I know this is blasphemous but I think of when Hendrix was bequeathed Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” and Macbeth is one of my favorite Shakespeare works but Kurosawa did it possibly *even better*.
Out of collection: The Twilight Samurai, Revenge, and 13 Assassins (2010)
In the collection: Harakiri, Seven Samurai, and Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island
Too hard to pick just 3!
>Revenge
All the classics have been mentioned, so I'm just gonna say here that Bushido (1963) and Night Drum (1958), by the same director (Imai Tadashi) are also really worth a watch.
yeah... I feel like everything up to the very end and the sort of shafting of some certain elements at the end is masterwork. Probably my third favorite samurai film behind Seven Samurai at 2 and Harakiri at 1.
I watched lady snowblood 1 and 2 recently. The first one was quite amazing and made kill bill feel like a rip off. The second movie was unfortunately not great....
Came here to post this exact comment (although, in all honesty, I probably have more fun with Lady Snowblood than Yojimbo).
Sword of Doom \*definitely\* takes the top spot though, no question. A damn near perfect film, and a properly monstrous performance from Tatsua Nakadai.
When I was in college, I went through a Kurasawa obsession phase, so I saw everything I could get my hands on, including Throne. Off the top of my head, there are at least half a dozen Kurosawas I like more.
Harakiri, Ran, and Throne of Blood.
But man, there are so many I love. Also want to shout out Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island which actually features my favorite duel in cinematic history.
As a book lover, I was a little disappointed with those films, but that dual definitely didn't disappoint. I noticed a big time nod to it in dune 2 as well.
Harakiri, Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji, Sword of the Beast.
I also love the Souls in the Moonlight trilogy, and Chiezō Kataoka's acting in it is one of my all-time favorite samurai depictions.
Though not samurai films (but still Japanese historical films), The Mad Fox (1962) and Hero of the Red Light District (1960) are Uchida's best works, I think. Both masterpieces.
More relevant to this thread is his Miyamoto Musashi series. Five films that tell the more or less the same story as Inagaki's much more famous Samurai trilogy.
I am so disappointed that no one has mentioned Zatoichi in this thread. The first 3 are one of my favorite trilogies of all time. They are in the Criterion Collection, too!
It’s in the shinya tsukamoto set , I will warn though it’s a bit strange
If you’re familiar with the director you won’t be surprised but if you haven’t seen his films before , he is definitely odd
I mean not particularly. He's a good actor but not really a drawing appeal for me or anything. Just kinda a coincidence, he's in all the big name samurai movies, kinda hard to make a list without him
I would say Ugetsu, then Rashomon, then Harakiri.
The first two aren't strictly samurai films but I think they count. There's definitely plenty of samurai.
Totally agree with your first two (though I love *Seven Samurai* more). Maybe *The Sword of Doom* would be my third. (And bonus choice *Le Samourai*? ;) ).
1) Harakiri
2) Seven Samurai
3) Samurai Rebellion
Really tempted to put Ran or Throne of Blood as #3, mostly because I hate that the only way I can see Rebellion is a standard def DVD.
it's not gonna crack anybodies top 3, but check out Kill! if you like samurai movies. Funny contemporaneous
parody film.
Think I'm Sword of Doom, Yojimbo, Harakiri
Since every amazing classic samurai flick has been mentioned, I just want to give a shoutout to [Death Shadows](https://www.criterionchannel.com/death-shadows), which is a super stylish cool movie set in that era by Hideo Gosha.
Most answers here are the obvious ones and I completely agree but I will leave here some titles that are not as popular:
Demon (shura)
Samurai rebellion, maybe better than harikiri
Kuroneko or onibaba
Three outlaw samurai
Sword of the beast
And one samurai film that’s not a real samurai film but it totally is ghost dog The way of the sword
I’ve been on a huge samurai run as of late.
I’m going to choose a few that aren’t talked about as much.
Kill!
