Musashi Movie with Toshiro Mifune

[gsx1100s]

Just got the trilogy of dvd's on Ebay.
I liked it though I found it slightly different in parts from the book by Eiji Yoshikawa. Not a bad effort to cram all that in three dvd's though . Have you seen it ? What did you think of it?

cheers Michael

[Twobitmage]

I loved it. One of my favorite movies

[shinzou]

I saw it too. I bought them on E-Bay too. I didn't read the book though.
I loved this trilogy dipicting some of the parts of Myamoto Musashi's life. How he grew from a bad mannered and agressive farmer wanting to become a samurai to a great and knowledgeable samurai. I liked the romance too.

I would like the movie world to make a new series of movies dipicting the life of Musashi, with more of the adventures he had.

I like all the samurai movies starring Toshirô Mifune, especially Seven Samurai, Yojimbo and Sanjuro.

Greetings,

Shinzou

[Taek]

I'd love to watch the Musashi films starring Toshiro Mifune. I'm a big fan of Akira Kurosawa as well as Toshiro Mifune.
If you like samurai film, I'd love to recommend you to watch 'The Hideen fortress' and 'Ame Agaru (After the Rain)'.

I heard 'George Lucas made his legendary film 'Star Was' based on 'The Hidden Fortress' by Akira Kurosawa.

'Ame Agaru'- this smurai film is not directed by Akira Kurosawa but based on the last screenplay written by Akira Kurosawa. I think the director used to work for Akira for 28years as an assistant director. I accidently discovered this film while I was looking for the Musahi film at a video shop in Japan. It's not packed with action scenes like other samurai film but one of the best samurai film I've ever seen. One of those films that makes you think about even long after you watch.

Cheers

[shinzou]

This movie is a great samurai movie. I loved this movie, there is not allot sword fighting, but depicts the samurai traditions well and has some realistic sword fighting in it. It has some romance too.

I would advise you this movie. You can read the story here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0351817/

Have some of you seen this movie?

Greetings,

Shinzou

[bullet08]

i read the book before watching the movie.. bad mistake. didn't enjoy the movie at all.

[bullet08]

if you like mifune toshiro.. try the akira kurosawa movies from criterion collection. i got their 4 samurai classics package. all of them are great. specially enjoyed 'the hidden fortress'.

[not-I]

I liked it, though i missed the pure genius of the Kurosawa/Mifune teamwork.

Also got a bit boring during stretches of the 2nd and 3rd parts without being redeemed by plot.

The character of Takuan laughed too much, but i liked the way he "captured" and "tamed" Musashi.

IMO, only for die-hard fans. Casual peepers should just go with anything by Kurosawa.

[xvikingx]

Forget Musashi, check out "Kaoru-chan Saikyou Densetsu" （かおるちゃん最強伝説）. You can learn alot about mushin from Kaoru-chan. :smoker:

[Dave Fowler]

We watched the movies one weekend as a club, and I thought they were not to bad. Though I have to agree it was quite a bit different from the book. I'm only half way through the book, and it feels like i'm reading something compeletly different.

[Blind Masseur]

I found the Inagaki Musashi movies to be very good, if only Criterion's DVD release wasn't so neglected. Especially with the second film. Duel at Ichijoji Temple's film quality was wretched. Especially for the final duel. All I could see were a few grainy white flecks moving about while there were lots of shouting and sword clanging effects. Can't say much about the accuracy to the book, still looking for a copy myself. Toshiro Mifune is a great Musashi, but I feel his acting is fairly restricted in these movies because there are certain cultural expectations of the character, thus a certain predictability. Also, I don't recall Musashi ever brandishing two swords AND actually using them. He mostly just resheathes them or shakes them around abit. I felt there could have been a lot more use of Musashi's two sword technique, and two-sword styles are often neglected in cinema action scenes, so it would have added a lot of flavor to what was otherwise just another series of Musashi movies. If you're looking for more sword duels/battles/etc. I recomend Yojimbo and its sequel Sanjuro (last five minutes, whoa). If you want more into the range of serial chambara I highly recomend the Zatoichi films (as my name implies).

[Martin (Wakey)]

I've just gotten hold of the Criterion Collection too and I have to say I'm not too impressed with the picture quality either.

However, considering the trilogy was made in the 1950's I'm guessing that the original prints have long since disappeared thus preventing a remastering. Ho hum...

Maybe time for a remake?