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Favorite lesser-known/non-Kurosawa samurai films?

Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 13:18 -0700
by Jet_Jaguar
What's your favorite samurai movie that isn't by Akira Kurosawa and isn't a Zatoichi or Lone Wolf and Cub movie? If I had to pick one off the top of my head, it would be Kihachi Okamoto's Sword of Doom:

http://imdb.com/title/tt0060277/

It's an all-around great movie that I probably need to watch again sometime soon. It has great B&W cinematography that comes pretty close to Kurosawa's best B&W work, and it has an interesting "samurai noir" tone that I don't think I've encountered in very many other movies. The Criterion DVD is worth renting if you haven't seen it. There's a good chance that UY fans will enjoy it.

Harakiri

Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 15:33 -0700
by go
Dear Readers,
Sword of Doom is not for children but is one of my favorites.
Also not for children:
I would suggest Harakiri by Masaki Kobayashi. It is about honor....
Currently i am enjoying the 14 episodes named The Mute Samurai with our old pal Wakayama Tomisaburo, of course revenge is the theme....
Thank you all for the fun!
Best wishes,
go

Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 22:21 -0700
by Todd Shogun
This is easy...The Samurai Trilogy of course, directed by Hiroshi Inagaki. Need I say more?

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 20:12 -0700
by Jet_Jaguar
I have to confess that I attempted to watch the first film in the Inagaki trilogy several years ago, and after about 10-20 minutes, I got a little bored and turned it off. I think it was at the time when I first became interested in foreign films (when I was in High School, somewhere around '97 or '98 ) and hadn't seen many samurai films other than a few by Kurosawa and maybe a Lone Wolf and Cub movie or two, so I'd probably look at it a little differently now. Of course, I don't think I had discovered UY yet at that point, so that probably makes a difference too.