IMDb > Samurai Assassin (1965)

Samurai Assassin (1965) More at IMDbPro »Samurai (original title)

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Overview

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Director:
Kihachi Okamoto
Writers:
Shinobu Hashimoto (screenplay)
Jiromasa Gunji (novel)
Contact:
View company contact information for Samurai Assassin on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
5 March 1965 (USA) See more »
Genre:
Action | Adventure | Drama | History See more »
Plot:
February 17 to March 3, 1860, inside Edo castle. A group of assassins wait by Sakurada Gate to kill the lord of the House of Ii... See more » | Add synopsis »
Plot Keywords:
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NewsDesk:
(20 articles)
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Blu-ray, DVD Release: The Samurai Trilogy
 (From Disc Dish. 2 April 2012, 7:30 AM, PDT)
The Criterion Collection Announce June 2012 Blu-ray Slate Including Shallow Grave
 (From TheHDRoom. 17 March 2012, 10:40 AM, PDT)
User Reviews:
A complicated tale but delivers the action See more (7 total) »

Cast

  (in credits order) (complete, awaiting verification)

Toshirô Mifune ... Tsuruchiyo Niiro
Keiju Kobayashi ... Einosuke Kurihara
Michiyo Aratama ... Okiku / Kikuhime
Yûnosuke Itô ... Kenmotsu Hoshino
Eijirô Tôno ... Masagorô Kisoya
Tatsuyoshi Ehara ... Ichigoro Hayama
Tadao Nakamaru ... Shigezo Inada
Kaoru Yachigusa ... Mitsu
Haruko Sugimura ... Tsuru
Nami Tamura ... Yae
Shirô Ôtsuji ... Kaname Kojima
Yoshio Inaba ... Keijiro Sumita
Akihiko Hirata ... Sohei Masui
Hideyo Amamoto ... Matazaburo Hagiwara
Ikio Sawamura ... Tatsukichi Bisenya
Chôtarô Tôgin ... Seiichi Morikawa
Yasuzô Ogawa ... Ronin
Masanari Nihei ... Ronin
Toshio Kurosawa ... Katsunoshin Itamura
Yoshifumi Tajima ... Samurai
Komazô Ichikawa ... Shuzen Nakano
Nadao Kirino ... Samurai
Ren Yamamoto
Jun'ichirô Mukai ... Samurai
Kôji Iwamoto ... Ronin
Naoya Kusakawa ... Man with sharp eyes
Yasuhisa Tsutsumi ... Sumoya manager
Yurie Hidaka
Fujio Tokita ... Ronin
Hiroshi Hasegawa ... Ronin
Mitsugu Terashima ... Chuzaemon Nishikawa

Takashi Shimura ... Narihisa Ichijô
Susumu Fujita ... Tatewaki Todo
Shikaku Nakamura ... Gengobei Nosaka
Chûsha Ichikawa ... Sahyônosuke Matsudaira
Nagayo Kita
Kan Hôshô
Hakuô Matsumoto ... Lord Naosuke Ii (as Kôshirô Matsumoto)
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Directed by
Kihachi Okamoto 
 
Writing credits
Shinobu Hashimoto (screenplay)

Jiromasa Gunji (novel "Samurai Nippon")

Produced by
Masao Suzuki .... line producer
Tomoyuki Tanaka .... producer
Robert J. Woodhead .... executive producer (U.S. video version)
 
Original Music by
Masaru Satô 
 
Cinematography by
Hiroshi Murai 
 
Film Editing by
Yoshitami Kuroiwa 
 
Production Design by
Iwao Akune 
 
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Michio Yamamoto .... chief assistant director
 
Sound Department
Yoshio Nishikawa .... sound
Hisashi Shimonaga .... sound mixer
 
Special Effects by
Minoru Izumi .... special effects
 
Stunts
Ryû Kuze .... fight choreographer
 
Camera and Electrical Department
Tsuruzo Nishikawa .... lighting technician
 
Other crew
Hisayo Klutz .... cultural consultant (US video version)
Shin Kurokawa .... translator (US video version)
Natsumi Ueki .... dialogue checker (US video version)
Robert J. Woodhead .... subtitling director (US video version)
 
Crew believed to be complete


Production CompaniesDistributors
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
"Samurai" - Japan (original title)
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Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents
Runtime:
122 min
Country:
Japan
Language:
Japanese
Color:
Black and White
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 See more »
Sound Mix:
Mono
Certification:
Australia:M
Company:
Mifune Productions Co. Ltd.See more »

Did You Know?

Movie Connections:
Version of Samurai Nippon (1957)See more »

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User Reviews

   (Review this title)
6 out of 12 people found the following review useful.
A complicated tale but delivers the action, 17 September 2002
Author: gkbazalo from Scottsdale, AZ

Samurai Assassin is a complicated story but easier to follow than director Okomoto's excellent Sword of Doom made a year later. While it is clear that the band of assassins is seeking revenge on an official for an earlier purge on the assassins' clans, we never learn about the original reasons for their enmity. Historically, the disagreements concerned relations with foreign countries who were seeking to open up Japan to trade, but this is never alluded to in the film. The driving forces of the story, and they are good ones, are Niino's (Mifune) ambition to achieve full samurai rank and the paranoia of the leaders of the assassin band. These two forces interact nicely as the plot unfolds. Eijiro Tono (the innkeeper who befriends Mifune in Yojimbo) does his usual terrific job as the merchant who helped raise Niino and tries to protect him from meeting a tragic fate. Highly recommended for samurai and Mifune fans.

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Related Links

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