in comparison to 2010. Sometimes the remakes go overboard and make a mockery of the original, but not in this case. Although 1963 is a good movie, 2010 greatly improves on it. And isn’t that what we want in our remakes? Take the original screenplay and improve it. Should be easy, but it doesn’t always come out better. Just look at the terrible recent “All Quiet on the Western Front” which is vastly inferior to the 1930 version.

 

GRADE  =  B-