The Bushido Blade

Starring:Richard Boone, ToshirÃ´ Mifune, Timothy Patrick Murphy, Frank Converse, William Ross (II), Bin Amatsu, Sonny Chiba, Iwae Arai, James Earl Jones, Laura Gemser, Mako, Kin Omae, Tetsuro Tamba, Mike Starr, Mayumi Asano (II)
Director: Shusei Kotani
Studio: Lance Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

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There's cheese-ball fun to this 1979 misfire, an American-Japanese coproduction made to cash in on Shogun-mania. Richard Boone (in his last role) plays the real-life Commodore Perry, who ended centuries of Japanese isolation by signing a treaty with a resolute shogun (Toshiro Mifune) in 1854. Against the historical backdrop is the fictional adventure of a Yankee officer (a stiff and stilted Frank Converse) who pits American gumption against samurai swordsmanship to recover the sacred Bushido Blade. Sonny Chiba's dynamic presence as a warrior prince helps energize the rudimentary fight choreography and the low budget shows through in undernourished set pieces. But the pace never lets up, and helping distract from Converse's crippling lack of charisma are the solid supporting cast, among them half-Japanese female samurai Laura Gemser, imprisoned sailor James Earl Jones, and Mike Starr as the burly bosun who bonds with a sumo wrestler in a tussle that bridges cultural and verbal barriers. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

Samurai vs Yankee?.......2005-06-25

In support of the previous reviewer's comments, those writers who sneer at the very idea that a western sabreur could triumph over a Samurai are being sadly and deludedly unpatriotic (not a quality usually associated with Americans, let it be said).

In fact, there are a number of accounts dating from this period of Samurai being embarrassed by the skill of western opponents - and some of these are Japanese accounts. One may speculate that it was simple culture-shock, but it remains true all the same.

As for the film, it's no great shakes, but the fight is credited to a Japanese fight director, and if this is the case he deserves brownie points for a decent bit of difficult choreography.

A fascinating event, worthy of a far better film........2005-06-03

The meeting between Commodore Perry's flotilla, and the Japanese has always been one of the most fascinating events of history, as far as I am concerned. It really is a pity that it is something that has never been done well on film. This film is no exception. The first official contact between the United States and Japan is used here as a setting for a pulp adventure story. If you keep this in mind, and don't do into this with overly high expectations, this is a reasonably enjoyable picture. It's an adventure film, nothing more. But anyone who expects high art or historical accuracy is sure to be disappointed. I do wish, though, that someone would make a historically accurate film about this pivotal and fascinating historical event. It's a pity this film isn't that movie, since Richard Boone does make a good Commodore Perry.

I must say a word, however, to those who sneer at the very idea that an American military officer of the 19th century could even hope to be a match for a samurai in swordsmanship. The idea is not as farfetched as you might imagine. In the first place, not all Western swords are the inferior trash imagined. Nor are katanas lightsabers. Some 19th century Western swords were mass produced blades of indifferent quality. Others were very well made weapons of very fine steel (and usually less brittle and prone to chipping than Japanese swords, even if they wouldn't hold an edge so well as a superbly made katana). Not every samurai's sword was a Masamune masterpiece. The Japanese, even in the feudal period, were no strangers to mass produced, lesser quality blades. Nor was every samurai a master swordsman (any more than every Wild West cowboy was an expert gunfighter). One must remember that for the samurai, the sword was only one of three major weapons, along with the bow, and the yari (a thrusting spear) -- and was in fact, the least of the three. In fact, the sword really did not even become the premier weapon of samurai culture and reach its cult status until the mid to late 17th century when the period of civil wars ended. It is instructive to note that the expression so associated with bushido is "the Way of the horse and bow", not "the Way of the sword." By the same token, Western military officers could also be master swordsmen. The sword had almost reached the very end of its use as a military weapon in the Western world, but it was not quite dead yet, and there were still a number of schools that instructed students in its use at that time. Nor are Western styles of swordsmanship so vastly inferior to the style of swordsmanship practiced in Japan. In general, the average samurai of the 19th century WAS indeed far more likely to be a master swordsman than the average Western military officer. But the idea that an American officer of that period couldn't possibly possess a level of skill with a blade equal to that of a 19th century samurai is not quite accurate either. Those who dismiss the western martial arts so blithely are usually those who know nothing about them.

Worst Samurai Film Ever.......2005-04-04

I am a big fan of samurai films and Japanese cinema. Toshiro Mifune is my favorite actor. I own about sixty or so samurai and/or mifune movies. With that said, I purchased Bushido Blade in hopes that it would be tolerable. I was sadly mistaken. Don't let your curiousity get the better of you and your money. The plot is missing, the acting is terrible (except for Mifune, who speaks English in this film without understanding the language, yet he is dubbed anyway), and the quality is unbearable. In one part, a US naval officer beats a samurai in a sword fight. Give me a break!

Remarkably bad.......2004-11-08

Most American films about the Samurai culture showed a great deal of respect and interest that the real public had about their former-enemy's ethnic warrior culture. This one seems aimed at making the Japanese as ridiculous as possible. A waste of one of the greatest actors of all time, Toshiro Mifune, doesn't help. Richard Boone and James Earl Jones are also shamefully misused.

Now for the infamous fight scene. There was no way in HELL a US marine could best ANY samurai in sword to sword combat. The Last Samurai was an entertaining if flawed pic, and the scene where Tom Cruise expertly takes down serveral samurai on horse back with his Union Army sabre was quite laughable. Civil war-era soldiers where not often trained in swordsmanship, and the blades themselves where clumsy, poorly made and ineffectual weapons. The Bushido Blade, however, outdoes Tom Cruise's exaggerated fighting skills by displaying a know-nothing good ol' boy Marine dealing with particularly deadly samurai. Ethnocentrism anyone?

Poor Quality Recording.......2004-06-19

My complaints are not with the film itself but with the quality of the VHS recording. I ordered this tape brand new and paid full price, but the cassette I received was clearly used and recorded over. The soundtrack from some old news/interview program could clearly be heard overlapping the film dialogue throughout the tape. It's annoying to the point where the tape is unwatchable.

Description

In 1854, Commodore Matthew Perry anchored his fleet in the shadow of Mount Fuji in Yokohama Bay. His arrival awoke Japan from a sleep of centuries.

In a feudal society torn between those who wish to move into the modern world and the rebel clans sworn to the "old ways," Perry pushes for a treaty to open the country, which the Shogun agrees to sign. But before the signing can take place, a fanatical group of samurai abducts a gift from the Shogun intended for the U.S. President. It is a national treasure of sacred significance to the Japanese - the great sword known as the Bushido Blade. The treaty cannot be signed until the Blade is recovered. It is an urgent and dangerous quest.

Customer Reviews:

Bushido Blade.......2005-12-12

This is the single most entertaining and moving film I can recall seeing in recent years. This film was unbelievably pathetic on so many levels, ie: historical accuracy, writing, acting, plot, theme,etc., I can't begin to comment. It was entertaining in the sense we were throwing things at OUR screen while correcting all the inaccuracies, poor writing and just plain bad acting. I was moved through a variety of emotions while watching this film, including, anger, disgust, nausea, and shock. No mortal is perfect and we all have to eat but how they EVER got the great Toshiro Mifune involved in this film (and role) has to be the ultimate cinematic mystery of our time. My words may sound "..spiteful.." but they are as true and accurate as I can make them about this embarrassment of an American film.

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