Cash Collection

Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman (1962-1973) [The Criterion Collection #679]
10xDVD9 + 8xDVD5 | Untouched | ISO | NTSC 16:9 720x480 VBR 29.97 fps | 2198 mn | 107.43 GB
Audio: Japanese AC-3 MONO @ 384 kbps 48.0 kHz | Subtitles: English
Extras: Menu, Chapter/Episode Selection, Special Features | Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama | Country: Japan

The colossally popular Zatoichi films make up the longest-running action series in Japanese history and created one of the screen’s great heroes: an itinerant blind masseur who also happens to be a lightning-fast swordsman. As this iconic figure, the charismatic and earthy Shintaro Katsu became an instant superstar, lending a larger-than-life presence to the thrilling adventures of a man who lives staunchly by a code of honor and delivers justice in every town and village he enters. The films that feature him are variously pulse-pounding, hilarious, stirring, and completely off-the-wall. This deluxe set features the string of twenty-five Zatoichi films made between 1962 and 1973, collected in one package for the first time.

As befits a release on a fledgling indie label, Dualtone's tribute to Johnny Cash celebrates the feistier fringes of the Man in Black's catalog, adding a few mainstream milestones. In what is plainly a labor of love for all concerned, highlights extend from the pop innocence of "Ballad of a Teenage Queen" by Rodney Crowell (formerly married to Johnny's daughter Rosanne) to the folkier strains and husband-and-wife harmonies of "Pack Up Your Sorrows" by Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis to the honky-tonk majesty of "I Still Miss Someone" by pianist Earl Poole Ball. Some of the more familiar touchstones don't fare quite as well, with Billy Burnette turning in a tepid "Ring of Fire" and Dale Watson singing in a lower than comfortable register on "I Walk the Line," though James Intveld rises to the challenge of "Folsom Prison Blues." The house band and the largely acoustic arrangements give the 18-cut album more unity than many such projects, as the collection shows why one of the most influential and commercially successful artists in country's history remains an icon of alt-country as well.