So, I finally watched Seven Samurai and was blown away.  Don't know much about the genre but now I'm looking for more samurai  flicks both from that time and modern.  If folks could weigh in I'd like to build a list of movies I need to see.

Thanks.

I have the Akira Kurosawa box set that includes Seven Samurai, The Hidden Fortress, Sajuro, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo.

Definitely worth a watch.

And Ran and Kagemusha

FPNI

SPNI

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First Post Nails It



Second Post Nails It





 

13 samurai on Netflix. Awesome. Ran is terrific. Hidden fortress.

Thanks!

Woochi, The Demon Slayer, fun movie to watch.

Zatochi, The Blind Swordsman. You'll enjoy that one also. Bit weird with the brother/sister characters though.

When you talk about Zatochi you have to remember that not only was it part of a series of a total 26 movies, both B&W and color, it was also a TV series in its own right.
Then there was a reboot the movies about 10 years ago.

In my personal - and biased opinion - the best ones starred Shintarô Katsu as Zato Itchi

After The Rain

Hara Kiri (This will screw up your day)

Aragami

All of the above, but Hara Kiri has 2 versions.  In true ARF fashion, get both!  Also an actual Japanese version of the 47 Samurai,, there are a few.  And while not technically a Samurai film, there is one about the last voyage of the Yamato that is pretty good.

The Last Samurai

Sort of....

I actually liked it, the purists will probably say its inaccurate as all heck, but I thought it was entertaining...

I'd be hard pressed to find a Cruise movie I didn't like...what can I say...

13 Assassins was pretty good.

I also liked "The Hunted".

Everything above is good.

My fav is the anime OVA (made for DVD animated movie) of Rurouni Kenshin, called Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal (the TV series is OK, but pretty formula; the OVA is truly special).  It's also called Samurai X - Trust & Betrayal (b/c it changed US distributors, and the original distributor wanted to make up their own name)

$80 blu-ray (average BR/DVD price in Japan) is well worth it for fans.  For those who'd like just to try, you can ebay: there's a director's cut (search Samurai X directors cut DVD), which is good, but the two-DVD set is the best, and PITA to buy (DVD 1 is Samurai X: Trust; DVD 2 is Samurai X betrayal; they both have different artwork.  I'm not doing this to sell, but since i have the BR if someone's interested in the two DVDs please PM).  

Seven Samurai was a classic and introduced a young Toshiro Mifune who went on to make a number of classic films such as Yojimbo, Sanjuro, and a host of others. Seven Samurai was also the inspiration for the western movie "The Magnificent Seven. Yojimbo was remade into the Italian western movie "A Fistfull of Dollars." As mentioned, there was a series of samurai movies about the character, Zatoichi, a blind swordsman and Yakuza related character. There was a crossover movie made that had the actor that played "Zatoichi," Shintaro Katsu, and Toshiro Mifune in the same movie. It was billed as Zatoichi meets Yojimbo which was titled "Incident at Blood Pass," aka "Machibuse." However, Katsu did not play his character, Zatoichi. He instead played a mercenary planning an attack on the Shogun or some other important person traveling through the titled pass. Mifune also was not playing his Yojimbo character. He played a traveling samurai that also stopped at that location by coincidence and discovers the plan and works to stop the mercenaries/assassins.  

I always liked Toshiro Mifune the best out of all the samurai actors. He seemed like the most skilled and the most suave, kind of like a James Bond of samurais. Two of my favorite western made movies with Mifune are "Red Sun" with Charles Bronson (set in the old US West) and "The Challenge" with Scott Glenn.

Another Japanese actor that played in a number of samurai movies was Tomisaburo Wakayama. He played a Ronin (masterless samurai) who used to be the Shogun's main executioner until he disobeyed his master and escaped to become a fugitive along with his young son. Several of his movies were spliced together into one movie called Shogun Assassin. These movies were part of a series called the Lone Wolf and Cub. Most American audiences will recognize Wakayama from a small part he played as a Yakuza member in the movie "Black Rain" with Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia.

The Yoji Yamada trilogy is, IMHO, far and away the best samurai movies ever made....and they're unique in that they have probably the least action of them all (although there is indeed swordplay and it's important to the story).

But, acting, story, quality of the movie, etc. I don't think they have an equal. Much more "human" than others I've seen.

Samurai Trilogy  (1, 2, 3) and the aforementioned Kurosawa films are must see/own films.

here's a western I saw as a kid that has a Samurai twist.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067770/

I really enjoyed 13 Assassin's

Check it out on Netflix

13 Assassins is fantastic.

San Ju Roku is pretty funny
Yojimbo is the original Fist Full of Dollars.