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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 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
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, ...
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 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 ...
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
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Furin Kazan (AKA Samurai Banners) is based on the bestselling Japanese novel of the same name, written by Yasushi Inove. Toshiro Mifune plays Yamamoto, a physically impaired 17th century Samurai, whose wife and child have been massacred in a war. He signs on to advise a warlord, believing that the fellow has the strength to kill off all of the ...
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 ...
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. ...
Based on a manga series, this science fiction-adventure is set in a near future in which Japan is governed by a monarchy who use a highly trained band of samurai-style assassins known as the House of Takemikazuchi to suppress a fierce band of rebels. Yuki (Yumiko Shaku), a lethal young female member of the group, discovers that her mother was ...
In this classic samurai tale, Zatoichi (Shintaro Katsu) is a legendary swordsman whose feats of skill and cunning are all the more remarkable for the fact he cannot see. Zatoichi has tired of the warrior's life, and has returned to the village of his birth in search of peace and tranquility. Meanwhile, Zatoichi's former mentor Banno has arranged ...
Ran is Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's reinterpretation of William Shakespeare's King Lear. The Lear counterpart is an elderly 16th-century warlord (Tatsuya Nakadai), who announces that he's about to divide his kingdom equally among his three sons. In his dotage, he falls prey to the false flattery of his treacherous sons (Akira Terao and ...
The blind swordsman Zatoichi (Shintaro Katsu) escapes from a gang of assassins with help from a group of blind pilgrims, but a woman is killed by mistake during their hunt for him. He finds her baby alive and vows to bring the child to its father in a story that plays like a medieval Japanese version of John Ford's Three Godfathers. The warrior ...
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 ...
The Japanese title of Band of Assassins was Shinsengumi, which pinpointed the assassins in question. The Shinshen was a covert military organization in the employ of the 19th-century Japanese aristocracy. To protect their decadent employers, the Shinshen regularly ventured out to kill political enemies and other undesirables. Toshiro Mifune is ...
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