East Meets West (1994)

Genres - Western, Action, Adventure  |   Release Date - Aug 12, 1995 (USA - Unknown)  |   Run Time - 124 min.  |   Countries - Japan  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Jonathan Crow

Veteran director Kihachi Okamoto spins this genre-bending samurai western. Kamijo Kenkichi (played by gymnast Hiroyuki Sanada) is ronin from a clan opposed to Japan's opening to foreign lands. Sent in cognito on a government delegation to the United States, he is on a mission to assassinate various high-ranking officials and foil the government's plans of internationalism. Upon landing in San Francisco, he is put in charge of exchanging three thousand pieces of gold into American dollars. Unfortunately, he is jumped by desperados who make off with the loot. After hacking a half-dozen baddies to death, Kamijo sets out into the Wild West for the gold. Learning Kamijo's true identity, government officials figure that the ronin was also responsible for the thief and dispatch a ninja (Naoka Takenaka) to kill him and get the gold. Things get even more complicated when a tow-headed moppet (Scott Bachicha) accompanies him while searching for his father's killer; he is followed later by a schoolteacher (Jay Kerr) who rallies a posse of ex-students to help Kamijo find his gold.