
Acting
Ikio Sawamura
Born — Died
1905-09-04 — 1975-09-20
Place of birth
Tochigi, Japan
Known for
Acting
Credits
60 titles
Ikio Sawamura (沢村いき雄 Sawamura Ikio) was born on September 4, 1905 in Tochigi, Japan. He was an actor, known for Yojimbo (1961), The Hidden Fortress (1958) and Throne of Blood (1957). He died on September 20, 1975.
Known for
8.4A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.
High and Low
1963
6.8At the turn of the century, all of the Earth's monsters have been rounded up and kept safely on Monsterland. Chaos erupts when a race of she-aliens known as the Kilaaks unleash the monsters across the world.
Destroy All Monsters
1968
8.2Aspiring to an easy job as personal physician to a wealthy family, Noboru Yasumoto is disappointed when his first post after medical school takes him to a small country clinic under the gruff doctor Red Beard. Yasumoto rebels in numerous ways, but Red Beard proves a wise and patient teacher. He gradually introduces his student to the unglamorous side of the profession, ultimately assigning him to care for a prostitute rescued from a local brothel.
Red Beard
1965
6.9The advertising director of Pacific Pharmaceuticals, frustrated with the low ratings of their sponsored TV program, seeks a more sensationalist approach. He orders his staff to Faro Island to capture King Kong for exploitation. As Godzilla re-emerges, a media frenzy generates with Pacific looking to capitalize off of the ultimate battle.
King Kong vs. Godzilla
1962
7.9Returning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part of the spirit's prophecy comes true, Washizu's scheming wife, Asaji, presses him to speed up the rest of the spirit's prophecy by murdering his lord and usurping his place. Director Akira Kurosawa's resetting of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" in feudal Japan is one of his most acclaimed films.
Throne of Blood
1957
8.0In feudal Japan, during a bloody war between clans, two cowardly and greedy peasants, soldiers of a defeated army, stumble upon a mysterious man who guides them to a fortress hidden in the mountains.
The Hidden Fortress
1958
Film credits
1970s · 2 titles
6.8A submarine expedition to salvage the remains of Mechagodzilla is thwarted by a massive dinosaur named Titanosaurus. An Interpol investigation leads biologist Ichinose to uncover the work of Dr. Mafune and his mysterious daughter Katsura. Aligned with the Black Hole Aliens, Katsura's life becomes entwined with the resurrected machine.
Terror of Mechagodzilla
1975
7.0A combination of live action and animation chronicinge the great journey of Marco Polo to the mysterious Orient. Much of the story centers on Polo's relationship with the powerful Kublai Khan.
Marco
1973
1960s · 39 titles
8.4A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.
High and Low
1963
6.8At the turn of the century, all of the Earth's monsters have been rounded up and kept safely on Monsterland. Chaos erupts when a race of she-aliens known as the Kilaaks unleash the monsters across the world.
Destroy All Monsters
1968
8.2Aspiring to an easy job as personal physician to a wealthy family, Noboru Yasumoto is disappointed when his first post after medical school takes him to a small country clinic under the gruff doctor Red Beard. Yasumoto rebels in numerous ways, but Red Beard proves a wise and patient teacher. He gradually introduces his student to the unglamorous side of the profession, ultimately assigning him to care for a prostitute rescued from a local brothel.
Red Beard
1965
6.9The advertising director of Pacific Pharmaceuticals, frustrated with the low ratings of their sponsored TV program, seeks a more sensationalist approach. He orders his staff to Faro Island to capture King Kong for exploitation. As Godzilla re-emerges, a media frenzy generates with Pacific looking to capitalize off of the ultimate battle.
King Kong vs. Godzilla
1962
8.1A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.
Yojimbo
1961
6.3Searching for his brother, Ryota stows away on a boat belonging to a criminal alongside two other teenagers. The group shipwrecks on Letchi island and discover the Infant Island natives have been enslaved by a terrorist organization controlling a crustacean monster. Finding a sleeping Godzilla, they decide to awaken him to defeat the terrorists and liberate the natives.
Ebirah, Horror of the Deep
1966
6.7During WWII, Germans obtain the immortal heart of Frankenstein's monster and transport it to Japan to prevent it being seized by the Allies. Kept in a Hiroshima laboratory, it is seeming lost when the United States destroys the city with the atomic bomb. Years later a wild boy is discovered wandering the streets of the city alone, born of the immortal heart.
Frankenstein Conquers the World
1965
6.6When an underhanded pharmaceutical company goes to a remote tropical island to steal King Kong for advertising purposes, they get more than they bargained for when the gigantic ape attacks an unsuspecting village and an enormous octopus.
