The background in this movie is that Perry is in Japan trying to get a treaty signed with the Shogun before the Russians show up. The Shogun is going to give the President a gift of a sword, but the sword is stolen by an anti-treaty faction and the Shogun will lose face and not sign the treaty if the sword is not recovered.
The Shogun’s commander sends off an agent to get the sword back and several American sailors follow to assist, very much against the orders that forbid foreigners from travelling in Japan.
Much fighting, heads removed, arms removed, samurai vs rapier fighting; the sword is eventually recovered after much loss and tribulation and it is returned to the signing ceremony. This means the Shogun Commander doesn’t have to commit seppuku to preserve the Shogun’s face and Perry is happy.
This was a joint US-Japanese production and had a good cast, this was Richard Boone’s last role (as Perry). Toshiro Mifune did well as the Shogun’s Commander. Sonny Chiba was the Prince tasked to recover the sword. And I thought Frank Converse did a good job as the American Captain. It had a lot of POTENTIAL.
It just wasn’t very-well written or directed. Three Americans wandering around the Japanese countryside don’t have a whole lot of trouble (some, but not a lot) getting through to their destination. And they keep finding Japanese who speak English. (I suppose you had to do that for the story-line. They didn’t use subtitles.) Interesting scenarios didn’t quite gel into a whole. I will give it a 5 out of 10.