Gun Crazy: Episode 1 - A Woman from Nowhere

The advertising blurb for the movie said it was "a Japanese take on a classic spaghetti Western", and sure enough, it is. Although that genre actually has its roots in various samurai films, most notably Yojimbo, this movie definitely seems to draw more from Segion Leone's westerns.

The plot is largely "Once Upon a Time in the West", except instead of Charles Bronson, the person wanting revenge is a young lady, Saki, played by the very attractive Ryoko Yonekura. Then it sort of switches to "A Fistful of Dollars" for a while, has a brief "A Good, the Bad and the Ugly" interlude, then goes back to "Once Upon a Time...". The ending is pretty original It's enjoyable, but the production values are pretty low. While it tries to emulate the style of HK gun-play, it comes off more as a community theater level of special effects/stunts/gun-play.

With better action choreography, better gun effects, and the movie just filled out more (it's only about 65 minutes), it would have been a much better movie.

Yet another remake of "Fistful of Dollars", Sergio Leone's remake of Kurosawa's "Yojimbo" (suggested by the novel 'Red Harvest').

This one is strictly a B-Movie; taken as that, it is rather enjoyable. the direction is crisp, the acting full of verve, the limitations of its 'direct-to-video' photography well-handled.

The weakness of the film is in the disastrous decision to marry the 'fistful'/'yojimbo' plot to a sub-plot from Leone's 'Once Upon a Time in the West'. Although leone directed both 'Fistful' and 'West', his motivations behind the two films couldn't be anymore different. The 'Man With No Name' (Eastwood) is a borderline socio-path with a soft spot for broken families. Harmonica (Chaeles Bronson) is obsessed with his own broken family, and obsessed with revenge. These two characters would not have had much to do with each other. In order to bring them together, 'Gun Crazy' has to twist it's plot and complicate it until we lose track of which story we're actually following.

But this is a B-Movie after all, and filled with action and silliness; it's entertaining on that level, just don't expect anything more.

Director Atsushi Muroga's 'Gun Crazy: Episode 1 - A Woman from Nowhere' is a calculated attempt at cult coolness that admittedly, on paper, sounds rather promising: hot female bounty-hunter Saki ( Ryoko Yonekura), clad in leather and brandishing a pair of over-sized hand cannons, rides into a lawless 'town' in order to settle an old score with evil gang boss Mr. Tojo (Shingo Tsurumi). Styled after the classic spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone, the film features a suitably barren landscape, slow motion gun battles, menacing stares in close-up, and even a Morricone inspired score (complete with whistling).

Sadly, Muroga doesn't quite fulfill the potential of his premise thanks to a rather cheap shot-on-video look, the lack of convincing gun-play from his star, and not nearly enough of the insane OTT violence one might reasonably expect from a Japanese film called Gun Crazy. Sure, we get the guns, but there just ain't enough of the 'crazy' on display for my liking (the film's closing minutes offer the most outrageous moment, but it's all a case of 'too little, too late').

If it had been up to me, I'd have given Saki a wider variety of weaponry throughout (and a lot less clothing), made her take at least one unnecessary shower, included a lot more in the way of bloody squib shoot-em-up action, and featured a climactic battle in Mr. Tojo's booby trapped lair against an army of robot ninjas, albino kung fu dwarfs, zombie gimps, and a pair of lesbian conjoined-twin assassins! (okay, okay, that might be going a bit too far, but you get the idea...).

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

At first I have to admit, that I had my share of fun with 'Gun Crazy: Episode 1'. You certainly are not surprised about the fact you do not get a masterpiece of modern cinema, as the movie never pretends to be. Nevertheless the impact of wooden acting and lurid dialog is quite a blast. If you can handle this, perhaps with the help of some alcohol, switch of all higher brain activities and .... voila the raw & simple story develops a certain kind of charm. The heroine is cute and her garment plus arms look good as well. Gun battles are the movies central element and they are not something never seen before - partially even plagiarizing - , however they do not let you down. I was not bored at all and enjoyed the hour watching. Besides, the two GI's at the beginning are my favorite bad guys. Wooohah! Do I recommend 'Gun Crazy: Episode 1 - A Woman From Nowhere'?

No way, people with good taste could ruin their sensitiveness.

6/10

"Gun Crazy: A Woman From Nowhere" is a Japanese female action film along the lines of the "Zero Woman" series, only considerably better. It is just as violent (which means VERY violent), less sleazy, and more action-packed, fast-moving and stylishly-executed. It's still a low-budget shot-on-video film, so don't expect anything flawless (for one thing, a lot of the characters sure could use a little more shooting practice), but it does not lack ambition (there are strong music and plot homages to Sergio Leone's westerns). Ryoko Yonekura is an impressive heroine (and probably one of the most beautiful women in the world - there is also a bad girl who is a stunner herself), and "Mr. Tojo" is a cruel, sadistic and smart villain. Worth getting if you like this kind of stuff. **1/2 out of 4.