Great Samurai films to check out?

[Bluntman]

Besides Kurosawa's stuff, and Samurai Trilogy (basis of Usagi Yojimbo)... are there any good films I need to check out?

I'm getting 47 Ronin also...

[Usagi]

I havent seen this one yet- But I reccomend "Shogun"- -->The Last Samuri was a remake from this.
"Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo "
"Onmyoji"<-- this one is acctually about some events that happend (fiction) doruing the Heian Period, but its still good
"Daimajin" <-- this one is about a statue that awakens to distory evil

I hope evin though only 3 I said was Samuri related- the other are Japanese produced Movies, that have some fact and fitional history about Japan itself. I found them really good ^^ So- I will recomend these as well.

[takematsu]

I'd have a look at the Lone Wolf and Cub series (avoiding at least initially the nastily-edited Samurai Assassin, which is a compilation of "cool stuff" from the first two). Eeto... ano... damn, I keep coming up with Kurosawa. Throne of Blood, even if you don't like Shakespeare. Heaven and Earth, if you can lay hands on it (not the one with Tommy Lee Jones). There's a list of recommended viewing here, although I don't 100% agree with his opinions-- I'm not so enthusiastic about Ninja Scroll (I'm not saying YOU can't watch it, but I don' wanna...).

I am also a supporter of Daimajin, but it's pretty slow-moving in some places. The non-slow bits are, as the kids say, totally worth the wait.

[steven hubbell]

The Zato Ichi Blind Swordsman series of films are quite good ("Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo " has Toshiro Mifune guest starring), as well as "Incident at Blood Pass" which also features Toshiro Mifune and Shintaro Katsu. There is a brand new feature film remake of Zatoichi that just came out.

The Sleepy Eyes of Death / Kyoshiro Nemuri series of films, of which recently a manga version has been running in one of the English manga anthologies, is also good

A long list of films is available at the Sengoku web-site maintained by Goldrush Games I believe:
http://www.sengoku.com/viewlist.html

As mentioned in a previous posting, the book "The Samurai Film" by Alain Silver is also a fantastic source of info on chanbara films...
Abayo...

[Bluntman]

Thank to all... I rent from Netflix and get a lot from there... I also found out IFC runs Samurai films on Saturday mornings...

Yojimbo and Sanjuro are by far my faves so far... my buddy says cause "he's you (me) with a sword!"

Mifune is great, I haven't seen the "Yojimbo meets..." but I will have my eye out for it...

[steven hubbell]

Toshiro Mifune is great! If you get a chance, check out "Red Lion" with him... (No, not "Red Beard", differant film). At least the vhs version I seen was excellent, the sub-titles were were just hillarious, laughed through most of the film, kind of like his role in Seven Samurai.

Also check out "Samurai Rebellion", and "Sword of Doom"...

Abayo...

[steven hubbell]

Toshiro Mifune is great! If you get a chance, check out "Red Lion" with him... (No, not "Red Beard", differant film). At least the vhs version I seen was excellent, the sub-titles were were just hillarious, laughed through most of the film, kind of like his role in Seven Samurai.

Also check out "Samurai Rebellion", and "Sword of Doom"...

Abayo...

[Bluntman]

Toshiro Mifune is great! If you get a chance, check out "Red Lion" with him... (No, not "Red Beard", differant film). At least the vhs version I seen was excellent, the sub-titles were were just hillarious, laughed through most of the film, kind of like his role in Seven Samurai.

Also check out "Samurai Rebellion", and "Sword of Doom"...

Abayo...

I loved Mifune's character in 7 sam... thanks for the tips.

Sword of Doom is coming up soon on IFC... here's the list from IFC what they have coming up...

http://www.ifctv.com/ifc/what?CAT0=45&C ... TZ=ET&TB=4

Samurai Saturdays

"Discipline, honor, and battle prowess…this is the way of the samurai, this is the way of the warrior." -- Bushido

IFC presents the antidote to Saturday morning cartoons and cooking shows: every Saturday morning at 8am ET, we air a classic samurai movie.


47 Ronin, Part I
Sat, Apr. 24 @ 8am ET

47 Ronin, Part II
Sat, May 1 @ 8am ET
Kenji Mizoguchi's spellbinding, two-part tale of a Shogun who orders a lord to commit hari-kari for wounding a man, only to have the lord's loyal retainers kill the wounded man in revenge.



Yojimbo
Sat, May 8 @ 8am ET
Akira Kurosawa's superb samurai epic about two 19th century clans battling for control of a town. (1961)



Sanjuro
Sat, May 15 @ 8am ET
The samurai hero of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo returns to help a group of young warriors rid their clan of corruption. (1962)



The Seven Samurai
Sat, May 22 @ 8am ET
Akira Kurosawa's samurai epic stars Toshiro Mifune as one of seven professional warriors who agree to protect a 16th century village from attack by bandits. (1954)



Sword of Doom
Sat, May 29 @ 8am ET
When a sociopathic samurai kills a fellow warrior in a competition, he is pursued by his opponent's brother. (1967)

[steven hubbell]

I just recently found out that Western Michigan University has a copy of Hiroshi Inagaki's 2-part Chushingura: Forty-Seven Ronin (Chushingura) Koshiro Matsumoto (Chief Retainer Oishi), Yuzo Kayama (Lord Asano), Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Mihashi, Michiyo Aratama. (Toho; 1962; 204 min; B&W; Subt; NR) Hiroshi Inagoki directed the 3-part Samurai Trilogy...

I just have to stop procrasinating and go borrow it... I wish I got the IFC or better yet, one of the Japanese programming stations they have in Hawaii or maybe California...
Abayo...