Battle of the Samurai Movies

[ie]

I'm not sure how well this might go over, but I figure at the least, we could use this as an excuse to list some really great Japanese Samurai movies.

(Unless I hear a compelling reason, I'm not going to list Le Samourai, Ghost Dog or movies that might not count 100%.) My order would look something like this:

The Seven Samurai
Harakiri
Yojimbo
Sword of Doom
Sanjuro
Samurai Rebellion: Receive the Wife
Zatoichi and the Chess Expert


And those are all the ones I could find / remember.


Umm... should we do some kind of proper battle, or just make lists and talk about good samurai movies to check out and stuff?

[kiddo]

I haven't seen too many, so in a possible battle I would not have the opportunity to vote very often. But we can't forget the Samurai trilogy, including Miyamoto Musashi ('54), Zoku Miyamoto Musashi: Ichijôji no kettô ('55) and Miyamoto Musashi kanketsuhen: kettô Ganryûjima ('56), the last one included in my top 20 list!

[rashhunt]

Ran followed by Yojimbo followed Seven Samurai followed by Ninja Turtles III...

Yea, I went there. Btw I hate the genre, some just stick out.

[ie]

I haven't seen the Samurai trilogy, why I'm thinking is pretty good because it's named the Samurai trilogy. Not the Samurai Trilogy About The Life And Times Of Miyamoto Musashi or the Samurai Trilogy Directed By Hiroshi Inagaki, but The Samurai Trilogy.

...Maybe it's the only samurai trilogy one needs.


Yeah, I guess the regular battle format wouldn't work out too well.

We can still keep this thread going. Hasn't anyone else seen any samurai movies at all? C-Dan? Anyone?


Oh, and, it's fine that you don't care for these kinds of movies, rashhunt/Matt.

[blackmoses]

Hidden Fortress

[blackmoses]

Rashomon, Throne of Blood, Men Who Thread on Tiger's Tail. I will try to think of more.

[criterionmaster]

Would you really count Rashomon as a samurai film? I mean there is a samurai in it, I believe, but it really isn't one to me. Yeah, to answer you question ie, I will try to think of some and post them.

And I agree Samurai Trilogy is amazing, even the second, which drops off in quality, is still fun. Definitely see them ie.

[ie]

I also remembered some like Samurai Spy, Kill! and I was going to say Samurai Rebellion, but I already got it.

Rashomon, to me, would be like Ghost Dog or Le Samourai. Some samurai themes, but overall, not much in the way of a proper samurai movie. Ghost Dog actually does work pretty well as a samurai-esque movie, because it uses philosophies from the Hagekure, but it doesn't have any awesome samurai fights.


Don't worry. Depending on how much time I can free up for watching movies once school starts, I will plan on getting to most, if not all, of the movies listed here eventually. I do have healthy interest in samurai movies, after all.

[criterionmaster]

There is only one I can add (I think) that I have seen which I don't remember incredibly well, but others probably do, and that is Zatoichi.



But I don't know if this would count since they are ronin in the film, but I think it would. It is a film I am fuckin' dying to see, and one that Criterion is planning on releasing, Chushingura from Mizoguchi (sometimes called 47 ronin). It has been on my "must-see list" ever since I saw it at my library a long time ago, but now I have decided to wait until Criterion releases it in order to see it.

[ie]

I should have mentioned Jidaigeki earlier, but I didn't feel like looking up how to spell it. Basically the same thing as samurai movies, but with more allowance for non-samurai elements.

Wikipedia used the uncommon term chambara movies, which might apply, but yeah. They have a decent list, even though there are some movies that don't overlap. Princess Mononoke may be a jidaigeki, but I doubt it's a samurai movie.

edit: I've heard of Chushingura, but that's about all I've heard. Speaking of samurai movies with really long Japanese-y names, there's also Kagemusha, even if it doesn't have a bunch of one-on-one samurai fights.

[ie]

The Twlight Samurai[/URL] is turning out very well. I've only seen about a half hour of it, and it really does seem like a drama than a true balls-to-the-walls samurai movie, but I think it'll turn out pretty well.

edit: One hour in, and if it even just keeps up at this pace, it will easily be the second best samurai movie I've ever seen. Harakiri has a more striking cinematography, but the Twilight Samurai has good use of music. We'll see.


Also looking forward to samurai parody Kill!. Should be fun.

[PTAhole]

Rashut, Ninja Turtles 3 is the worst movie ever, and I am a MASSIVE Turtles fan.

[ie]

I do believe Rashut was joking.


Finished the Twilight Samurai. Not an action movie, but still very well done. I recommend it for general samurai fans.


Also, here is how my formal samurai list looks right now:

10/10
The Seven Samurai
Harakiri

9.5/10 (Top 100, but rounded to 9/10)
The Twilight Samurai
Ghost Dog*
Le Samourai*
Sword of Doom
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope*
Yojimbo
Versus**

9/10 (Top 200)
Kill!*

8/10
Sanjuro
The Last Samurai*

7/10
Samurai Rebellion: Receive the Wife
Zatoichi and the Chess Expert
Kagemusha
Samurai Banners

I still have some samurai movies to see, especially some from the Zatoichi series, but I think this is a decent list as it is. Sure, there are a couple that aren't "traditional" samurai movies*, but I feel the samurai spirit and culture is there in some form or another.

