Eleven Samurai

This film is NOTHING whatsoever like Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, except for the trivial facts that it's in black and white, involves Samurai, and has a big battle scene at the end. It has all of the strutting Samurai egoism of this genre of Japanese films, conforms to period conventions and involves some of the prominent actors of the 1960s, but none who appear in Kurosawa films.The bad guy is a real jerk, the sole female player is very pretty, and the convoluted plot is hard to follow without a map. As you should expect there is a lot of hacking, slicing, stabbing and blood spilled all over the place. In one scene a Lord orders six men to commit suicide and they all start to do it before he tells them he was he was just checking how loyal they were. They almost seemed disappointed at losing the opportunity to demonstrate their stupidity.The psychopath brother of the shogun kills a peasant on the land of the Abe clan, merely for crossing in front of him. He is chastised for the killing by the Lord of the clan whereupon he kills the Lord with an arrow in his eye. Shogun officials cover the incident up and blame the Lord whose land had been trespassed upon and order the Abe clan to be abolished. Abe clan retainers are given 30 days to accept this.Several of the clan retainers vow to kill the nutcase brother. The plot takes various twists and turns, failed attempts, close calls, the shogun rescinds the abolition of the Abe clan at the last minute but it still ends in a massive battle climax that, like Seven Samurai's epic battle, occurs in a driving rainstorm (minus the horses).The closest comparison with other films would be 13 Assassins, but the filming is nowhere near as good and the transfer is mediocre. There are too many shots of brooding and posturing Samurai, typical Japanese overacting (in western eyes), lots of shouting, grunting, slashing, hacking and improbable sword fight scenes where dozens of men get chopped up for no good reason.On the other hand, the Japanese scenery is beautiful if poorly filmed and much of the individual acting is good. If you understand and appreciate this genre it would be worth having in your collection but its far from the best example. It's a typical Samurai B movie.

Another really sterling entry in the samurai genre. This one obviously rides Kurosawa's coat tails, and is actually technically superior in terms of film stock and lighting as opposed to Kurosawa's film which shows its age in spite of being the better movie. Still, Eleven Saumrai is nothing to scoff at, though the plot gets a touch confusing with various factions trying to get this, that and the other thing. Rival clans and a group of bandits challenge our heroes in this half action and half contemplative samurai film.Check out a copy.

Somewhat like 47 ronin, but the ending wasn’t was climatic as 47 ronin. Old film production. Would be better in color.

Great Japanese film. Long build up to final action but then final goes a long time as well, typical Japanese filmmaking

Good for a Sunday night

Love these Samurai movies..

Along the lines of the oft retold 47 ronin. A good old-school samurai flik.

Gotta love these movies!

The arrogant and quick tempered Lord Nariatsu kills a Lord in his own land after a dispute over the murder of a farmer. When Nariatsu is cleared of all charges due to him been the shoguns favourite son, the dead Lords followers vow revenge. 11 Samurai are chosen and they are to be lead by the honorable Sengoku.This was the third and final part in director Kudo Eiichi's Samurai revolution trilogy. The first movie was 13 Assassins (1963) which is a big favourite among Japanese film movie fans and the second in the series was The Great Killing (1964).Imagine 13 Assassins, Seven Samurai and 47 Ronin combined then you have 11 Samurai. As with all of Kudo Eiichi's trilogy they are all very similar in plot but that doesn't make this final entry any less exciting than the other films. The only fault I could pick was the lack of characterization as the eight of the eleven are hardly seen.In the lead we have the iron faced, Isao Natsuyagi. He has the look and feel of a villain but his hard features make him the perfect choice to play Sengoku Hayato. The loyal ex Calvary leader. Who knows the attack will ultimately lead to the deaths of all of his chosen warriors. Which leads to his wife to commit suicide to wait for him on the other side. One of his Samurai is a women whose brother vowed to kill Nariatsu but died of tuberculosis so she took his place and the 11th is a warrior who wants to take the head of a lord as his father and his brother were once killed by such a man.In the build up we have numerous failed attempts that are thwarted by the cunning and crafty Gyobu who is Nariatsu's bodyguard. The climax is a great sequence, it takes place while Nariatsu and is men take refuge from the rain in a abandoned building looking over a river. Sengoku and his men launch a surprise attack in the storm. Kudo Eiichi stylizes the scene by adding in the mud, the rain and finally heavy fog.Akira Ifukube's score has a good main theme tune and then goes a little quiet until the final attack where his music is intense adding more emotion to a already gripping sequence.Overall its one of my favourite Samurai movies.GREAT DVD QUALITY. ENGLISH SUBS

Great product. Prompt delivery and safe packaging. Many thanks.