King Kong vs. Godzilla
1963
7.0Journalists Ichiro Sakai and Junko cover the wreckage of a typhoon when an enormous egg is found and claimed by greedy entrepreneurs. Mothra's fairies arrive and are aided by the journalists in a plea for its return. As their requests are denied, Godzilla arises near Nagoya and the people of Infant Island must decide if they are willing to answer Japan's own pleas for help.
Mothra vs. Godzilla
1964
7.7In this loose adaptation of "Hamlet," illegitimate son Kôichi Nishi climbs to a high position within a Japanese corporation and marries the crippled daughter of company vice president Iwabuchi. At the reception, the wedding cake is a replica of their corporate headquarters, but an aspect of the design reminds the party of the hushed-up death of Nishi's father. It is then that Nishi unleashes his plan to avenge his father's death.
The Bad Sleep Well
1960
7.0After a meteorite unleashes a three-headed beast upon Tokyo, Mothra tries to unite with Godzilla and Rodan to battle the extraterrestrial threat.
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster
1964
6.6The legendary empire of the lost continent of Mu reappears to threaten the world with domination. While countries unite to resist, an isolated World War II Captain has created the greatest warship ever seen, and possibly the surface world's only defense.
Atragon
1963
6.1An adaptation of the Rankin/Bass cartoon, "The King Kong Show". King Kong is brought in by the evil Dr. Who to dig for Element X in a mine when the robot Mechani-Kong is unable to do the task. This leads to the machine and the real Kong engaging in a tremendous battle atop Tokyo Tower.
King Kong Escapes
1967
6.3Gaira, a humanoid sea beast spawned from the discarded cells of Frankenstein's monster, attacks the shores of Tokyo. While the Japanese military prepares to take action, Gaira's Gargantua brother, Sanda, descends from the mountains to defend his kin. A battle between good and evil ensues, leaving brothers divided and a city in ruins.
The War of the Gargantuas
1966
5.1Ichiro Miki is a child living in the industrial district of Kawasaki, where his parents' constant struggle to make ends meet often leaves the schoolboy alone. Constantly teased by a bully nicknamed Gabara, his only friends are toy consultant Shinpei and fellow classmate Sachiko. Ichiro turns to escapist dreams of Monster Island where he befriends the equally bullied Minilla.
All Monsters Attack
1969
6.3In 1976, a drifting star named Gorath is discovered to be on a collision course with Earth. Although it is smaller than Earth, its enormous mass is enough to destroy the planet totally. A mission sent to observe Gorath is destroyed after the ship is drawn into the star, with a later mission barely escaping the same fate. However, Astronaut Tatsuma Kanai is left in a catatonic state due to his near death experience. Unable to destroy the invading star, Earth's scientists undertake a desperate plan to build giant rockets at the South Pole to move the planet out of Gorath's path before it is too late.
Gorath
1962
6.2Osami, a soldier-of-fortune from Japan, joins with priest Ensai in a quest for the ashes of the great Buddha. Their journey takes them to a kingdom in the Middle East, where they find intrigue and romance in the court of an evil king.
Adventure in Kigan Castle
1966
6.5Men are being murdered by a killer who uses a matter-transmitting device to locate his victims.
The Secret of the Telegian
1960
7.3Japan, 1860. The men of the Mito clan, victims of the Ansei purge, anxiously prowl around the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle with the intention of assassinating Naosuke Ii of Hikone, tairō of the Tokugawa shogunate and responsible for their misfortune.
Samurai Assassin
1965
7.6A nerdy young college instructor named Shinji Kikyo returns home one day to find himself the target of a mad assassin. Surviving somewhat miraculously, he fends off other assassins and with the help of reporter Keiko Tsurumaki and car mechanic Bill Otomo, eventually discovering that a "population control" association is really an assassination squad led by Shogo Mizorogi, who has been training patients of a mental asylum to become killers.
The Age of Assassins
1967
7.1After their lord is tricked into committing ritual suicide, forty-seven samurai warriors await the chance to avenge their master and reclaim their honor.
Chûshingura
1962
6.2An intoxicated man promises two magazine editors that he will write a masterpiece. Once he sobers up, he commits to his promise and writes a story based on his life.
The Elegant Life of Mr. Everyman
1963
NRContemporary comedy.
The Age of Lawless Moneymaking
1961
7.0Soldiers on the front lines in China during World War II are besieged by guerrilla attacks and attempt to destroy an enemy fort.
Operation Enemy Fort
1962
NRA beer salesman with a passion for fishmongering stumbles through mishaps, rivalries, and gangster trouble while chasing a big contract, winning the deal through quick thinking—then turns down a promotion to keep working his own way.
