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IMDbPro

Samurai Banners

Original title: Fûrin kazan
  • 19691969
  • 2h 45m
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
750
YOUR RATING
Samurai Banners (1969)
  • Action
  • Adventure
  • Drama
A shrewd 16th Century samurai helps a daimyo expand his realm.A shrewd 16th Century samurai helps a daimyo expand his realm.A shrewd 16th Century samurai helps a daimyo expand his realm.
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
750
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Hiroshi Inagaki
  • Writers
    • Shinobu Hashimoto
    • Yasushi Inoue(novel "Furin kazan")
    • Takeo Kunihiro
  • Stars
    • Toshirô Mifune
    • Yoshiko Sakuma
    • Kinnosuke Nakamura
Top credits
  • Director
    • Hiroshi Inagaki
  • Writers
    • Shinobu Hashimoto
    • Yasushi Inoue(novel "Furin kazan")
    • Takeo Kunihiro
  • Stars
    • Toshirô Mifune
    • Yoshiko Sakuma
    • Kinnosuke Nakamura
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 7User reviews
    • 6Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos13

    Samurai Banners (1969)
    Samurai Banners (1969)
    Samurai Banners (1969)
    Toshirô Mifune in Samurai Assassin (1965)
    Toshirô Mifune in Samurai Banners (1969)
    Toshirô Mifune and Yoshiko Sakuma in Samurai Banners (1969)
    Toshirô Mifune in Samurai Banners (1969)
    Toshirô Mifune and Kinnosuke Nakamura in Samurai Banners (1969)
    Toshirô Mifune in Samurai Banners (1969)
    Samurai Banners (1969)
    Toshirô Mifune in Samurai Banners (1969)
    Samurai Banners (1969)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Toshirô Mifune
    Toshirô Mifune
    • Kansuke Yamamotoas Kansuke Yamamoto
    Yoshiko Sakuma
    • Princess Yufuas Princess Yufu
    Kinnosuke Nakamura
    • Shingen Takedaas Shingen Takeda
    Yûjirô Ishihara
    Yûjirô Ishihara
    • Kenshin Uesugias Kenshin Uesugi
    Katsuo Nakamura
    Katsuo Nakamura
    • Nobusato Itagakias Nobusato Itagaki
    Kanzaburô Nakamura
    • Katsuyori Takedaas Katsuyori Takeda
    • (as Kankurô Nakamura)
    Kan'emon Nakamura
    Kan'emon Nakamura
    • Nobukato Itagakias Nobukato Itagaki
    Masakazu Tamura
    • Nobushige Takedaas Nobushige Takeda
    Mayumi Ôzora
    • Princess Okotoas Princess Okoto
    Ken Ogata
    Ken Ogata
    Takashi Shimura
    Takashi Shimura
    Kôji Nanbara
    Kôji Nanbara
    • Roninas Ronin
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Hiroshi Inagaki
    • Writers
      • Shinobu Hashimoto
      • Yasushi Inoue(novel "Furin kazan")
      • Takeo Kunihiro
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    User reviews7

    Review
    Top review
    A sprawling epic that lacks the spectacle to go with the duration...
    For the whopping 2 hours and 45 minutes it lasts, Samurai Banners really has little to recommend it. Long movies are fine if that's how much it takes to communicate what you have to say, but there's a good 45 minutes here that could have been clipped and it would still be the same movie.

    Furin Kazan (as is the original title) was the name of the war banners used by one of the greatest warlords of 16th century Japan, Takeda Shingen, lord of the Takeda clan. The name is derived from Sun Tzu's famous book "Art of War", meaning "Swift as the Wind, Silent as a Forest, Fierce as Fire and Immovable as a Mountain". The movie recalls the early years of Takeda leading up to the defining battle of Kawannakajima. If the name is familiar, that's because it's the same character depicted by Tatsuya Nakadai in Akira Kurosawa's Kagemusha (there in his later years). Indeed, coming near the end of a prolific career, in many ways this is Hiroshi Inagaki's Kagemusha.

    Where SB falters is that it spends far too much time in namesdropping and planning battles than it does in actually showing them. Lots of build-up but little as far as spectacle goes. A mixture of politics, war strategy, romance and drama, this jidai-geki desperately calls for something to spice things up. The battle scenes are few and far between and really not very well choreographed. The final battle scene is particularly anti-climactic, more so after the massive built-up that leads to it. There's nice use of colours in banners and some beautiful exterior shots but much like Kagemusha, it feels like a dress rehearsal for a better movie. The extras seem to be going through the motions instead of giving it their all. Unlike Kagemusha though, this one doesn't have the deep character drama to go with it.

    Fortunately for us and perhaps the only thing that holds things together, is the typically fantastic Toshiro Mifune giving another solid performance. Playing Takeda Shingen's right hand, an ambitious man with dreams of a big, unified Japan under Takeda's banner, he's consistently great. Of course he doesn't do anything he hasn't done better under Kurosawa's direction, but he's always a pleasure to watch.
    helpful•7
    0
    • chaos-rampant
    • Jun 21, 2008

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 24, 1969 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • Japan
    • Language
      • Japanese
    • Also known as
      • Under the Banner of Samurai
    • Production companies
      • Mifune Productions Co. Ltd.
      • Toho Company
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 45 minutes
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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