Posted: 4/28/2006 9:33:29 PM EDT
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OK, list all the ones you have seen and rate them (1-5 stars with * being the worst, *** being average and ***** being the best.) Write a brief summary of your favorites. OK, since I have seen my fair share of them I'm gonna try and group them in categories. Akira Kurosawa - Director of probably the most famous and some of the best of the genre including many starring Toshiro Mifune. Ran (1985) **** Kagemusha (1980) **** Akahige (1965) *** ... aka Red Beard (International: English title: literal title) Tsubaki Sanjûrô (1962) ***** ... aka Sanjuro (USA) Yojimbo (1961) ***** ... aka The Bodyguard Kakushi-toride no san-akunin (1958) *** ... aka The Hidden Fortress (USA) Kumonosu jô (1957) **** ... aka Throne of Blood (USA: original subtitled version) Shichinin no samurai (1954) ***** ... aka The Seven Samurai (USA) Rashômon (1950) *** Tora no o wo fumu otokotachi (1945) ** ... aka They Who Step on the Tail of the Tiger Hiroshi Inagaki - Directed some of the really classic Samurai films including the Musashi trilogy, also starring Toshiro Mifune. His telling of the 47 Ronin story is probably the best one still known to exist. Most of his early films (including earlier ones regarding Musashi, were ordered destroyed by MacArthur after the war.) I've also ommitted several other titles as they are too rare and out of print (such as his Ninjitsu titles from the 1950s.) Machibuse (1970) *** ... aka Incident at Blood Pass Furin kazan (1969) *** ... aka Samurai Banners Chushingura - Hana no maki yuki no maki (1962) ***** ... aka 47 Ronin ... aka 47 Samurai (USA) Miyamoto Musashi kanketsuhen: kettô Ganryûjima (1956) **** ... aka Duel on Ganryu Island ... aka Samurai III: Duel on Ganryu Island (USA) Zoku Miyamoto Musashi: Ichijôji no kettô (1955) **** ... aka Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple (USA) Miyamoto Musashi (1954/I) **** ... aka Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (USA) Tatsuya Nakadai - Probably the second most famous Samurai actor following Toshiro Mifune. Often directed by Masaki Kobayashi with Hara Kiri (1962) being one of the best Samurai films ever made. Kiru (1968) *** ... aka Kill! (USA) Jôi-uchi: Hairyô tsuma shimatsu (1967) *** ... aka Samurai Rebellion Kaidan (1964) *** ... aka Kwaidan (USA) Seppuku (1962) ***** ... aka Harakiri (USA) Zatoichi series 1-26 (1962-1989) Average rating *** The 26 films series starring Shintarô Katsu about a blind massuer (an occupation reserved for the blind in old Japan) and gambler who just happens to be a master of the sword. Lone Wolf & Cub series starring Tomisaburo Wakayama as a wandering assassin. Parts of this six film series were later re editted into a new US release film called "Shogun Assassin" and many consider it superior to the original series. Shogun Assassin (1980) **** Kozure Ôkami: Jigoku e ikuzo! Daigoro (1974) *** ... aka Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell ... aka Sword of Vengeance VI Kozure Ôkami: Meifumando (1973) *** ... aka Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Land of Demons ... aka Sword of Vengeance V Kozure Ôkami: Oya no kokoro ko no kokoro (1972) *** ... aka Baby Cart in Peril ... aka Sword of Vengeance IV Kozure Ôkami: Shinikazeni mukau ubaguruma (1972) *** ... aka Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades (USA) ... aka Sword of Vengeance, Part III Kozure Ôkami: Sanzu no kawa no ubaguruma (1972) *** ... aka Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx (USA) ... aka Sword of Vengeance, Part II Kozure Ôkami: Kowokashi udekashi tsukamatsuru (1972) **** ... aka Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (USA) ... aka Sword of Vengeance I Various: Shogun (1980) TV Miniseries **** Starring Richard Chamberlain and Toshiro Mifune this 9 hour series was a great success despite it's many historical inaccuracies. Exceptionally well made. The Bushido Blade (1981) *** Also starring Toshiro Mifune and far more accurate than Shogun but lacking the same appeal. Red Sun (1971) *** Not quite a true Samurai film but a fun one which paired Toshiro Mifune and Charles Bronson in the old west. Samurai Spy (1965) *** For those who like ninja with their Samurai movies, you will enjoy this one for a true Japanese depiction of "ninja" long before anyone in the US ever heard the word. The Challenge (1982) **** West