Salaryman Idea Book: Concern for Success
1960
6.2Japanese police detective Saburo Fujioka is suspected of corruption, demoted, and sent to the city of Kojin. Kojin is the scene of fierce fighting between rival gangs. Fujioka is assigned to investigate the death of the wife of gangster Tetsuo Maruyama of the Kozuka gang, probably at the hands of one of the Oka gang. During a gang gunfight, Maruyama is rescued by Detective Fujioka and the two become friends. But Maruyama insists on avenging his wife's murder, even if it means conflict with his new friend.
The Last Gunfight
1960
7.7A Jonan Station detective, Kikuchi, is framed for smuggling drugs and sent to prison. When he is paroled, he joins a private detective agency, where he is asked to investigate Mitsue Takazawa, the wife of a local trading firm president. While secretly conducting his own research, he finds out that Takazawa's husband is the one, responsible for Kikuchi's imprisonment, who also have set sights on Setsuko, a woman Kikuchi becomes romantically involved with.
Brand of Evil
1964
10.0The Crazy Cats, a Japanese musical-comedy group, were showcased a series of comic adventures throughout the 1960s. Las Vegas Free-For-All, one of their most popular movies, featured scenes filmed on location in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Hawaii. Appearing with the seven Cats were the lovely Mie Hama and such Japanese musical artists as The Peanuts, The Johnnys, The Drifters, and Jackie Yoshikawa & the Blue Comets.
Las Vegas Free-For-All
1967
6.1Charged with insubordination for punching a superior, Sergeant Kosugi is shipped to China in the last desperate days of the Second World War. His commander, Captain Sakuma, is vicious and dictatorial. Sakuma places Kosugi in charge of training for combat what once was the military band. Kosugi must somehow prepare his inept soldiers for the rigors of combat.
Fort Graveyard
1965
6.7A brave, highly principled warrior resigns his post as a bodyguard to the head of a powerful clan after he learns that his employers have been smuggling arms to the enemy. The remaining samurai try in vain to coerce him back, but their efforts are thwarted by crooked warriors who launch an attack.
Warring Clans
1963
10.0After being fired from his company, Hitoshi Ueda opens a arbitration company. Experts from various fields gather around him and with their natural vitality, they solve one dispute after another. But as it turns out, their next dispute will be at a global scale.
Crazy Operation: First Move
1963
8.0An adaptation of the popular Sazae-san comic.
Sazae-san Plays Cupid
1961
10.0No synopsis available yet.
Local Reporter
1962
6.4Yuzo Kayama plays the protagonist, a whale-hunting cannon manufactuing supervisor, whose brother is an automobile tester for Komatsu Motors which has a fatal accident. As his brother investigates the "Accident" with his old college friend (makoto Sato), now a reporter... They stumble across murder, espionage and cover-ups. High-class night club, femme fatale, and a "Blueprint of Murder" all adds up to a bigger plot then first expected.
Blueprint of Murder
1961
8.0A Hiromichi Horikawa movie
Eternity of Love
1961
NRThe first of four "Comic Storyteller' features.
Comic Storyteller: Great Delay
1966
9.0A youth drama set in the Japanese alps. Two robbers, chased by the police, escape from the youths of a university mountain club who are trapped in a lodge during a blizzard. This ski action romp has the tempo of a musical, and Okamoto Kihachi's style is on full display. Tsuruta Koji makes a special appearance as a senior member of the mountain club.
University Bandits
1960
NRThe second "Comic Storyteller" feature.
Comic Storyteller: The Age of Fools
1966
10.0A kind of modern dress "Donzoko" "The Lower Depths", about slum life in Osaka, where a greedy widow (Mimasu) takes advantage of her poor roomers, including her own son, who makes a meagre living stripping taxicabs.
This Greedy Old Skin
1960
1950s · 19 titles
7.9Returning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part of the spirit's prophecy comes true, Washizu's scheming wife, Asaji, presses him to speed up the rest of the spirit's prophecy by murdering his lord and usurping his place. Director Akira Kurosawa's resetting of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" in feudal Japan is one of his most acclaimed films.
Throne of Blood
1957
8.0In feudal Japan, during a bloody war between clans, two cowardly and greedy peasants, soldiers of a defeated army, stumble upon a mysterious man who guides them to a fortress hidden in the mountains.