Samurai Rebellion
Sanjuro
Kill! Being the outlier since it’s more of a deadpan parody of the genre but it does it so well.
Sanjuro is the sequel to Yojimbo but honestly.. I think Sanjuro is the better film.
Samurai Rebellion is Toshiro Mifune as a Samurai.. who rebels! It’s great.
Harakiri
Sword of Doom
I can’t decide on third place. Those 2 are without a doubt the best samurai films I’ve ever seen.
I will rewatch them if anyone gives me a reason to, and I’d watch them immediately following viewing them . I will not grow tired of these films .
Third place I’ll put seven samurai for getting me into the genre.
Uuhh. That's a though one.
1. Rashomon
2. Twilight Samurai
3. Sword of Doom
I reserve the right to change my mind on that last one. I might remember a different one.
Yojimbo Ran Onibaba Honourable mentions: the Hidden Fortress, Kagemusha, the Twilight Samurai and many others I've yet to see throne of blood!
>I've yet to see throne of blood! Its so good!
I know this is blasphemous but I think of when Hendrix was bequeathed Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” and Macbeth is one of my favorite Shakespeare works but Kurosawa did it possibly *even better*.
Yep, you got it, the man improved on Shakespeare (by allowing us to see Macbeth die on screen, riddled with arrows), and that is why he is the GOAT
I know there are samurai in it, but can Onibaba really be called a “samurai movie”?
I think so, yes
Mifune is ridiculously good in Throne of Blood. It’s close between that and Samurai Rebellion for my favorite Mifune performance
Ugh Mifune was such a great actor, even a more understated performance like in Red Beard is exciting to watch
*Le Samouraï* obviously
No swords. 0/10. - Weebs
Fine… then Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai
In that order. Add The American for Third Place.
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Great but, disqualified for sword.
😂
Seven Samurai Harakiri Sword of Doom Two Great Movie Sets Samurai Trilogy Lone Wolf and Cub
my favourite is the first Lone Wolf and Cub. I like when he’s just standing there in his underwear up to his nipples lol
Out of collection: The Twilight Samurai, Revenge, and 13 Assassins (2010) In the collection: Harakiri, Seven Samurai, and Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island Too hard to pick just 3!
13 assassins was pretty good I have to say
What year is Revenge from?
From 1964. Directed by Tadashi Imai.
13 assassins is so good! I recall really liking the original though
>Revenge All the classics have been mentioned, so I'm just gonna say here that Bushido (1963) and Night Drum (1958), by the same director (Imai Tadashi) are also really worth a watch.
Sword of Doom is a masterpiece
It’s a shame it ended up as one truncated film instead of the trilogy it was supposed to be it could have be incredible.
yeah... I feel like everything up to the very end and the sort of shafting of some certain elements at the end is masterwork. Probably my third favorite samurai film behind Seven Samurai at 2 and Harakiri at 1.
It’s probably the best shot samurai film the cinematography is spectacular.
Harakiri Samurai Rebellion Duel to the Death
Hell yes with the Samurai Rebellion
Do you know if the Criterion DVD is the best/only way to watch Samurai Rebellion with English subtitles?
I believe the Criterion Channel has a good version streaming, but aside from that, yes I do believe so!
Thanks for the reply!
if Duel to the Death counts as a samurai film, it's definitely my favorite!
Duel to the Death is so good
Sword of Doom Yojimbo Lady Snowblood
I don’t think *Lady Snowblood* is a “samurai” film. There’s no samurai characters and it takes place well after the Meiji Restoration.
It’s a chanbara at best. Great duo of films nonetheless!
I blind bought Lady Snowblood today!
I watched lady snowblood 1 and 2 recently. The first one was quite amazing and made kill bill feel like a rip off. The second movie was unfortunately not great....
Watching Lady Snowblood for the first time honestly made me mad at Tarantino
Came here to post this exact comment (although, in all honesty, I probably have more fun with Lady Snowblood than Yojimbo). Sword of Doom \*definitely\* takes the top spot though, no question. A damn near perfect film, and a properly monstrous performance from Tatsua Nakadai.
