Ichikawa parodies the warrior code and the popular lone-wolf vagabond of 19th-century Japanese lore in The Wanderers, in which the paladins are little more than punks. The story tells of three young farm boys who set out to become toseinin, wandering professional gamblers. In its tour-de-force structure-layered and digressive, working up to a devastating climax through deceptive humor-and in its focus on youthful nihilism, The Wanderers is comparable to the modern themes of such films as Badlands or Road Warrior. For example, the hero, angry at his father, "acts out" by killing him; later, he sells his girlfriend to a whorehouse in order to get food. In 1973, Ichikawa was criticizing not only the insatiable hunger for yakuza films, but a conservative political trend which held that a return to the bushido spirit would add a level of meaning to Japanese culture. "Comic, elegant, mordant, breathtaking...a film to be vividly remembered." (William Johnson, Film Quarterly)