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Kagemusha
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Kagemusha (1980) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
7.9/10   9,910 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 6% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Akira Kurosawa
Writers:
Masato Ide (writer)
Akira Kurosawa (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for Kagemusha on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
6 October 1980 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama | History | War more
Plot:
When a powerful warlord in medieval Japan dies, a poor thief recruited to impersonate him finds difficulty... more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 19 wins & 3 nominations more
User Comments:
One of the best serious samurai-movies more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Tatsuya Nakadai ... Shingen Takeda / Kagemusha
Tsutomu Yamazaki ... Nobukado Takeda
Kenichi Hagiwara ... Katsuyori Takeda
Jinpachi Nezu ... Sohachiro Tsuchiya
Hideji Otaki ... Masakage Yamagata
Daisuke Ryu ... Nobunaga Oda
Masayuki Yui ... Ieyasu Tokugawa
Kaori Momoi ... Otsuyanokata
Mitsuko Baisho ... Oyunokata
Hideo Murota ... Nobufusa Baba
Takayuki Shiho ... Masatoyo Naito
Koji Shimizu ... Katsusuke Atobe
Noboru Shimizu ... Masatane Hara
Sen Yamamoto ... Nobushige Oyamada
Shuhei Sugimori ... Masanobu Kosaka
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Kagemusha (The Shadow Warrior)
Kagemusha the Shadow Warrior
Shadow Warrior
The Double
more
Runtime:
180 min | Argentina:162 min | USA:162 min
Country:
Japan
Language:
Japanese
Color:
Color (Eastmancolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby
Filming Locations:
Gotemba, Shizuoka, Japan more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
When Toho Studios couldn't fulfill the budget demands of the film, American film directors George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola helped Akira Kurosawa by convincing 20th Century-Fox (still riding high after the success of Lucas' Star Wars (1977)) to fund the remaining portion of the budget in exchange for "Kagemusha"'s international distribution rights. more
Quotes:
Shingen Takeda: I am wicked, as you believe. I am a scoundrel. I banished my father and I killed my own son. I will do anything to rule this country. War is everywhere. Unless somebody unifies the nation and reigns over us, we will see more rivers of blood and more mountains of the dead. more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Seven Samurai: Origins and Influences (2006) (V) more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
23 out of 31 people found the following comment useful:-
One of the best serious samurai-movies, 24 November 2000
10/10
Author: dottorepaulo from Vienna, Austria

This film is one of Kurosawa's masterpieces and gives an profound insight in the pre-Tokugawa period of Japan. Especially remarkable is the very elaborated atmosphere of this film to which contribute the pure and simple dialogues and the use of very well-made sceneries. Kurosawa's favorite actor Tatsuya Nakadai is here at his best. Although the atmosphere is very elaborated and almost perfectly historic; tension of the viewer is heightened by the simplicity of the scenes. Kurosawa leaves certain parts to the viewer's imagination rather than showing it. The movie is highly philosophical as well as emotionally touching and presents the soul of the way of samurai and Japan's old samurai system much better and more serious than countless cheap- and bad-made martial arts movies about samurai. This is a warning to all who expect fast martial arts action and blood covered katana. This film is a Kurosawa-style mixture between opulent costume- drama, a philosophic and tragic story and the sensitivity only Kurosawa has displaying Japan's traditional way-of-life.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Kagemusha (1980)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Watch it on Hulu! boomdeay-1
Not in 250? giggle001
Sound-audio. konitzlee
Is the opening shot a special effects shot? ebright99
kurosawa's book to fund the film whitedogandharriet
Why Hollywood music? bostonfilmfan
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