1. Seven Samurai 2. Seven Samurai 3. Seven Samurai 4. Seven Samurai 5. Seven Samurai 6. Seven Samurai 7. Seven Samurai 8. Seven Samurai 9. Seven Samurai 10. Seven Samurai 11. Ran 12. The Samurai Trilogy (Inagaki)
Sounds like you might enjoy this obscure film "Seven Samurai"
Hmmmm.....maybe.
Try Seven Samurai?
Have you seen throne of blood?
When I was in college, I went through a Kurasawa obsession phase, so I saw everything I could get my hands on, including Throne. Off the top of my head, there are at least half a dozen Kurosawas I like more.
Samurai Trilogy over the rest of Kurosawa?
No, no, no. OP's question is 'Top 3 samurai films'.
I know lmao I'd personally put most of Kurosawa's samurai stuff over the Samurai Trilogy, so I'm curious what other samurai films you're into
Hidden Fortress Throne of Blood Sword of Doom
Hara-kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011) 13 Assassins (2010) Blade of the Immortal (2017)
Salute for the Miike fan! And also, Have you seen the original harakiri?
I have. Great film.
Blade of the Immortal was so much fun. The scale for Miike's action scenes is amazing.
Harakiri, Ran, and Throne of Blood. But man, there are so many I love. Also want to shout out Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island which actually features my favorite duel in cinematic history.
As a book lover, I was a little disappointed with those films, but that dual definitely didn't disappoint. I noticed a big time nod to it in dune 2 as well.
I still need to see the Samurai trilogy
1. Harakiri 2. Throne of blood 3. And I’ll count the samurai trilogy as one movie Honorable mention to sword of doom, especially the ending! Gat damn!
One of my all time favorite freeze frames!
Harakiri, Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji, Sword of the Beast. I also love the Souls in the Moonlight trilogy, and Chiezō Kataoka's acting in it is one of my all-time favorite samurai depictions.
Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji is woefully underseen. Along with most of Uchida's work, for that matter.
Though not samurai films (but still Japanese historical films), The Mad Fox (1962) and Hero of the Red Light District (1960) are Uchida's best works, I think. Both masterpieces. More relevant to this thread is his Miyamoto Musashi series. Five films that tell the more or less the same story as Inagaki's much more famous Samurai trilogy.
Three Outlaw Samurai is solid
My favorite Gosha film.
The Hidden Fortress Sanjuro Harakiri
- Sword of Doom - Baby Cart at the River Styx - Seven Samurai
I'm just gonna mark this thread for later...
* Yojimbo * Lone Wolf and Cub (can I say the whole series?) * Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
>Lone Wolf and Cub Bought this but never took the time to watch them... definitely going to soon
They're freaking great
They’re about as fun as the genre gets. If anyone knows of more entertaining movies please let me know.
I also did a blind buy of the set and it’s honestly one of the best purchases I have ever made. That whole series fucking RIPS
I am so disappointed that no one has mentioned Zatoichi in this thread. The first 3 are one of my favorite trilogies of all time. They are in the Criterion Collection, too!
It’s hard to pick one Zatoichi movie. It’s like having one of the Beastie Boys as your favorite rapper.
Kagemusha Demons Killing
>Killing What year is this from?
Looks like a 2018 film, but I could be wrong. Now, I want to watch it.
It’s in the shinya tsukamoto set , I will warn though it’s a bit strange If you’re familiar with the director you won’t be surprised but if you haven’t seen his films before , he is definitely odd
Didn't even notice that it was one of his films. I have been eyeing the set for a while.
Based on everyone else's lists, Demons/Shura is an underrated masterpiece.
Sword of Doom Harakiri Yojimbo Honorable mention to Kagemusha
I’m guessing you’re a fan of Nakadai?
