Yato kaze no naka o hashiru

One of director Hiroshi Inagaki’s rare films set in Japan’s medieval period that does not star Toshiro Mifune as a samurai, this engaging costume drama involves a group of bandits instead. The bandits come to a small town to hole up for awhile when the local priest mistakes one of them as a descendent of the town’s principle clan, much greater in the past. Taking advantage of their supposed status, the bandits free the captive local ruler from virtual imprisonment in a large castle. They do what they can to help the villagers, but in the end, a rival clan becomes wary of their rising power and decides to jump into action.