Favorite lesser-known/non-Kurosawa samurai films?

Jet_Jaguar · Post by **Jet_Jaguar** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 13:18 -0700

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.

go · Post by go » Mon Oct 08, 2007 15:33 -0700

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

Post by **Todd Shogun** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 22:21 -0700

This is easy...The Samurai Trilogy of course, directed by Hiroshi Inagaki. Need I say more?

Jet_Jaguar · Post by **Jet_Jaguar** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 20:12 -0700

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.