Kerouac meets Kurosawa in this joyfully anarchic samurai send-up, filled with the usual narrative flourishes-castle conspiracies, wandering ronin, shifting allegiances, brothel conquests-but flavored with a delightfully sixties-style counterculture cool. Acting like he's just wandered out of a Beat poetry session, our dropout pacifist hero Genta (Tatsuya Nakadai) is dragged back into the killing fray after taking pity on some youthful political idealists who are about to be crushed by corrupt politicians. (Needless to say, this film says more about 1968 than 1768). Aided by a blustery farmer (Etsushi Takahashi) who dreams of being a samurai, Genta the reluctant killer slouches his way through town, too Beat to sweat it. “Kill or be killed,” he muses, “either would leave an unpleasant aftertaste.” Sullying that impeccable samurai ideal with some much-needed grime and a couple of spits in the eye, Kill! is unbridled, utterly improper fun.