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[gunstarhero]

So with the recent release of The Sword of Doom on DVD, I was wondering what other films in the genre you consider top tier.

A few of mine:

Throne of Blood - Kurasowa's version of Shakesphere is hands down one of my favorites. Everything from the ghost in Spider Web Forest to the arrow barrage in the finale were done perfectly. Could have used some more swordplay imo, but I'm not complaining.

Seven Samurai - First samurai film I ever saw, and still one of the bests. I have to sit down and watch this again.

Hakkeden - An awesome anime with a few rough episodes. Havent watched this in a while either, but plan on it.

I own a bunch more (mostly Criterion), but don't want to name all the great ones before this thread gets started. I'm looking for something new - I heard Zatoichi The Blind Swordsman is suppose to be good - can anyone recommend this? How about the Samurai Trilogy?

 

[Brannon]

If I say "The Last Samurai", you would... (fill in the blank).

 

[whytemyke]

It doesn't fit, I know, but since it's already been brought up, Last Samurai was a far better film than it gets credit for.

 

[gunstarhero]

"If I say "The Last Samurai", you would...request you commit Seppuku "

 

[nitewulf]

seven samurai, sanjuro, yojimbo, ruroni kenshin OVA (trust and betrayal), ran, shogun (TV series),

 

[sc0la]

I liked samurai fiction, but I don't have any reference to compare that to.

 

[Chesapeake Silt]

I like the 'Samurai Trilogy' as Criterion calls it. It's pretty good... especially seeing Mifune's character change throughout the series. Yojimbo and Sanjuro are really fun. I haven't seen much Zatoichi, but I do like some of the Lone Wolf and Cub movies. Not the last one, though... the ninjas on skis sequence was too wacky. :lol The first few are really good, though. Twilight Samurai is recent, and it's great as well.

Are we including anime? Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal. That's my favorite.

I'm not really an expert on the genre, though. I've just been watching a ton of samurai movies lately... you watch a couple and all of a sudden your netflix queue is full of them. It's kind of addictive, I guess. I'm waiting on Sword of Doom and a few others right now....

 

[cubicle47b]

I haven't seen the Samurai Trilogy but Musashi is an excellent book and Mifune rocks so...

You can't go wrong with Ran, Seven Samurai, and Yojimbo.

 

[Outlaw]

Ninja Scroll *runs*

 

[Brannon]

I haven't seen the Samurai Trilogy but Musashi is an excellent book...

This man speaks the truth.com!

 

[shuri]

 

[nitewulf]

samurai trilogy isnt really good IMO. acting is stiff, fight sequences amateurish, slow pacing.
ninja scroll is really good, though i'm not sure if that could count as a samurai flick. i like a few of the zatoichi movies. but never got into lone wolf and cub...thats kinda cheesy.

 

[3rdman]

Throne of Blood and the Seven Samurai >*

 

[Miburou]

Samurai Fiction is a nice Samurai parody movie.

Twilight Samurai is pretty good, too.

I also liked Aragami.

 

[jenov4]

GHOST DOG!

 

[Amneziak]

The Last Samurai was great (*ducks*); my only nitpick is the hollywood ending. Watanabe was as powerful a presence as Mifune was in any of his roles (*ducks again*) (time will tell if he is as versatile, however). But that's an argument for another thread... so

I have so far:
The Hidden Fortress
Yojimbo
Sanjuro
Sword of Doom (just bought it today, but I haven't watched it yet)
The Twilight Samurai
Lone Wolf & Cub: Sword of Vengeance

They're all good. Has anyone seen "Incident at Blood Pass" yet? It's supposed to be Mifune's last turn as Yojimbo and came out pretty recently.

 

[karasu]

Waanabe is great, but nowhere NEAR Mifune.

Sword of Doom
Twilight Samurai
Yojimbo
Kiru (AKA "Kill")

 

[KingGondo]

I was surprised since it's not one of his most serious films, but The Hidden Fortress by Kurosawa is truly fantastic.

Of couse, I can also recommend:

Seven Samurai
Yojimbo
Sanjuro
Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman

also: come on everyone--just because a movie has samurai in it doesn't make it a samurai film *cough*throne of blood*cough*, although it is a great movie.

 

[Kabuki Waq]

so guys what are your opinions on sword of doom dvd? I heard the movie is great. Biff hasnt been wrong yet.