The Hidden Fortress
1958
7.2A humble and simple Takezo abandons his life as a knight errant. He's sought as a teacher and vassal by Shogun, Japan's most powerful clan leader. He's also challenged to fight by the supremely confident and skillful Sasaki Kojiro. Takezo agrees to fight Kojiro in a year's time but rejects Shogun's patronage, choosing instead to live on the edge of a village, raising vegetables. He's followed there by Otsu and later by Akemi, both in love with him. The year ends as Takezo assists the villagers against a band of brigands. He seeks Otsu's forgiveness and accepts her love, then sets off across the water to Ganryu Island for his final contest.
Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island
1956
6.3In Japan, scientifically advanced invaders from the war-destroyed planet Mysteroid cause an entire village to vanish, then send a giant robot out to storm the city by night, after which they request a small patch of land on Earth and the right to marry earthling women, claiming to be pacifists. Mankind must decide whether to capitulate or to resist.
The Mysterians
1957
6.1Lavish Japanese-Chinese coproduction based on an ancient Chinese legend about a man who falls in love with a snake goddess in human form.
The Legend of the White Serpent
1956
5.8When a narcotics deal goes sour and a suspect disappears, leaving only his clothes, Tokyo police question his wife and stake out the nightclub where she works.
The H-Man
1958
5.5The legend of the birth of Shintoism. In Fourth Century Japan, the Emperor's son Ouso expects to succeed his father on the throne, but Otomo, the Emperor's vassal, prefers Ouso's stepbrother, and conspires to have Ouso die on a dangerous mission he has contrived. But Ouso prevails in the mission and returns to his father's castle under a new name, Prince Yamato Takeru. Otomo plots to have the Prince sent into even greater danger, but Otomo is unaware that the gods have favored the Prince and the outcome is far from what any of them expected.
The Three Treasures
1959
5.9In 1965, the space station JSS-3 is destroyed by a fleet of UFOs, which then begin a global siege on Earth, using rays to manipulate gravity and control the minds of men. In response, a global council meeting is held to determine the source of the attacks and prepare a rocket ship armada for a counter-attack, a true battle in outer space. . . The film is a sequel of sorts to Toho's THE MYSTERIANS in the reprise of the Etsuko Shiraishi character of that film as its heroine. It was edited to 74 minutes for its American release.
Battle in Outer Space
1959
6.5Ryuta and Mineo Komatsu are brothers, both yakuza (gangsters). Mineo, although complicit in crime, even murder, wants out of the gangster life, hoping to become a successful singer instead. Ryuta loves his brother, but Mineo's possible defection presents problems for the gang, and Ryuta realizes he must kill his brother if he wants to survive.
The Big Boss
1959
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Mariko's Autobiography: Flowing Constellation
1959
NRNo synopsis available yet.
The First Love of a Cha Cha Girl
1956
7.7A woman struggles to raise her young son on her own in postwar Japan, finding companionship with a kind laborer while still hoping for the return of her missing husband.
Downtown
1957
5.6Ryukichi, the pampered heir to a cosmetics wholesaler, abandons his wife and child to pursue a scandalous affair with a famous geisha named Choko. This betrayal leads his father to disown him, leaving the unskilled Ryukichi with no way to earn a living. To keep them afloat, Choko is forced to continue working as a geisha while secretly scraping together a nest egg to start their own business. However, Ryukichi remains trapped in his hedonistic lifestyle, eventually squandering Choko’s hard-earned savings on his own self-indulgence.
Marital Relations
1955
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Talkative Wife
1959
6.7It's a man's world. Shimamura, an artist, comes to this snowbound town to rejuvenate himself. He connects with Komako, a geisha he met on a previous trip, and it seems like love. She's the foster daughter of a local family, almost engaged to the family's son Yukio, now dying of consumption. He's tended by his sister Yuko who's angry at Komako for abandoning her brother. Shimamura returns to Tokyo but promises he will be back soon. In anticipation of his return, Komako breaks with her patron and her family loses their home. Complications arise when Shimamura doesn't come back as promised. Then Komako discovers that he and Yuko knew each other in Tokyo. Can Komako escape destiny?
Snow Country
1957
NRIn post-war Japan, The Second Drawer follows Funada, a devoted company man whose planned family trip is disrupted by the sudden death of his boss. Thrust into a delicate business negotiation and a chance encounter with a mysterious woman, he becomes entangled in a quiet storm of corporate intrigue, personal sacrifice, and emotional complexity. As relationships shift and secrets surface, Funada must navigate the fine line between duty and desire in a world where ambition and morality rarely
Executive Chair
1958
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Careful Wife and Careless Wife: A Peaceful Couple
1956
NRNo synopsis available yet.
The Girl in the Target
1957
NRWhen a corrupt executive takes over his struggling company and violates his girlfriend, a young salaryman declares war, leaving his job to expose the truth by any means necessary.
Vagabond Employee: Outcry
1959
