aka "Cruel/Brutal Story at the End of the Tokugawa Shogunate," 1964.
Okay, my brain is TOTALLY fried --- I've just finished watching this
film and I am **completely** blown away by it. Whatever you have to
do to see it, just do it!
Wonderful, gritty look at the internal world of the Shinsengumi from
just after the Ikedaya Affair to just past the death of Yamanami.
Fundoshi theft, homoerotic playfulness, guy talk about women &
Shimabara (including Kondou's 4 babes), a sweet love story, patrol
changes, after-hours in the barracks, execution of law breakers, a
samurai bacchanal, the clash of strong personalities, testing new
recruits, man's inhumanity to man, history, regrets, blood & gore,
Saitou --- it's got a little of everything. The ending is just too
amazing to even consider hinting at.
The flashback of Serizawa's assassination is pure poetry and exactly
as I read about it. I swear, the words came right to life before my
eyes.
Every Shinsengumi fan should have a copy of it!!!
One thing did hit me over the head like a brick, though --- when the
captains are announcing themselves in one scene, when it comes to the
captain of the 9th squad, the man is Abe Juro, not Suzuki. Anyone
know why this would be? I thought Abe Juro was a corporal (source:
Serizawa Kamo's Biography --- see links on the shinsengumimb main
page).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122390/