When 1979's Samurai opens you think you have an accurate read on where the next 71 minutes will take you. A white knuckle ride through the gritty streets of San Francisco. Not the case.
This is not a movie about simply exercising violence against the bad guys. As a lawyer Lee Cantrell respects the legal system. After all, the noble Shogunate was introduced to maintain order. There is actually a plot to this movie where a man must work towards unsheathing the Nippon steel (aside from on street trash).
Joe Penny manages to inhabit both the role of lawyer and samurai with ease. He is believable as both. When he is serving the prosecutor's office he has a latent aura of danger. When he is using the blade he has a dignified humanity.
This movie has to be one of the highest budget TV movies of it's time. The effects never come off as cheap or tacky and the sets are of high quality throughout. There is a car chase close to the start of the movie that is of Hollywood quality.
In a year that saw the release of both Rocky 2 and Alien, it is easy to see why a movie like this would fall through the cracks. However, I believe that this movie was wasted on TV and should have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with it's contemporaries in theatres. Kramer may have battled Kramer, but Lee Cantrell battled the system using the honour of Bushido.