 

[KingGondo]

It's fantastic. ***


























***(actually this statement is only based upon the knowledge that both Tatsuya Nakadai and Toshiro Mifune make appearances)

 

[tetsuoxb]

samurai trilogy isnt really good IMO. acting is stiff, fight sequences amateurish, slow pacing.
ninja scroll is really good, though i'm not sure if that could count as a samurai flick. i like a few of the zatoichi movies. but never got into lone wolf and cub...thats kinda cheesy.

Thank goodness your opinion is wrong.

In Japan, we have something called the Jidaigeki (period movie aka samurai movie) channel. All samurai movies, all the time.

A wonderful thing if I do say so myself.

 

[Flynn]

Seconding many opinions:

Samurai Trilogy
Throne of Blood
Seven Samurai
The Hidden Fortress
Yojimbo
Sanjuro
Shogun Assasin, etc
Zatoichi (originals)
Twilight Samurai
Ran

 

[SpoonyBard]

Yojimbo
Sanjuro
7 Samurai
Ran
The Hidden Fortress
Samurai Fiction

and Twilight Samurai is supposed to be pretty good, I have the DVD but haven't had time to watch it yet.

 

[nitewulf]

Thank goodness your opinion is wrong.

meh. i dont think mifine had his fighting style perfected at that point as yet. sure the story is great but i'd rather read the novel. the trilogy is no good.

 

[Docpan]

Seven samurai.

-fin

 

[tetsuoxb]

meh. i dont think mifine had his fighting style perfected at that point as yet. sure the story is great but i'd rather read the novel. the trilogy is no good.

Your correct opinion on the book versus the trilogy is irrelevant in this FILM thread. LOTR is still better as books, but the films are outstanding.

What makes your opinion on film completely asinine is the statement above. You think samurai movies are nothing but fight scenes. The story is great but.... should not even be considered remotely valid when discussing film. Ever.

Not to mention you trashed an oscar winning film by following it up with a recommendation for one of the biggest fanboy trap anime films ever. If you honestly think that ninja scroll is better than the samurai trilogy as a film, you are probably the same kind of dude who thinks that Ichi the Killer is better than Bird People of China. I have a word for those kind of people.....

BTW: When does the Criterion Collection of Ninja Scroll come out.... Oh thats right. NEVER! BECAUSE IT SUCKS!

 

[Meier]

I can't help but reiterate how amazing The Twilight Samurai is. An absolute MUST see that many people have missed out on.

 

[nitewulf]

What makes your opinion on film completely asinine is the statement above. You think samurai movies are nothing but fight scenes. The story is great but.... should not even be considered remotely valid when discussing film. Ever.

i made other points besides that though. acting is stiff, story drags on.

Not to mention you trashed an oscar winning film by following it up with a recommendation for one of the biggest fanboy trap anime films ever.

oscars dont really mean much. not a good gauge of quality. kurosawa never received an oscar, and satyajit ray barely received one on his deathbed. both masters of film making.

If you honestly think that ninja scroll is better than the samurai trilogy as a film, you are probably the same kind of dude who thinks that Ichi the Killer is better than Bird People of China.

heh, calm down man. ninja scroll is just an action anime and should be regarded as such, i realize that, but having said that i found it a lot more entertaining than the samurai trilogy. there should be no elitism as far as entertainment goes.
as for the rest of above quoted, you dont know me. dont presume my tastes.

 

[Kabuki Waq]

BTW: When does the Criterion Collection of Ninja Scroll come out.... Oh thats right. NEVER! BECAUSE IT SUCKS!

The rock came out on the criterion collection.

 

[Flynn]

I can't help but reiterate how amazing The Twilight Samurai is. An absolute MUST see that many people have missed out on.

This man is very correct. Some call it the Unforgiven of samurai movies.

 

[Matlock]

Samurai Trilogy is rough around the edges, but even in the shoddy transfer I have (cheap as hell, but hey, you get what you pay for), the beauty comes out.

Beautiful, beautiful films--but not the most interesting, unless you're a Musashi fanboy.

 

[tetsuoxb]

Samurai Trilogy is rough around the edges, but even in the shoddy transfer I have (cheap as hell, but hey, you get what you pay for), the beauty comes out.

