10 Best Samurai Films Not Directed By Akira Kurosawa 

One of the few examples of a perfect film.

I agree with you. It's a masterpiece which transcends genre. I disagree with Bushido Blues that it's a movie about the conflict between classes. For me, it's about hypocrisy. The samurai claim to live by a code, but for the vast majority of them, it's a façade. They hide behind the façade, and when faced with doing what is required of them by their own code, they choose cowardice. They hide out of sight, feigning illness and hoping their hair grows back before their shame comes to light. It is a timeless polemic that speaks to all forms of government hypocrisy throughout history, and how leaders often take the stance "Do as I say, not as I do", and cover up embarrassing transgressions whenever possible.

The new Hara Kiri has the most beautiful opening scene I have ever seen.

​@@Ric9hardifythe new one is a great movie too.

I was into samurai and king fu movies long before that the last was epic though it reignited my love for Samurai films

Huang, I'm so glad you were able to improve your life, that's very motivational! Going to the gym, getting healthier and picking up a new skill or hobby are what we should all strive for. As a side note, I plan on making a video about The Hidden Fortress soon. What is it about that movie that motivated you?

@@bushidoblues9302 brother I think it was first and foremost genuinely funny and just a very exciting adventure film. And then it's also how the general himself (Mifune) behaves and how we acted out the character. I know it's a character only but the way the general speaks, walks, talk and his composure is really goddamn good energy. You can tell he is someone not to be messed around with but is also deeply passionate about his duties and righteousness.

@@mingyuhuang8944 Mifune seriously looks larger than life in the film. He towers over everyone.

The really funny bit is that Tom Cruise's character is based off of real people, instead of one American it was three Portuguese.

I have a video on it. It's one of the best newer samurai films.

Saw it, great definitely.

Totally with you on Kiru (kill!!!) Definitely better than some of the films on the list

You're welcome!

Yeah three outlaw is definitely a fun film

I used to think that only 50s and 60s samurai movies were good bilut I was dead wrong. There's been some great newer ones. Check out all Shuhei Fujisawa adaptations.

Thanks for opening my eyes about more modern samurai films. I do have all of Kurosawa's later films but they aren't all samurai of course. I will have to go on a hunt now for newer films. To be honest though, I also am a fan of "all" Japanese films from the 50's and 60's. Even some films from the 40's. Dramas, sci-fi, ect. But of course, samurai films are my favorite. If you ever want to check out a great 60's Japanese film noir, watch Zero Focus starring Yoshiko Kuga. Great movie.

You're welcome!

You're welcome! Thanks for watching it

Glad you liked it!

Great list! I really like Kill! It was a fun parody of the genre. And I look forward to watching more Zatoichi and lone wolf films. I also need a Musashi trilogy rewatch as that's also been awhile since I've seen it. Definitely watch all of Shuhei Fujisawa samurai films.

That's awesome that you have a bit of a role model in your field of work. I'll admit to wanting to become a massage therapist just from watching the movies. Apparently in Japan it was common for blind people to be masseurs, so their definitely is truth to that.

He sucks at being a masseur though, him being at the lowest rank: Zato. You're probably better than him.

Thank you! It's always great to meet fellow fans of Chanbara

Thanks!

@@bushidoblues9302 Your Welcome!

Yeah so far every Fujisawa I've seen has been a great hit. I read the synopsis for the Bamboo Sword and it sounds like an interesting story that I'll probably read at some point.

They’re all short stories so it wont take long. Worth reading for sure.

Cool I never saw sword of desperation. I'll add that to my watch list.

The last samurai is one of my all time favorite films. Just phenomenal in every way

Yeah I rewatched it for this list. The movie is perfect.

@@bushidoblues9302 That grass field duel is probably one of the best, and apparently this movie was the first time Nakadai had to do swordfighting!

Awesome i love Wakayama. I guess I'll have to watch the first festival of swordsman

It's a perfect film!

Yes I've seen and own Chushingura but forgot to mention it as it's been awhile since I've seen it. It definitely was an epic and a fascinating story from what I remember. Is the original 47 Ronin any good? I always hear people say it's too long or that it's boring.