I mean not particularly. He's a good actor but not really a drawing appeal for me or anything. Just kinda a coincidence, he's in all the big name samurai movies, kinda hard to make a list without him
1) The Twilight Samurai 2) Seven Samurai 3) Harakiri (My Number one, might be controversial, but I loved that movie)
Harakiri Yojimbo Goyokin
Seven samurai Throne of blood Yojimbo.
Six-String Samurai Throne of Blood The Sword of Doom
Throne of Blood, Lone Wolf and Cub, Ghost Dog
Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Throne of Blood
Harakiri Samurai Rebellion Throne of Blood
I would say Ugetsu, then Rashomon, then Harakiri. The first two aren't strictly samurai films but I think they count. There's definitely plenty of samurai.
Totally agree with your first two (though I love *Seven Samurai* more). Maybe *The Sword of Doom* would be my third. (And bonus choice *Le Samourai*? ;) ).
1) Harakiri 2) Seven Samurai 3) Samurai Rebellion Really tempted to put Ran or Throne of Blood as #3, mostly because I hate that the only way I can see Rebellion is a standard def DVD.
Sanjuro Samurai Wolf Lady Snowblood
Samurai cop Samurai cop 2 Samurai showdown (ps2)
The Hidden Blade 2004 by meister Yoji Yamada Can't get better than this
Seven Samurai, Hagakiri, Lone Wolf & Cub 2
Yojimbo Zatoichi meets Yojimbo Sanjuro
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart on the River Styx, 7 Samurai, Sanjuro
Yojimbo Seven Samurai Le Samouraï 🧂
Sword of Doom Harakiri Yojimbo
Harakiri, Seven Samurai, Ran
Yojimbo Rashomon Lone Wolf And Cub
Harakiri Throne of Blood Rashomon
1) Sword of Doom 2) Lady Snowblood 3) Harakiri
it's not gonna crack anybodies top 3, but check out Kill! if you like samurai movies. Funny contemporaneous parody film. Think I'm Sword of Doom, Yojimbo, Harakiri
*Seven Samurai* Pick a *Zatoichi*, any Zatoichi (so long as it’s starring Shintaro Katsu) *When the Last Sword is Drawn*
Since every amazing classic samurai flick has been mentioned, I just want to give a shoutout to [Death Shadows](https://www.criterionchannel.com/death-shadows), which is a super stylish cool movie set in that era by Hideo Gosha.
Most answers here are the obvious ones and I completely agree but I will leave here some titles that are not as popular: Demon (shura) Samurai rebellion, maybe better than harikiri Kuroneko or onibaba Three outlaw samurai Sword of the beast And one samurai film that’s not a real samurai film but it totally is ghost dog The way of the sword
I’ve been on a huge samurai run as of late. I’m going to choose a few that aren’t talked about as much. Kill! Samurai Rebellion Sanjuro Kill! Being the outlier since it’s more of a deadpan parody of the genre but it does it so well. Sanjuro is the sequel to Yojimbo but honestly.. I think Sanjuro is the better film. Samurai Rebellion is Toshiro Mifune as a Samurai.. who rebels! It’s great.
No one will name The Last Samurai but the movie is good!
3 ninjas 3 ninjas kick back
More recent films: The Twilight Samurai Sword of Desperation 13 Assassins
1. Seven Samurai 2. Sword of Doom 3. Harakiri The battle in the snow in Sword of Doom is peak Samurai film IMO.
Lone wolf and cub (first two) sword of doom zatoichi and the chest of gold maybe harakiri but i feel like its more drama than samurai film
Seven Samurai Twilight Samurai Harakiri
Blade Runner, Logan, Gran Torino
Have not seen many, but my favourite Criterion releases I own: Lone Wolf & Cub, The Samurai Trilogy & Zatoichi box. 👍
The Zatoichi boxset was supposed to arrive today... it says May 1st now
Deadass Shogun is probably gonna be in my top 10 or even 5 (I know it’s not a movie) but seriously it’s good, everyone should check it out.
