Film / Goyokin

Goyokin ("Official Gold") a.k.a. The Steel Edge of Revenge is a 1969 Japanese jidaigeki film, directed by Hideo Gosha. In 1975 it had a Foreign Remake (sometimes shot-for-shot) as The Master Gunfighter.

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Goyokin has the following tropes:

• Above the Influence: Magobei turns down the advances of a drunk Oriha (which is just as well as he runs into his wife shortly afterwards).
• The Atoner: Magobei took part in the massacre (albeit only killing in self defense) and the subsequent coverup. He realises he can't turn a blind eye a second time so returns to stop the crime happening again.
• Arrow Catch: An accidental version when Rokugo throws a dart at Magobei's face just when a crow flies between them and dies instead.
• Battle in the Rain: A couple of mooks try sneaking up on Magobei using the rain to cover their approach, only to get stabbed for their pains. Then a rival clan attacks the other mooks, resulting in this trope.
• Betty and Veronica: As the villagers celebrate their survival Magobei hesitates on seeing Oriha, but walks away from her. His wife however has no intention of being left behind, and the movie ends with Shino following her husband across the snowfield.
• Big Damn Heroes: Magobei twice saves Oriha and her brother Rokuzo, so they return the favor by getting a rival clan to attack Rokugo's men when they have Magobei outnumbered and under siege.
• Conveniently Placed Sharp Thing:
  • Rokugo throws a dart at Magobei while he's hanging from a tree, but it hits the rope instead, doing enough damage that the rope eventually breaks and Magobei falls to the ground...and straight through the snow so he's buried over his head. Fortunately he's able to pull the rope in using his teeth...and then the dart falls out. He then makes the dart fall in the hole by wriggling around a bit and catches it in his teeth. It's not shown how he then cuts his bonds with his hands tied behind his back...
  • Samon tries cutting his ropes by rubbing them against the rocks, but in this case he's being guarded and a beating soon discourages him.
• Creepy Crows: Oriha, who had the fortune to be away from the village when the massacre took place, returns home to find only crows and a body the culprits missed. The crows are played for maximum creepiness in the scene, and continue to appear throughout the movie.
• Devious Daggers: Rokugo carries throwing darts in a leather pouch, symbolising his lack of honor in comparison to the protagonist. He kills the escaping bride with a dart In the Back, and uses them to wound Magobei to negate his advantage as a Master Swordsman.
• Did Not Get The Guy: Oriha loses her entire village, loses her brother in the final battle, and finally has to watch Magobei walk away without a word.
• Drums of War: Masked villagers play drums to celebrate their survival, and the drumming forms a background for the final duel.
• Fixing the Game: Oriha makes her money hustling gamblers, one of whom bites down on the dice to make sure it's not loaded. It isn't...but then Oriha gives herself away when she bangs the table in fake outrage and a second dice falls out of her sleeve.
• Futile Hand Reach: As he's dying in the snow Kunai reaches out for Shino, but she walks past without even looking at him.
• Gold Fever: It all starts when a ship carrying gold for the government is wrecked offshore and the gold recovered by fishermen. Rokugo has the fishing village massacred to Leave No Witnesses because he wants the gold for himself. After the gold runs out, he plans a deliberate shipwreck.
• Guns vs. Swords: Muskets are used to fire through the walls of the hut where the protagonists are hiding out, then swordsmen are sent in to finish them off. Fortunately the blindfire misses and Magobei and Samon make short work of the swordsmen, but when they try to exit the hut they find themselves trapped under a net while the musketeers rush up to take them prisoner. There's no sign of these muskets in the final battle though, perhaps because the snowfall would dampen the powder and the darkness reduce their range.
• A Handful for an Eye: In the final duel, Magobei falls into a hole in the snow while trying to keep an eye on his opponent. As Rokugo charges up to finish him off, Magobei jams his sword into the snowbank and then flips it up to blind Rokugo for a fatal second. In the Foreign Remake it's done with a sandbank.
• I Will Fight No More Forever: Magobei is about to pawn off his sword, but suddenly asks for it back when he realises there are assassins waiting to kill him. In the end he leaves his sword at Rokugo's grave.
• Leave No Witnesses: Rokugo finds the fishermen have hidden the gold they found, so has the entire village killed so he can keep it instead of returning the gold to the shogunate. He later intends to use another group of villagers to construct a fake beacon light then go out in boats to retrieve the gold, whereupon these witnesses will also be killed.
• "Leave Your Quest" Test: Shino turns up with gold given to her by Rokugo, begging her husband to leave with her and make a life elsewhere. Magobei refuses, knowing where the gold came from.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Kunai sending assassins to kill Magobei tips him off that Rokugo is planning to break his word and commit another gold robbery and massacre. This causes Magobei to return to prevent the crime happening again.
• Not so Dire: Someone appears to be sneaking up behind Magobei to cut his head off with a sword, but due to Depth Deception they're actually admiring it while standing across the room.
• Planning with Props: Crates, bowls and a candle are used by Magobei to explain how the gold ship will be lured to its destruction.
• The Promise: After the massacre, Magobei promises not to report Rokugo to the shogunate for stealing the gold, in exchange for Rokugo's promise to never commit such a crime again. When assassins turn up to kill Magobei, he realises that Rokugo intends to break his word.
• Rōnin: Magobei is so disgusted by the massacre he leaves his wife and clan to live as a ronin. Samon Fujimaki is a ronin sent to kill Magobei but they end up joining forces because he's actually a spy for the shogunate.
• Salvage Pirates: Rokugo's plan is to light the bonfire the gold ship uses to navigate in the dark in the wrong place, so it sails onto the rocks instead.
• Snow Means Death:
  • Both the original massacre and the final battle take place during a snowstorm. Though this comes in handy when Samon needs to extinguish the fake beacon; he just creates a mini avalanche to dump a load of snow on top of the flames.
  • Likewise the final duel between Rokugo and Magobei. The former brings a burning brand to keep his hands warm, and both fighters are shown breathing on their fingers to maintain their grip in the cold.
• Staff of Authority: Rokugo uses a yellow-and-black striped cane to point out where he wants the fake beacon set up. On realising his plan has failed, he breaks it in half.
• Textile Work Is Feminine: Shino, whom Magobei abandoned to go Walking the Earth, is introduced working a loom like the dutiful wife she is.
• Weapon Tombstone: After killing Rokugo, Magobei Sword Plants the dead man's katana next to his grave marker, and leaves his own sword there as well.
• Wedding Smashers: Magobei is haunted by the memory of the bride killed by a knife In the Back as he watched.
• William Telling: In his introductory scene, Magobei is earning a living showing off his sword skills at a carnival, where he cuts a fish draped across the thighs (perilously close to her crotch) of the woman playing a shamisen during his act.
• What a Drag: Oriha is tied to a horse and dragged through the mud until Magobei cuts the rope with his sword.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Rokugo leaves Magobei tied up and hanging from a tree to die of exposure, but changes his mind and sends a mook back to finish him off. Fortunately Magobei has freed himself by then.

