4.4 - SAMURAI SAGA (1959) and Drama

This week our tour through Martial Arts movies has reached the 1950s, with SAMURAI SAGA (the Westernised title). After reviews of the film we launch into a discussion that ranges from 8 MILE to Kaiju movies, via US teen high-school drama…

Next Week
The next film in our Martial Arts season is 1966’s COME DRINK WITH ME, available here.

This Week’s Media
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (2018): Anthony Russo, Stan Lee, Robert Downey Jr.
THE AMERICAN MEME (2018): Bert Marcus, Paris Hilton, Josh Ostrovsky
ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL (2019): Robert Rodriguez, James Cameron, Rosa Salazar

Recommendations
SIERRA BURGESS IS A LOSER (2018): Ian Samuels, Shannon Purser, Kristine Froseth
THRONE OF BLOOD (1957): Akira Kurosawa, Toshiro Mifune, Minoru Chiaki
ROXANNE (1987): Fred Schepisi, Steve Martin, Daryl Hannah
GODZILLA (1954): Ishirō Honda, Akira Takarada, Momoko Kōchi

Footnotes
The basic story of the source material is here. On day-for-night shooting, as discussed by Rob, see here. Here’s that astonishing-yet-wordless Heath Ledger performance. This is the most prominent Kevin Smith Q&A in which he refers to his weight (and his ‘ownership’ of this). Finally, here’s that piece of information about the link between Toshiro Mifune’s other films and the final scene of this one.