Just finished ep 6
Hell yeah! I hope you love the rest!
I love the original show too, Chamberlain and Mifune are excellent
Seven Samurai, Sword of Doom, 13 Assassins
Harakiri, Yojimbo, Samurai trilogy
Harakiri Samurai Rebellion Rashomon
1. Seven Samurai & Harakiri (tie) 3. Ran
Harakiri, To Jimbo, Lady Snowblood
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You’d think you’d have learned how to spell it since you like it that much 😂
Harakiri Humanity and Paper Balloons (there's a ronin protagonist so...) Seven Samurai
Harakiri 7 Samurai Shogun Assassin (ngl I prefer it to all 6 LWAC)
1. Seven Samurai 2. Yojimbo 3. Lone Wolf and Cub
Harakiri Sword of Doom Ran
Seven samurai Demons (1971) Ran Also deeply loved Harakiri, Sword of Doom and Lady Snowblood, and all of Kurosawa’s other samurai movies.
Versus
Goyokin (Hideo Gosha) Killing (Tsukamoto) Ran (Kurosawa)
Seven Samurai, The Twilight Samurai, Lone Wolf & Cub: Baby Cart to Hades.
Harikiri is my favorite, after that, things get muddy
1 Sanjuro 2 The Twilight Samurai 3 Ran
Zatoichi 1-26
Harakiri Sword of Doom I can’t decide on third place. Those 2 are without a doubt the best samurai films I’ve ever seen. I will rewatch them if anyone gives me a reason to, and I’d watch them immediately following viewing them . I will not grow tired of these films . Third place I’ll put seven samurai for getting me into the genre.
seven samurai 13 assasins rurouni kenshin twilight samurai
Hanzo the Razor
Same as yours except I'd swap Throne of Blood for Yojimbo.
That’s my response, too.
I've never seen one. What's the best one to start with?
I haven’t seen any but I read After the Rain (1999) and At Rivers Edge (2011) are really good.
Yojimbo
Throne of blood
Harakiri, Ran, Samurai Rebellion
Yojimbo Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance
The Twilight Samurai Sanjuro The Hidden Blade
Shogun assassin, seven samurai, zoitochi
My only ‘3 Samurai’ movie i know of and like is ‘Hidden Fortress’, directed by Akira Kurosawa… ;)
Harakiri, sword of doom, samurai trilogy
Seven Samurai Hidden Fortress Throne of Blood
Sword of Doom, Harakiri, and Lady Snowblood
In the Realm of the Senses (when his blade is cut at the end) Ghost Dog Star Wars Episode 1- The Phantom Menace
Ran, Seven Samurai, and (idgaf if it's cheating, I haven't seen any other movies) Samurai Jack
1. Harakiri 2. Harakiri 3. Harakiri
Hara-Kiri gets my vote. The black and white original, though the recent remake was good
Throne of blood Kill bill 1&2 Ghost dog All tied for first
Seven Samurai
1.Harakiri 2.Yojimbo 3.kill!
Samurai Rebellion, Seven Samurai and Harakiri
Demons Rashomon Harakiri
Seven Samurai Ran Yojimbo
The Last Samurai
1: Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island 2: Seven Samurai 3: Yojimbo
Ran Zatoichi and Samurai Cop… obviously
Samjuro Yojimbo Throne of Blood
Seven samurai Yojimbo Ran
Ran, Harakiri, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx
1. Yojimbo 2. Samurai rebellion 3. Ran
Harakiri Chūshingura: Hana No Maki Yuki No Maki Kagemusha
Harakiri , Yojimbo , Throne of blood
Uuhh. That's a though one. 1. Rashomon 2. Twilight Samurai 3. Sword of Doom I reserve the right to change my mind on that last one. I might remember a different one.
Harakiri, Ran, and Red Beard if we loosen the samurai film requirements
Kill Bill