Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)

An African American mafia hit man who models himself after the samurai of old finds himself targeted for death by the mob.

Director:

Jim Jarmusch

Writer:

Jim Jarmusch

Stars:

Forest Whitaker, John Tormey, Cliff Gorman

1 win & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Forest Whitaker	...	Ghost Dog
John Tormey	...	Louie
Cliff Gorman	...	Sonny Valerio
Dennis Liu	...	Chinese Restaurant Owner
Frank Minucci	...	Big Angie
Richard Portnow	...	Handsome Frank
Tricia Vessey	...	Louise Vargo
Henry Silva	...	Ray Vargo
Gene Ruffini	...	Old Consigliere
Frank Adonis	...	Valerio's Bodyguard
Victor Argo	...	Vinny
Damon Whitaker	...	Young Ghost Dog
Kenny Guay	...	Boy in Window
Vince Viverito	...	Johnny Morini
Gano Grills	...	Gangsta in Red

Storyline

In Jersey City, an African American hit man follows "Hagakure: The Way of the Samurai." He lives alone, in simplicity with homing pigeons for company, calling himself Ghost Dog. His master, who saved his life eight years ago, is part of the local mob. When the boss' daughter witnesses one of Ghost Dog's hits, he becomes expendable. The first victims are his birds, and in response, Ghost Dog goes right at his attackers but does not want to harm his master or the young woman. On occasion, he talks with his best friend, a French-speaking Haitian who sells ice cream in the park, and with a child with whom he discusses books. Can he stay true to his code? And if he does, what is his fate?

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Plot Keywords:

dog | samurai | african american | death | friend | 

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Taglines:

Live by the code. Die by the code.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official webpage in Poland

Country:

France Germany USA Japan

Language:

English French

Release Date:

6 October 1999 (France)

Also Known As:

Ghost Dog

Filming Locations:

Jersey City, New Jersey, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$255,412 (Brazil) (21 February 2003)

Gross:

$255,412 (Brazil) (21 February 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pandora Filmproduktion, Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (ARD), Degeto Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In several scenes in the movie the main character can be seen wearing a shirt that has Chinese writing on it. The text is from the Qing dynasty and means "All things are impermanent, this is the rule of creation and destruction, once created already extinguished, silently ending is the path to happiness." (Pin yin: zhu xing wu chang, shi sheng mie fa, sheng mie mie yi, ji mie wei yue)

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Goofs

Drains have traps, thus making it impossible to shoot someone through them.

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Quotes

Ghost Dog: You know, in ancient cultures, bears were considered equal with men.
Hunter: This ain't no ancient culture here, mister.
Ghost Dog: Sometimes it is.

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Crazy Credits

The second to last person thanked at the credits' close is Akira Kurosawa--the Japanese filmmaker who filmed one of the Ghost Dog's central texts, Rashomon.

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Connections

Spoofs Léon: The Professional (1994)

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Soundtracks

"Ice-Cream"
(instrumental mix)
Written by R. Diggs and C. Woods
Produced, mixed and arranged by RZA for Wu-Tang Productions, Inc.
Published by Careers-BMG Music Publishing, Inc.
On behalf of Ramecca Music and Wu-Tang Publishing (BMI)
Featuring Ghostface Killah, Cappadonna and Raekwon
Raekwon appears courtesy of Loud Records

User Reviews

Interesting and deep, but not as deep as it tries to be

This is a great film; it has pretty much everything a great film needs: a great score, great actors, great performances, etc. The film revolves around Ghost Dog, perfectly portrayed by Forest Whitaker. He is a assassin who lives by the code of the Samurai. Apart from him, we also follow the fate of several mafia men(though nowhere near as intimately as we follow Ghost Dog). These two very different groups, Samurai and mafia, are both depicted reasonably well, giving us insight to how the groups work, and, more importantly, their code. Both groups live and die by the code, and this is probably the most important thing in the movie, and it's shown with respect with both Samurai and mafia; I'm not entirely sure that it's correct all the way through, but that's not what's most important, anyway. The film has reasonably little action, but it's not supposed to be an action film, by any means. It's fairly slow throughout the film, but it never really bores you to the point of not watching any more; I've seen the film at least five times now, so believe me, I know. The film is very stylized and cool throughout, which definitely has some part in keeping you interested, but the theme and story/plot plays a bigger part, I think. The plot is pretty good, and though it keeps a fairly slow pace throughout the film, it also keeps your interest for the entire duration of the film. The acting is all good, though not everyone pulls off as excellent a performance as Whitaker. Isaach De Bankolé portrays Ghost Dog's best friend, and he does gives a great performance. So does Camille Winbush, who portrays a girl who Ghost Dog befriends and discusses books with. The characters are well-written and(mostly) credible. I'm not entirely sure that the film does provide a totally correct version of the Code of the Samurai. The soundtrack is great; it's made by the hip-hop artist RZA, but most of it will be enjoyable to people who aren't into hip-hop. Also, I guess it's more of a score than a soundtrack; there isn't any time where the music feels out of place in a scene. All in all, a great film, but not for all tastes. Don't go in expecting an action film; don't go in expecting a very deep an entirely intellectual film; don't go in expecting a regular movie; go in expecting to see a decent(if not good) representation of both the mafia code and the Samurai code. I've heard some people describe the ending as an anti-climax; I don't know what they were expecting... I won't say that I saw it coming, but I wasn't disappointed when it happened. It had to end it, and I think the director, Jim Jarmusch made a good decision on that. I recommend this film to people with an interest in Samurai, fans of Jarmusch and people looking for a reasonably deep film. I don't recommend this to fans of action movies, as there's fairly little action in the film. No matter who you are, if you're going to see this film, make sure you have the patience for it; it's worth sitting through the two reasonably slow hours for. 8/10