meets East in this film starring Scott Glen and Toshiro Mifune. Lady Snowblood (1973) *** Pushing what qualifies for a Samurai film this is sorta a womens lib take on the Chanbara genre about a woman who was raised to find and kill those who kidnapped and brutalized her Mother who died giving birth. Genroku chushingura (1941) aka "The 47 Ronin" - USA (Part I & II) *** Interesting only as Japanese war propaganda this self serving bastardization of the true tale of the 47 Ronin of Ako ignores the usual themes of duty, honor and courage and focuses instead on the notions of "sacrificing one's own life for the greater good." Well that should get you guys started anyway. |
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Let's see. I've seen all but the last two (on Steyr's list) of the Kurosawa movies and The Challenge (I was a member of a Kendo club for a few ywars and that movie was reccomended as having more realistic swordfighting than the usual Japanese movie chambara). Out of the rest, Chushingura is the only one I have a particular interest to see right now, if only to see an adaptation of the folk story it's based on. Yojimbo and Sanjuro are probably my favourite Kurosawa movies (apparently they were the inspiration for the Clint Eastwood spagetti westerns "A fist full of dollars" and "A few dollars more". As for Inagaki's Musashi trilogy, I have the Eiji Yoshikawa dramatised novel about Musashi, so I think I'll pass on the movie trilogy. Steyr, if you can handle anime, there's a recent animated adaptation of Seven Samurai available now called Samurai 7. It's done as a series rather than a movie so the story has been drastically stretched and padded just to make it to the standard 13 episodes for a Japanese TV season. |
I have a very low tolerance for anime. Give the Musashi trilogy (Samurai I-III) a look. I'm an acquantance of William Scott Wilson and we both enjoy it. Inagaki's Chushingura is a great adaptation of the classic story. It is too bad many of the earlier versions (not counting the 1941 films) didn't survive, apparantly many of the 1930 versions were superb. You may know this regarding Kurosawa films, stolen themes went both ways. In addition to the ones you cited, The Seven Samurai obviously became the Magnificient Seven but "Throne of Blood" was "MacBeth", "Ran" was "King Lear" and for those paying attention Lucas hijacked the basic storyline of "The Hidden Fortress" for the original "Star Wars" (Episode IV: A New Hope.) |
I'm a big Akira Kurosawa fan; I think Ran, Yojimbo, Hidden Fortress and Sanjuro are some of his best pieces of work; and of course TOshiro Mifune is the best Samurai actor to ever wield a katana on the silver screen. Toshiro Mifune in The Seven Samurai - 1954  Toshiro Mifune in Yojimbo - 1961  Toshiro Mifune in Sanjuro - 1962  Toshiro Mifune & Misa Uehara in Secret Fortress - 1958 But there is also Shintaro Katsu; famous for his role as the blind swordsman, Zatoichi.  |
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If you want to collect these films, I strongly recommend that you go to yoru local F.Y.E.,Borders or go to Amazon.com and get the "Criterion Collection"; they have pretty much every Kurosawa title in their collection, as well as the Zatoichi films. Oh, and ge the "Samurai Trilogy", again Mifune does a supreme job as Miyamoto Musashi, one of the greatest samurai swordsmen of all time IMHO.  |
To buy? The Kurosawa classics: Seven Samurai, Yojimbo and Sanjuro. There are better films but those are the ones you can watch over and over and over. If price is a concern you can rent most of them from places like Netflix pretty cheap. |
I know about the Ran-King Lear and Throne of blood-Macbeth connections. It's a pity Kurosawa never tried his hand at Hamlet. One of my favourite scenes in Throne of blood (I can't remember the name of Mifune's character in the movie) is when Mifune's own soldiers have turned against him. He's standing on a balcony inside a castle and the soldiers are shooting arrows at him. You see Mifune standing there with waves of arrows flying at him and sticking into the woodwork around him, and to my eye it looks thile Kurosawa had people really shooting arrows at him for that scene. I've only seen that movie once, over 10 years ago, but that scene has such dramatic impact that it's still very vivid in my memory. I can understand the low tolerance for anime, but if you look there is some genuinely good work being done in anime among all the dross. Try watching Satoshi Kon's movie Millenium Actress, it really is very good. |