@@bushidoblues9302 Actually I have never watched the legendary 1941 Mizoguchi version. Snippets I have seen do look kind of boring. 😀 The other version I am familiar with is the Daiei version from the 1960s which includes both Shintaro Katsu and Raizo Ichikawa. It was just alright. Have you watched any Sleepy Eyes of Death with Raizo?

@@bushidoblues9302 the Mizoguchi version of the 47 Ronin is long and has very little action. I would say it is one of the best. Beautiful and deep.

All great choices!

@@jesseowenvillamor6348 nah.

samuraidvd.com/at-rivers-edge/ Use the discount code BUSHIDO BLUES

Thanks! Shogun Assassin came right after the last Samurai for me. I have a lot of love for it

Thank you! I'm jealous of that 47 Ronin book. Must be a beautiful treasure to have.

It's from the movie Sword of the stranger ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tTIwbusbN1g.html

I want to start seeing more samurai films on 4k like seven samurai or Hara kiri. Ran looks amazing in 4k. I've seen 6 of the Zatoichis so far. I wonder if the Television series is any good.

You can buy them from samuraidvd.com using discount code BUSHIDO BLUES or you can hope they appear for free on RU-vid. Sometimes twilight samurai pops up.

You can only buy it on samuraidvd.com so far.

Yes my new list would put samurai rebellion at number 3. It is a masterpiece, Slightly below Harakiri

Crimson Bat, I will add that yo the list!

@@bushidoblues9302 Now, after I watched all four of them, I kind of feel sad there weren't any more Crimson Bat movies. The second installment Mekurano Oichi jigokuhada or Hellish skin, is by far my favorite. There are a number of great scenes, especially when Oichi decides to change her life. Lean writing there, nothing too pompous, and Yoko Matsuyama delivers. Even the corny moments were just as entertaining as I remembered them.

Thank you. I'll have to add those to my watch list. Last Samurai 1974 is one I've been looking for for awhile. Is it the same concept as the 2003?

You can watch the director's other movies like Samurai Rebellion

@@bushidoblues9302 thanks for quick reply. Subbed. Awesome channel idea. Samurai genre is amazing and has a deep cut of choices of films to analyze

I suggest after Kobayashi move on to okamoto's and gosha's offerings then move on to Kurosawa. Other than that, you can't loose with any staring Toshiro M. and or Tutsaya Nakadai. Happy viewing.

@@Thejoshrandall can u say movie name?

@@Thejoshrandall ?

Actually no. Is that a good one?

@@bushidoblues9302 I liked it a lot. The story wasn't quite as deep as something like when the last sword is drawn, but I remember enjoying it a lot.

Yeah Inagaki has made alot of great chanbara films. I feel like the 60s were the golden years for the genre.

I'm waiting for Merlin to get back from his trip so I can review When the last sword I'd drawn. Three outlaw samurai is good and I haven't seen the others.

@@bushidoblues9302 for good, campy fun.....samurai wolf. 2 films I believe.

Dojo challengers. Just fun.

@@marklutz8499 dojo challengers 1 is a great fun film

From here. Use the discount code BUSHIDO BLUES at checkout. samuraidvd.com/at-rivers-edge/

There it is, when the last sword is drawn has been right at near the top for me for a long time. Glad to see it get a mention 🍻👌🏻

It was very similar except the ending was a little different. Still a great film and brave of him to remake it.

I honestly never knew he was in high and low, he must have been young. I need to pay attention to that next time. Yeah Mifune, Nakadai and Shimura are Japan's best.

Thanks I'll check them out.

It's excellent. I have a review of it.

Thanks I haven't seen those yet but I've heard of them. I'll have to check them out.

Thanks I haven't seen those yet but I've heard of them. I'll have to check them out.

Yeah I need to watch more Chiba films. Those sound great!

@@bushidoblues9302 all three were directed by Kinji Fukasaku, the mad genius behind 2000's BATTLE ROYALE.

@@albion65 wow big actors and a big director. Sold!

It's so good!

Never heard of it. Any good?

@@bushidoblues9302 High artistic standard. It´s worth comparing to Twilight Samurai, as far as depiction of Samurai, their honor System, Myth and Reality goes. *Kubi* (2023) is also worth watching and comparing along those criteria.