Beautiful, beautiful films--but not the most interesting, unless you're a Musashi fanboy.

Man speaks the truth. Look at the color of the kimonos that Otsu wears in the film. Amazingly well shot too.

The complaints about the story dragging on are basically irrelevant to me, because quite a bit of true Japanese cinema is slow like that. Kurosawa took A LOT of heat in Japan for basically being Westernized.

I am a big fan of the pure cinema movement in Japan, typified by Tokyo Monogatari. It is just such an amazing film to watch.

 

[nitewulf]

then you might enjoy the indian new wave as well, start with this and move on to other ray films, followed by mrinal sen:
http://imdb.com/title/tt0074710/

 

[Dujour]

I was surprised since it's not one of his most serious films, but The Hidden Fortress by Kurosawa is truly fantastic.

Of couse, I can also recommend:

Seven Samurai
Yojimbo
Sanjuro
Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman

also: come on everyone--just because a movie has samurai in it doesn't make it a samurai film *cough*throne of blood*cough*, although it is a great movie.

Ditto with all of these, except if you mean the recent Zatoichi. All the classic ones are ace, though.

 

[robertsan21]

 

[Dujour]

Damn, I forgot about Twilight Samurai. I love it because of what it chooses to focus on. All these years of samurai movies and it still manages to be original.

 

[Prince]

a more recent samurai (drama) movie i really liked was Mibu Gishi Den (aka When the Last Sword Is Drawn).

 

[SaitoH]

I got When the last sword was drawn for christmas. Excellent movie.

 

[DarienA]

How is Beat Takeshi's Zatoichi? I have it but haven't watch it yet.... seems to be a bit out there from difference pieces of the trailer I Remember....

 

[Dujour]

It's ok, he plays him less humbly than the original and there's this twist at the end that I really didn't like at all, unless I just didn't "get" it.

 

[SaitoH]

Really like Beat Takeshi, but Zatoichi was very disappointing.

 

[speedpop]

I can't help but reiterate how amazing The Twilight Samurai is. An absolute MUST see that many people have missed out on.

I am so pissed that I missed out on renting this. Instead I grabbed Ping Pong which is a decent enough Japanese movie, but I still would've loved to have seen Twilight Samurai in Singapore.

 

[Chesapeake Silt]

It's ok, he plays him less humbly than the original and there's this twist at the end that I really didn't like at all, unless I just didn't "get" it.

That's more or less how I felt about it too. Loved the violence and the dancing, though.

 

[Chony]

that is all that needs to be said.

 

[Biff Hardbody]

1) Sword Of Doom
My all time fave. 1st one I ever saw and still my favorite. Nakadai's silent form is awesome to watch, and his onscreen persona make him one of the greatest movie villains of all time in my book. The movie has its slow points, but watching the newly released Criterion version made me realize how magnetic Nakadai is, its hard to take your eyes off him. The film is shot so beautifully that it feels like you could take stills from nearly any scene and have a great poster to put up. Plus it has Toshiro Mifune, who is simply the baddest motherfucker ever.

2) Sanjuro
I think I'm one of the few who rates Sanjuro over Yojimbo. I just thought it was the more enjoyable movie. It had some good comedy, but the real reasons I liked it was because its Toshiro Mifune at his ass kicking best. He's just as magnetic as in Yojimbo imo, but you see him kick allot more ass. Plus, the end shodown is one of the better I've ever seen between two men ina movie. I haven't showed it to someone yet without them going "Holy shit!". I also really like the score.

1) Yojimbo
Just so many good memories watching this. The acting is very old style, like a play. But, the story is solid and serves as the basis for many great action movies, and its Mifune in all his glory, his absolute peak.

Those are my faves. There's lots of good stuff listed here. A great Samurai flic that is seldom mentioned is "Samurai Rebellion".

Mifune is a samurai whos been loyal to his leader and his crone of a wife his whole life. He suffers for it, but he goes through it because its his duty. Eventually, he has all he can stand when the lord pulls a series of cowardly and sickening moves regarding his son and daughter in law. Mifune rebels, asses get kicked. Final Shodown between Toshiro and you guessed it, Mr.Nakadai.

so guys what are your opinions on sword of doom dvd? I heard the movie is great. Biff hasnt been wrong yet.

Thanks man. I hope you enjoy it.