[criterionmaster]

As you might have seen, I rented a pretty rare samurai film, Jigokumon (Gate of Hell), from the director, Teinosuke Kinugasa. Does he sound familiar to anyone, or are any of his other films supposed to be good, 'cause I don't really know much about him, or his films. This was a COMPLETELY blind rent.



My thoughts? Well, I thought it was really good. It is the classic story of a samurai who saves a woman, and falls in love with her at the same time. He gets a reward for saving this woman. One thing, anything he wants (except for the head of someone), granted. So naturally, he picks that he wants them to arrange a wedding for him and this woman, only to find out that she is married, but that won't stop him from doing anything he has to, to be with this woman.

As most reviews of the movie mention, the color on the film. It is truly amazing, a fairly early example of amazing coloring in Asian cinema. I just wish the VHS I watched it on had better quality. But something else that is amazing on these Japanese epics, is the costumes, which were great. The performances are also very good.

So, while I wouldn't say you should kill someone to see this film, it is very well-done and worth seeing. If it ever comes to DVD I would definitely recommend it, but as it is only on VHS*, and somewhat hard to come by, I wouldn't try and track it down or anything. If you do see it though, get it, especially if you like films like the Samurai Trilogy.

*The subtitles are also not very good, some things seem to go un-translated, and the color they picked for the subtitles is ridiculous. At times it makes it SUPER hard to read.

[ie]

I saw an obscure samurai movie lately myself. It was based off of a blind borrow from the library, wherein I saw the title on Amazon's recommendation section a while ago (because I highly rated some samurai movies) and saw it at the library, and so I decided to give it a spin. Samurai Banners.

I'm starting to think that I don't really care for the big samurai war movies. I did like this one, but it along with Kagemusha just seem to all go over my head. Like Shingen the Ruler (NES), which ironically, takes place during the same time as Samurai Banners.

It was a good movie, and while the DVD is nothing to get excited about, if you like big stategic samurai war movies like Kagemusha, you'll probably like this one as well. Made me appreciate Kagemusha more, though, I probably wouldn't watch this one again for a while.



Brains.


One samurai movie I've been really interested in seeing, in particular, is Three Outlaw Samurai. Anyone heard of it?

One of the most assured directorial debuts ever, it is also something of a holy-grail for samurai movie aficionados, as it’s been notoriously hard-to-see outside of Japan since its initial release – until now” (American Cinematheque). Hideo Gosha quickly established himself as a sensei of the samurai film with his debut, the Kurosawa-tweaking THREE OUTLAW SAMURAI. In contrast to Kurosawa’s revered epic made a decade before, Gosha goes light – only three samurai! – and lightning-quick (95 minutes compared to Kurosawa’s 200), his evident intention to deliver excitement, pure, swift, and simple. A wandering ronin, the self-possessed Shiba, encounters a band of starving peasants, who have kidnapped the daughter of the local magistrate to demand a reduction in taxes. Joined by two reluctant renegades from the dictatorial judge’s guard, Shiba takes on the mighty forces of the magistrate in a battle to the finish. Gosha’s startling camerawork, cynical tone, and explosive action turn this tyro outing into chambara heaven. Samurai film authority Patrick Galloway (Stray Dogs & Lone Wolves): “THREE OUTLAW SAMURAI was Hideo Gosha’s first feature film, and it’s fresh and brilliant right out of the box. . . . Gosha’s directorial style is so modern and kinetic, the Kurosawa components play more as homage than heist. . . . Highly recommended.”

[ie]

I've had more time to catch up on some samurai and chambara (I think of this genre, essentially, as the more rough-and-tumble samurai movies; starting with Yojimbo) lately, so here's my NEW Top 10:

01. Seven Samurai; Princess Mononoke
02. Hanzo the Razor: 3, 2, 1
03. Harakiri
04. Twilight Samurai
05. Ghost Dog, Le Samouraï
06. {Placeholder}
07. Sword of Doom
08. Yojimbo
09. {Placeholder}
10. Zatoichi: Takeshi Kitano's Zatoichi

Also, I've seen three Zatoichi movies. Takeshi's, (Takeshis' doesn't count ;D) the 4th and the 12th. I'm going to go in order, though, so over the weekend I'm going to see the 1st, then work my way back to Takeshi's 27th. ;D

Also, I was able to get Three Outlaw Samurai, but from the first twenty minutes, it did not really impress.

edit: I decided that Star Wars wasn't so much a samurai movie. Had some influences, but I wanted to place it much higher on my list than the order it was going to be if I categorized it with the samurai movies.

[criterionmaster]

ie said:

edit: I decided that Star Wars wasn't so much a samurai movie. Had some influences, but I wanted to place it much higher on my list than the order it was going to be if I categorized it with the samurai movies.

yeah, it's main samurai influences come from kurosawa, but i wouldn't count it as a samurai film, not even a "samurai film in space." you definitely need to see hidden fortress. that might make the list, it is really good. let me know how the first zatoichi film goes. i definitely want to check that one out.

so did you give up on three outlaw samurai, or are you going to finish it sometime?