yup to buy, not a netflix subscriber 
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Big +1 on "Hamlet", coulda been good. And that is EVERYONE'S favorite scene from "Throne of Blood." |
Sword of Doom "should" have been a really great one. I loved the dark main character and the plotline was very interesting. But it kinda just went "nowhere" and then ended. Sorta dissapointing. |
I agree. Like I said, it had all the makings of a "great one" but just didn't seem to know how to end it. |
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The most expensive single movie I have purchased is "Seven Samurai". I paid $47 for it at FYI about 3 yrs ago. It was a big leap of faith, but I jumped. It is now one of my favorite movies. And it's a because of SteyrAUG's samurai movie threads. Thanks bud!  It's also the only movie you have listed I've seen, although I caught bits and pieces of "Shogun" when it was on tv way back when. |
If you like "The Seven Samurai" you will LOVE "Yojimbo" and "Sanjuro." Time to give Criterion Collection some more of your hard earned cash. 
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I think SA nailed most of them, and I agree with most of his reviews. I didn't see The Twilight Samurai mentioned, so I'll give it props here. I gave it four stars on Netflix, which is saying a lot ... my average ranking (out of 418 reviews) is 2.83 so it's a lot for me to give a movie above three stars. With the exception of two very short fight scenes, this is not a slice & dice samurai film. It is a drama about a low-ranking samurai whose primary job is a bookkeeper. He's not well-to-do and he has to raise two daughters by himself, after his wife dies of illness. He also has to take care of his mother, who is senile and often doesn't recognize him. As such, he never goes out drinking with the guys, so they call him the Twilight Samurai (because he always goes home at the end of the day). I won't go too much more into the story but this movie delves into some of the more usual themes in samurai flicks (conflict between duty and family) in a rather unconventional way. This movie won twelve Japanese Film Academy awards, and deservedly so. |
It is the last film of the Musashi trilogy (aka Samurai III). Miyamoto Musashi kanketsuhen: kettô Ganryûjima (1956) **** ... aka Duel on Ganryu Island ... aka Samurai III: Duel on Ganryu Island (USA) And it wasn't between pupil and master but it was a true story. That duel really did happen. |
You can also see the action on one of the neo-ghost samurai movies (I forgot the name), where Musashi comes back alive at the bidding of a devil, fights Yaguy Jubei, but gets defeated... yep, his right hand gets chopped and can't use his favorite "two heavens style" (two swords) technique and falls dead to Jubei. This is all fiction, of course, unlike Samurai III
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Yup, stolen themes are Chanbara 101. |
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Are there other of these movies that have been ripped off such as Yojimbo/Fist Full of Dollars? Rather, I'm sure there are... so I guess I should ask "What are some others that have copied these great movies"? I appologize if this is going too far off track from the OP's intents. From reading the thread as a guy who knows NOTHING about samurai movies and would like to get some good examples to try and get into it I'm planning to see: Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Sanjuro and I will try The Twilight Samurai due to the post a few above mine. Rob |
The most well known one is The Seven Samurai was copied to make The Magnificent Seven. A lesser known one is Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress" was used by Lucas as a basic plotline for the original Star Wars. And of course the Japanese have been known to borrow themes as well. Throne of Blood was "MacBeth" and Ran was "King Lear." |
Rob, the Twilight Samurai (my contribution to this post) is recommended only if you like dramas. It's not a typical swordplay-type film. If you're just getting into samurai flicks and are not big into dramas, you might want to keep that one lower down on your Netflix list for the time being. The others on your list are good choices. |