As well as the above, the 1975 The Master Gunfighter has these additional tropes:

• Concealment Equals Cover: The hero retreats into a derelict hut so his attackers will be forced to come at him one at a time. That doesn't explain why they don't just shoot through the wooden walls (despite this very method being used in the original movie).
• Quick Draw: Finley, with his hands shoved in his belt, outdraws a man who has his gun pointed at Finley's head.
• Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: In their final confrontation Finley refuses to draw on Paulo, but then puts aside his gun so they can have a Sword Fight.
• The Musketeer: Despite the movie's title the hero Finley uses both gun and sword. This is handwaved as him coming from Mexican aristocracy, though it doesn't explain why various mooks and bounty hunters would also use them.
• Samurai Cowboy: Finley carries a katana instead of the European-type swords that everyone else uses. No reason is given for this discrepancy.
• Setting Update: The ronin is now The Gunslinger (though he's also a Master Swordsman). The Big Bad is a Mexican aristocrat who needs the gold as a war chest to stop the Yankees from taking over his land. And the massacre is based on a real life event that took place in Goleta, California.
• Shoot the Rope: Paulo has Finley tied up and hanging from a tree. When Finley turns down an offer to walk away, Paulo draws his gun...and shoots the rope, dumping Finley on the ground. He then tells his men to weigh Finley down and throw him into the sea. Naturally this just gives Finley a chance to escape, and he later frees another character who's been tied to a beacon fire by using this trope, presumably because he doesn't have time to untie him.
• You Wouldn't Shoot Me: When the above-mentioned men are going to throw Finley into the sea, Eula turns up with a revolver and demands they free her husband. They don't think she will shoot, but are sure that the Don with kill them if they don't carry out his orders, so decide to take their chances. Eula shoots one man in the arm, then says that the only way to stop her is to kill her, and points out that Don Paulo would never forgive them for killing his sister.