Satomi hakken-den (1983)

Director:

Kinji Fukasaku

Writers:

Kinji Fukasaku (writer)
Toshio Kamata (writer)

Release Date:

10 December 1983 (Japan)

Genre:

Adventure | Fantasy | Action | Drama

Plot:

Princess Shizu's family is wiped out by an family of undead seeking revenge. The eight samurai can save her, but who and where are they?

Plot Keywords:

Princess | Blood | Samurai | Undead | Castle

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Hiroko Yakushimaru	...	Princess Shizu
Hiroyuki Sanada	...	Inue Shinbei Masashi
Sonny Chiba	...	Inuyama Dosetsu Tadatomo
Etsuko Shihomi	...	Inusaka Keno Tanetomo
Yuki Meguro	...	Hikita Gonnokami Motofuji
Mari Natsuki	...	Tamazusa
Nana Okada	...	Hamaji
Masaki Kyômoto	...	Inuzuka Shino Moritaka
Kenji Ohba	...	Inukai Genpachi Nobufuchi
Nagare Hagiwara	...	Yonosuke
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Takuya Fukuhara	...	Inukawa Sosuke Yoshito
Seizo Fukumoto
Akira Hamada	...	Akushiro
Shunsuke Kariya	...	Inuta Kobungo Yasuyori
Keiko Matsuzaka	...	Princess Fuse (voice)
Mikio Narita
Tadashi Naruse
Akira Shioji	...	Genjin
Minori Terada	...	Inumura Daikaku Masanori
Taiji Tonoyama
Mamako Yoneyama	...	Funamushi

Also Known As:

Legend of Eight Samurai (International: English title)
Legend of the Eight Samurai (USA) (dubbed version)

Runtime:

Brazil:133 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:MA (DVD rating) | Australia:M | UK:15

Company:

Kadokawa Haruki Jimusho

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Shinbei goes "evil" and attacks the princess and her friends when he jumps off the back of the horse you can see the black wire that's attach to his back that's keeping him off the ground. Futhurmore if you check out the top corner of the screen you can see the winch that the other end of the wire is connected to swinging around.

Movie Connections:

Version of Ju-ichinin no samurai (1966)

Soundtrack:

Hakken-shi no Têma (White Light)

If you play videogames, you've already seen this movie. See it again anyway!

Every once and awhile (Normally among the younger generation, such as myself) you will see a movie and think "Wow, every movie I have ever SEEN has stolen ideas from this!" You will probably be overjoyed, having finally found that one adrenaline pounding action flick that you've always searched for. Thats how I felt when I first saw "Yojimbo" anyway. "BUT!", you say, "this isn't about "Yojimbo"! You need to explain the "Legend of the Eight Samurai"!" And indeed I do, but first, the comparison has to be made. If "Yojimbo" is the movie that every martial arts director has in some way emulated, "Legend of the Eight Samurai" ("LOTES") is the movie that every Japanese made videogame has, in some way, borrowed from. Stop reading if you want to be surprised, but I will present the partial list of comparisons between this film and classic videgames.



Plot Summary: There are a group of warriors (Almost any videogame) who possess Eight Glowing Crystals (The original final fantasy, other crystal-heavy games) which must save a Princess (Mario, Zelda, Lolo, etc.) from an Evil Evil Demonically Resurrected Warlord With Weird Magic Monster Stuff (Castlevania, Final Fantasy, etc.). Along the way, an unlikely hero (almost every videogame ever) will enlist the help of a Ninja Assassin (any videogame from the 80's), the One Bad Guy Who Turns Good at the Last Minute(any Final Fantasy Game), the One Guy Who Can Somehow Use Gunpowder(any Fantasy Setting Game), the Young Boy(every game from Pokemon to Zelda). In the course of the movie, the heroes will fight a giant centipede (everything from Abraxis to Zelda), miracously cure all of their wounds with only One Night of Sleep (EVERY game). Actually defeating the final badguy requires the life sacrifice of many characters (Most games), one Ultimate Powerful Bow and Arrow that was forged by good for, well, I don't really know (Zelda), and the ending has the credits roll while a confusingly translated Japanese Pop song plays.

Now, that may have sounded funky, but you REALLY have to see this. If you aren't convinced already, here's one more incentive: it has Sonny Chiba! If you've never heard of Chiba, you should look into his work. The goriness (and hillarity!) cannot be done with more attention to detail than in a Chiba movie.

I started watching this movie because of Chiba. I kept watching because of the Big Freaking Centipede. In the end, I felt like I understood the source of every videogame and anime plot since 1975. You should see this movie even if you don't play videogames. At the least, you'll find it entertaining for the action sequences and the occasionally (And suprisingly well translated) bits of dialogue.