Heaven and Earth (1990)
"Ten to Chi to" (original title)

Warlords Kagetora and Takeda each wish to prevent the other from gaining hegemony in feudal Japan. The two samurai leaders pursue one another across the countryside, engaging in massive ... See full summary »

Director:

Haruki Kadokawa

Writers:

Haruki Kadokawa, Chôgorô Kaionji,

Stars:

Takaaki Enoki, Masahiko Tsugawa, Atsuko Asano

1 win & 6 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Takaaki Enoki	...	Kagetora
Masahiko Tsugawa	...	Takeda Shingen
Atsuko Asano	...	Nami
Naomi Zaizen	...	Yae
Hironobu Nomura	...	Taro Yoshinobu
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Masatô Ibu	...	Akida
Morio Kazama	...	Imperial Messenger
Kyôko Kishida	...	Maid-In-Waiting
Hideo Murota	...	Obu
Isao Natsuyagi	...	Yamamoto Kansuke
Hiroyuki Okita	...	Kosaka Danjo
Tsunehiko Watase	...	Usami
Stuart Whitman	...	Narrator (English version) (voice)
Takeshi Ôbayashi
Hideji Ôtaki	...	Matasaburo

Storyline

Warlords Kagetora and Takeda each wish to prevent the other from gaining hegemony in feudal Japan. The two samurai leaders pursue one another across the countryside, engaging in massive battles of cavalry and infantry. Younger and less brutal, Kagetora must find the strength to be as brutal as his opponent, but at what cost?

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Plot Keywords:

japan | samurai | jidai geki | chambara | flute | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | War

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

English Japanese

Release Date:

8 February 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

Heaven and Earth

Filming Locations:

Alberta, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$42,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$307,775 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Haruki Kadokawa Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min 104 min (cut) 125 min (uncut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

It took four months to film all the battle scenes for the film, each day using 500 crew, 80 wranglers, 95 Assistant Directors, seven full camera crews (two Japanese and five American), 40 tons of wardrobe, 3000 extras, 800 horses with riders.

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Goofs

The Ashigaru (foot-soldiers) all wore Mempo (face masks). Mempo were only worn by samurai (and not even then by ALL samurai), who were all mounted. The reason for this is because pretty much all of the Ashigaru were played by Canadians, and the Mempo hid this fact.

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Quotes

Usami: Even brothers are subject to fate - you were born to be a ruler - war is your destiny!

User Reviews

Beautiful To See, But Not Much Else

This is one of the prettier films I've seen with some wonderful cinematography and beautiful scenery. It's the reason I kept the film for quite a while, because the story was uninvolving. All the characters sound the same with a lot of the grunting macho male voices. The Japanese seem to show this in a number of films and is so foreign to our culture, it's hard to relate.

This is a story about two warriors - one shown in orange and the other in black, but it really wasn't good guy-versus-bad guy, just two people battling over land. Boy, that sounds familiar, as you know. Countries do the same, unfortunately.

This movie, according to critics, was supposed to have some fantastic action scenes. Well, let's just say that's not the case; the action scenes are very overrated.

Great visuals are the attraction here; not much else. Still, it's a shame something this beautiful is not available on DVD.