Good ones! Especially 3 outlaw samurai, I did a video on it.

It's a great depiction of the shinsengumi. I have a video of that as well.

This one? m.imdb.com/title/tt0198872/ What's so great about it?

It's better the first time you watch it. On rewatch it's not as good but still an excellent film. This is why top 10s aren't easy. Also I didn't want my top 10 to look like everyone else's.

It's good but not quite on my top 10.

Yeah that's a good point. Algren was just helping.

The name the last Samurai, could also be depicting something plural.

Last Samurai here actually denotes the last samurai's "way of life", not one person.

I'm just a Japanophile. An American who was always fascinated with Japan and especially samurai. Japanese cinema though is an achievement that I feel isn't respected enough.

@@bushidoblues9302 As someone who is a massive cinephile, I really appreciate your facination. I even envy it since I'm someone who's still trying to finish catching up with Akira Kurosawa and Studio Ghibli. I also like that you're someone who doesn't just limit himself to just anime. You've introduced me to so many Japanese films that I didn't know about until I discovered your channel. Just your Japanese horror film list alone introduced me to more Japanese horror films than I even knew existed. You're a great content creator and I hope for nothing but success for your channel.

@Caleb Rands why thank you! Part of doing this channel was to get more people to enjoy what I like and it atleast succeeded with you and in turn I've been introduced to alot of great films so please feel free to recommend any.

@@bushidoblues9302 I've already recommended A Page of Madness from 1926 on your horror film video, so I doubt there's any other Japanese films that I could reccomend that you haven't already seen or at least heard of. I'm sure you're familiar with Studio Ghibli, but if you haven't seen it, Only Yesterday is a great film and very underrated. As far as non-Japanese films, here's a small list of recommendations. The Doll (1919) Come and See The Old Dark House Island of Lost Souls Once Upon a Time in America Amélie If you want great movie recommendations in general, check out One Too Many's channel. He's my favorite RU-vid channel and does great film rankings of every year. It often feels like he's having a conversation with you. ru-vid.com/show-UC3uXsjEBFZLOPqhZVbtzvXQ

@@bushidoblues9302 You probably already know of them, but Yasujirō Ozu and Kenji Mizoguchi are fantastic directors. They specialized in dramas. Ozu's films could sometimes be hard to differentiate since he often has seasons in his titles and Mizoguchi often made movies about the hardships of women.

I have a video covering the original that will drop today.

@@bushidoblues9302 awesome have you seen any of Zatoichi TV episodes

@@londellsharrieff3938 no just the movies. Is the show any good?

I love it!

@@bushidoblues9302 excellent. Not sure if you've seen 47 RONIN (2013) but it had Hiroyuki Sanada in the pivotal role of Oshi and Rinko Kikuchi as the shape shifting witch. LAST KNIGHTS had a mostly non Asian cast but it was directed by Kazuaki Kiriya of CASSHERN (2004) and GOEMON (2009) making his English language debut.

That's interesting. I'm about to watch the old one

Make sure to watch the 1990 TV version which is also great in its own way.

Yeah it's definitely top tier in the genre.

Yes very under-rated!

@@bushidoblues9302 how many samurai movies do you own? Lol

@@kpjetsfishing Alot haha from years of collecting. The ones I review from Merlin are digital though. I also own every Kurosawa film. I should make a video showing my current collection.

@@bushidoblues9302 I stand at 55 and had recently watched three outlaw samuraiand got me back into watching them. Then was like is anyone doing reviews for these?? Then I found you. Love this channel

@@kpjetsfishing thank you. Wow 55 that's quite the collection! Do you mostly get criterion? There's a vintage record store by me that I got alot of samurai classics from.

Rurouni kenshin the beginning is awesome

@@bushidoblues9302 I think he was refering to Nemuri Kyoshiro (The Sleepy Eyes of Death) the main character played by Raizo Ichikawa has reddish brown hair due to being half Caucasian. And his famous dueling technique is the full moon cut.

@jtilton5 oh wow that sounds like a good one!

@@jtilton5 Yup. That's the one. Awesome set of movies.

I honestly find the samurai trilogy boring.

I'm sorry your opinion didn't aline with mine.