Heaven and Earth (1990) The Greatest Rivalry in Japan 

Despite their rivalry Shingen and Kenshin actually had huge respect for eachother. in fact, when Kagetora (AKA Uesugi Kenshin) received the news that Shingen died in 1573 he wept bitterly and famously said "I have lost my good rival."

To my knowledge this was the last epic Samurai film ever made. Hundreds of horses and a few thousand extras. The first time I watched this film I rewatched it 4 times in a row. A friend of mine from Japan told me that this was hyped to be the largest samurai film ever made. It went over budget and I believe she told me that it never was released in theaters in the USA. But it was supposed to.

This movie was annoying to find back in the day but worth it, had it on VHS.

Canada might also offer tax breaks like some nations and states do for film productions

This is a fun movie to watch I have it on vhs and watch it from time to time

There is a prequel movie that came out after this one. I cannot recall the title of it. I think I have the DVD around someplace, but it was hard to get a hold of I think. If I recall, it is about the lead up to and conflict between Kagetora and his brother Harukage that is mentioned early in this movie.

Should do a rewatch of this gem, but only after my yearly sword of doom/seppuku/yojimbo/sanjuro ritual. Yeap, some jidaigeki should help with the heatwave.

I took a look. SamuraiDVD has the prequel movie. It is called "Heaven & Earth - Dawn Episode" there. It calls it a companion, so maybe I was wrong and it is not so much a prequel. It has been a while since I have seen it. But, you said you were interested in more, and that movie is meant to go together with this one to give more of the story.

I always loved Shingen Takeda in any medium i saw him, Kagemusha of Kurosawa or in Total War Shogun 2, only for one thing: the Ultimate swag

Canada in Heaven and Earth looked a lot like Japan more than Canada in Shogun 2024. I would blame it on Shogun’s insistence to make the color grading so blue and dark. Japan is a colorful country. Heaven and Earth, on the other hand, did the color of Japan justice.

Never heard of this one, I'll have to give it a watch.

I watched the film a year ago and still love it. It has the charm of many lower budget made-for-TV jidaigeki and it introduced me to Tsugawa Masahiko, who played Shingen in this film and played many other samurai in other films. He played Tokugawa Ieyasu five times for example because he has the face for that role.

Filmed in Morley Flats, Alberta Canada. Local news broadcast showed behind the scenes and interviews. Hundreds of Canadians, many teenagers and women dressed as samurai, because they were the right height. The average Canadian male were too tall. Many Canadian women and First Nation who were skilled riders were hired as mounted samurai. No ashigaru, foot soldiers with jingasa, the flattened conical hats, as their faces would have been seen. School buses would arrive bringing in the kids for shooting. Two sets of meals were provided for the casts, Canadian and Japanese. The Canadians ate at the Japanese buffet while the Japanese actors ate at the Canadian buffet, both sides curious at the other’s cuisine. Those portraying foot soldiers were paid, from what I remember, 75 dollars a day, while those as mounted samurai were paid 100 dollars a day. During a break in the shooting it was a surreal scene as the cast rested without their helmets. Young girls with long blonde hair in full samurai armor tended to their horses. Young Canadians and even grandmas in full samurai armor resting, holding on to their spears. They have been taught to chant a Buddhist prayer as they marched into battle. Japanese actors played all the ‘officers’. Canadian actors learned two Japanese replies, (wakaranai) “I don’t know” and (wakarimasen) “I don’t understand”.

"No, you can't get the 4K of RAN. We have RAN at home!"

A ton of stuff is filmed in Canada. They have tax breaks, it’s cheaper to film there, and there is a good variety of environments (the same reason Hollywood was originally picked). It’s grown a substantial industry there, and productions can find a lot of for hire film folks especially in Toronto. When I graduated film school I heavily considered moving there for that reason.

Another banger.

Unfortunately, this film was directed by an Amateur who happened to own a huge media company (Kadokawa), and feels rather tepid. It did have a budget, tho.

You should read up on the history of the battle between Kagetora and Shingen to gain control of the Athabasca oil sands. 😂