Sengoku jieitai (1979)

A squadron of Japanese Self-Defense Force soldiers find themselves transported through time to their country's warring states era, when rival samurai clans were battling to become the ... See full summary »

Director:

Kôsei Saitô

Writers:

Ryo Hanmura (novel), Toshio Kamata

Stars:

Shin'ichi Chiba, Jun Etô, Moeko Ezawa

2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Shin'ichi Chiba	...	Lt. Yoshiaki Iba (as Sonny Chiba)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jun Etô	...	Nobuhiko Ken
Moeko Ezawa	...	Widow Yui
Ryô Hayami	...	Kazumichi Morishita
Noriko Honma	...	Old Woman
Koji Iizuka	...	Shokichi
Masashi Ishibashi	...	Hosokawa Fujitaka
Toshitaka Itô	...	Seaman Harumi Takashima
Haruki Kadokawa	...	Sanada Masayuki
Takuzô Kadono	...	Seaman Toshishige Suga
Hiroshi Kamayatsu	...	Mokichi Nemoto
Gorô Kataoka	...	Tategawa Katsuzo
Hiroshi Katsuno	...	Track Coach
Tadashi Katô	...	Sgt. Hideo Shimizu
Kenzô Kawarasaki	...	Koji Kano

Storyline

A squadron of Japanese Self-Defense Force soldiers find themselves transported through time to their country's warring states era, when rival samurai clans were battling to become the supreme Shogun. The squad leader, Lt. Iba, sees this as the perfect opportunity to realize his dream of becoming the ruler of Japan. To achieve this, he teams his troops up with those of Kagatori, a samurai daimyo who also aspires to become Shogun. Are either of these power-hungry warriors to be trusted?

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Plot Keywords:

samurai | japan | soldier | no credits | fighting style | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

January 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

G.I. Samurai

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kadokawa Haruki Jimusho

Technical Specs

Runtime:

139 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in The Last Horror Film (1982)

User Reviews

The greatest tanks vs. Samurais movie ever made!

Pop quiz: you're a part of the modern armed forces in peacetime on routine manoeuvres and you find yourself thrown back in time with a chance to change history. What do you do? Well, if you're a Hollywood studio, you change the Japanese G.I.s in G.I. Samurai (aka Timeslip) to the crew of an American aircraft carrier, have them debate stopping the attack on Pearl Harbour for 90 minutes and then go home and hope that no-one reminds you that Japan did it first and with more balls in 1979 with this Sonny Chiba movie. But unlike its Hollywood counterpart The Final Countdown, this sees its premise through: thrown back 400 years into the Japanese feudal wars, its peacetime soldiers decide that their best hope of getting back lies in provoking history by trying to change it by joining with a warlord to conquer the country – cue lots of tank and helicopter vs. samurai action, including a very impressive unrelenting 25 minute battle sequence featuring a cast of thousands inflicting serious damage on each other. And yes, there are decapitations.

Of course, things don't go as planned, and even superior firepower doesn't stand up as well as hoped to thousands of soldiers. Even before that, the soldiers are falling out with each other into those who want to go home, those who want to go to war and those who want to rape and pillage for the Hell of it. Impressively directed and surprisingly well thought through, the soft rock and country and western songs are sometimes a distraction, especially when they feature English lyrics sung by Japanese singers who audibly can't pronounce the words let alone speak the language, but it's a forgivable flaw in a surprisingly good sci-fi actioner.

Optimum's UK DVD is a good transfer of the uncut 138-minute version.