Akira Kurosawa's Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail was put together at the last minute when Kurosawa's plan to direct a costume picture called Doko Kono Yari fell through (the producer couldn't get any horses!) Utilizing the costumes, sets and actors already commissioned, Kurosawa spent one long evening writing a screenplay based on the old Kabuki ...
A father and son prepare to die for their beliefs in this historical drama set in 18th century Japan. While Isaburo Sasahara (Toshiro Mifune) has been loyal to Japan's feudal system all his life, his beliefs begin to change when the local rulers demand that his son Yogoro (Go Kato) give up his bride, who has bore a child that will come to power ...
Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (original Japanese title: Kakushi Toride No San Akunin) stars Minoru Chiaki and Kamatari Fujiwara as a pair of misfit soldiers. Running from the enemy after a disastrous defeat, the two soldiers fall in with general Toshiro Mifune, who is in search of a huge cache of gold. Mifune is also desirous of freeing ...
Edward Zwick returned to the director's chair for the first time since 1998's The Siege with this sweeping period drama set in 19th-century Japan. After centuries of relying on hired samurai for national defense, the Japanese monarchy has decided to do away with the warriors in favor of a more contemporary military. Tom Cruise stars as Nathan ...
Toshiro Mifune portrays a Samurai who finds himself in the middle of a feud-torn Japanese village. Neither side is particularly honorable, but Mifune is hungry and impoverished, so he agrees to work as bodyguard (or Yojimbo) for a silk merchant (Kamatari Fujiwara) against a sake merchant (Takashi Shimura). He then pretends to go to work for the ...
Samurai Trilogy is a 303-minute videotape comprised of the three Samurai films masterminded by Japanese director Hiroshi Inagaki in the mid-1950s. Toshiro Mifune stars in all three films as 17th century Samurai warrior Miyamato Musashi. The films trace the samurai's matriculation from lowly farm boy to noble, Zorro-like defender of right. The ...
Set in the mid-19th century when the disintegration of a rigid social structure was turning the once wealthy into paupers, or vice-versa, this kinetic drama by acclaimed Akira Kurosawa features the hero Sanjuro (Toshiro Mifune), one of many samurai whose once traditional positions were fast disappearing. In this tale of false perceptions and truth ...
In this Japanese fantasy, the wrathful ghost of a shogunate warrior emerges from a thunderstorm to exact revenge on those behind the terrible 1638 Shimbara Revolt in which 18,000 rioters were slaughtered. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Orphaned as a little girl, Azumi (Aya Ueto) is raised in the forest with a group of ten children by their master (Yoshio Harada), who trains them to be peerless assassins. Azumi and Nachi (Shun Oguri) are the strongest of the fighters. When the group comes of age, the master gives them one final test. He tells them to team up with the person to ...
Lightning Swords of Death was one of the most popular of the long-running Japanese Sword of Vengeance series. The film's nearly unending violence is given continuity with the ongoing story of a disgraced samurai, who travels throughout the Japanese countryside with his infant son in tow. At the time of its American release, Lightning Swords of ...
In Zatoichi vs. Yojimbo, one of many Japanese samurai films starring the blind swordsman Zatoichi (Shintaro Katsu), he has to battle Yojimbo (Toshiro Mifune), the title character from Akira Kurosawa's famous film. At the beginning of the film, Zatoichi is planning on retiring, yet his village is besieged by outlaws; eventually he fights, then ...
In this epic Japanese samurai adventure, a bloodthirsty young fighter (Tatsuya Nakadai) kills a man in competition and is pursued by the slain warrior's brother. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
This sweeping historical epic has sometimes been labelled the Gone with the Wind of Japan; at any rate, it's almost the same length as Gone (the film was originally released in two parts). Chusha Ichikawa plays a powerful and ruthless feudal lord who battles virtuous young noble Yuzo Kayama. Ichikawa is temporarily victorious when he tricks Kayama ...
As might be gathered from its title, The Legend of the Eight Samurai is set in feudal Japan. Princess Hiroku Yokoshimaru's family is wiped out, along with her bodyguards. All that stands between the princess and certain death is an inexperienced young samurai played by martial-arts expert Sonny Chiba. Armed with little more than determination, ...
This landmark film is a brilliant exploration of truth and human weakness. It opens with a priest, a woodcutter, and a peasant taking refuge from a downpour beneath a ruined gate in 12th-century Japan. The priest and the woodcutter, each looking stricken, discuss the trial of a notorious bandit for rape and murder. As the retelling of the trial ...
More a "greatest hits" movie than an actual stand-alone film of its own, Shogun Assassin is the delirious hybrid of two episodes of the popular Baby Cart series dubbed into English and fused together into a hyper-violent bloodbath ballet that's sure to entertain the samurai-film enthusiast with a strong stomach. The swords fly fast and furious as ...
Macbeth is reimagined as a samurai in feudal Japan in director Akira Kurosawa's classic adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy. Familiar with Orson Welles's more faithful adaptation, Kurosawa chose to place a more personal stamp on his version by translating the events and characters to historical Japan. The equivalent of the tragic Scottish lord ...
The super bad samurai who avenged his father and found a life of peace is pulled back into the game by a deadly beauty from his past as the cycle of vengeance continues in Afro Samurai: Resurrection. There was a time when Afro Samurai (voice of Academy Award-nominee Samuel L. Jackson) was quick to duel, but these days he prefers serenity to ...
The insanely prolific Takashi Miike teams again with screenwriter Shigenori Takechi (Graveyard of Honor) for his first samurai film, Izo. The film begins where Hideo Gosha's 1969 Hitokiri (the last film author Yukio Mishima starred in before his suicide) left off, with the crucifixion and bloody execution of a low-level samurai, Izo (Kazuya ...
Akira Kurosawa's epic tale concerns honor and duty during a time when the old traditional order is breaking down. The film opens with master samurai Kambei (Takashi Shimura) posing as a monk to save a kidnapped farmer's child. Impressed by his selflessness and bravery, a group of farmers begs him to defend their terrorized village from bandits. ...
Samurai 2: Duel at Ichijoji Temple follows the adventures of the 17th-century samurai Musashi Miyamoto (Toshiro Mifune), as he wanders through feudal Japan learning the ways of a samurai warrior. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
The legendary blind warrior discovers love and money have created divided alliances in this classic samurai film. After defeating a angry stranger he meets along the road, blind nomad Zatoichi (Shintaro Katsu) learns that a bounty is being offered for his head; despite the danger to himself, Zatoichi visits the mother of his victim and offers to ...
Maverick Japanese director Sogo Ishii takes an unexpectedly conventional approach in this screen adaptation of a well-known Japanese folk legend of the 12th century. In the long-standing battle of the Genji and Heiki clans, the Heiki have emerged triumphant, but they find they have a new adversary in Shanao (Tadanobu Asano), a demon who each night ...
Shintaro Katsu took his final bow as Zatoichi, the nomadic blind swordsman, in this martial arts action saga from Japan. After being released from jail on charges of petty theft, Ichi finds himself caught between two rival bands of yakuza, one of whom has obtained a cache of guns from crooked policemen. Zatoichi throws in his lot with the sword ...
Japanese screen legend Toshiro Mifune bids farewell to the character he made famous in this tale of death and deception also starring Shintaro Katsu of Zatoichi fame. Hired to carry out a mysterious mission, Yojimbo (Mifune) is told to travel to a remote mountain pass and simply wait for something to happen. Upon arriving at a secluded tea house ...
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