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March 29, 2024, 02:46:24 PM

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Three Outlaw Samurai (Hideo Gosha, 1964)

Started by Chedney Honks, September 11, 2021, 08:13:24 AM

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Chedney Honks



I've had this chanbara classic sitting on the shelf for about nine months, waiting for the mood to take me, and I finally put it on a few nights ago with no real expectations. I've seen a few non-Kurosawa samurai movies from the 50s and 60s, but my gut feeling was if I fancy B&W samurai action, I might as well revisit the maestro. Three Outlaw Samurai hooked me within a few minutes, though, and I gorged it in one sitting (which is quite rare for me, however sacrilegious that may be).

The plot itself is relatively straightforward, starving peasants kidnap the magistrate's daughter to draw attention to their plight, but this develops considerably as motivations and loyalties become blurred, and I cheered and gasped at how events unfolded at several points. I wouldn't say that there were any 'twists' here, just surprisingly rich archetypes making believable decisions. This gives the film so much drive because almost every scene shifts the dynamic in one direction or another and reframes your expectations. I'd seen all of these pieces before, but I hadn't seen them move quite like this. I think it's one of the best paced action movies I can recall.

Beyond the galloping narrative, the film looks tremendous. The blocking, framing and lighting are superb, and so there's always something inventive to draw your eye. Silly comment perhaps but it really doesn't need to look this good. Again, it might just be my expectations of pulp but, purely in terms of cinematography, it straddles genre and arthouse in a very satisfying way. It also uses location very well. The peasants and titular Outlaws hole up at a mill which serves as a central hub, secure but increasingly vulnerable, like King Hu's beloved inns. It acts almost like the Save Room in Resident Evil, but I won't comment further than that.

The lead Outlaws are all incredibly charismatic and engaging, from the principled paternal ronin, Tetsuro Tamba, to the jovial and loyal Isamu Nagato, and the cynical, uncertain Mikijiro Hira. They play off each other and bond across various divides in a way that makes you root for each, without extending the same empathy to the various characters they're working with. In fact, while Gosha celebrates these individual connections, he is very scathing about societal expectations and codes and mores. Despite how much I enjoyed the film as a popcorn muncher, it does take a pretty grim view of humanity and civilisation, overall. And yet again, this underlying rancour enriches what could have 'only' been an effective action flick.

I would recommend this to anyone. Literally, the only thing I lament is that the Criterion Collection Blu-ray has zero extras, just the film. This is right up there with something like the first Zatoichi or Sword of Doom.

Small Man Big Horse

Well I'm sold, I've not seen many Samurai movies at all and this sounds like a great way to partially remedy that, so will give it a shot some point soon.

Chedney Honks

Nice one. I'd be interested how you find it because it definitely plays on a lot of established samurai tropes. If you do fancy any others, then you can't go wrong with Yojimbo, Zatoichi and Sword of Doom. They're all tight, brilliant and pretty much perfectly formed.