Legend of the Eight Samurai

Legend of the Eight Samurai


Starring:Hiroko Yakushimaru, Hiroyuki Sanada, Sonny Chiba, Etsuko Shihomi, Mari Natsuki, Yuki Meguro, Nana Okada, Masaki Kyomoto, Kenji Ohba, Nagare Hagiwara, Mikio Narita, Tadashi Naruse, Taiji Tonoyama, Seizo Fukumoto, Minori Terada
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Studio: Unicorn Video
Product Type: DVD
The Samurai Collection Featuring Sonny Chiba: T.I. Samurai/Legend of the Eight Samurai/Ninja Wars
Average customer rating: Not rated
    The Samurai Collection Featuring Sonny Chiba: T.I. Samurai/Legend of the Eight Samurai/Ninja Wars
    Starring: Samurai Collection
    Manufacturer: Bci / Eclipse
    ProductGroup: DVD
    Binding: DVD

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    3. Mel Gibson's Apocalypto (Widescreen Edition)

    ASIN: B000J3EB94
    Release Date: 2006-11-21
    Legend of the Eight Samurai
    Average customer rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
    • Would have been better to seen the subtitle version.
    • Soft PG-13/Case-study for Carl Jung
    • What's Up with the Cover Photo!!???
    • It's not THAT bad...(WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS!!)
    • Very silly
    Legend of the Eight Samurai
    Starring: Hiroko Yakushimaru , Hiroyuki Sanada , Sonny Chiba , Etsuko Shihomi , and Yuki Meguro
    Director: Kinji Fukasaku
    Manufacturer: Vci Video
    ProductGroup: DVD
    Binding: DVD

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    2. Makai Tensho: Samurai Reincarnation
    3. Street Fighter/Return of the Street Fighter
    4. Beyond Justice
    5. The Sonny Chiba Collection: Shogun's Ninja

    ASIN: B0000AC8MO
    Release Date: 2003-07-29

    Description

    A martial arts feature inspired by the 1814 epic Japanese novel, Nanso Satomi Hakkenden. The LEGEND OF EIGHT SAMURAI depicts the story of young princess Shizuhime (Yakushimaru) living in feudal Japan, facing the threats of the sinister forces of the Hikita Clan. The Hikita leader, Lady Tamazusa, wants the princess for a blood sacrifice that will sustain the evil witch's youthful appearance. When Shizuhime is kidnapped by the clan, only the Hakkenshi, eight samurai warriors endowed with the virtues of Confucianism, can save her from certain death. Bonus Features: Sonny Chiba Bio| Scene Selection. Specs: DVD5; Dolby Digital Mono; 130 minutes; Color; 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio; MPAA - NR; Year - 1983; SRP - $9.99.

    Customer Reviews:

    3 out of 5 stars Would have been better to seen the subtitle version........2007-01-31

    The dub is pretty bad. A subtitled version would have been better.

    3 out of 5 stars Soft PG-13/Case-study for Carl Jung.......2007-01-21

    First, this film has nothing to do with the Kurosawa classic that has one less Samurai. In the movie the band is referred to as ninjas, and I am not sure why they rendered the title differently. If they are trying to cash in on the famous movie, this makes sense in a Dilbert marketing sort of way. If they are trying to move away from the ninja image associated with 1980's movies and the turtles, forget about it--we've moved past it all.

    What impressed me about this movie was its ability to manage an intricate story with many characters, and still keep me riveted to the screen. Personally, I would have cut the eight down to three. As it is, some the ninjas seem to be numeric placeholders. If they had made the movie a half an hour longer, the could have fleshed out the people. However, since their individual back-stories are not essential to the plot, it is well they are not elaborated upon.

    Although the special effects seem hokey by 21st Century standards (and even by 1983 standards), I was able to look past them and saw what the effects were pointing to: a tale of family honor, revenge, magic (magia and goetia), and a brooding fate.

    It is this omnipresent (and omnivorous) fate that wrangles me the most. To Americans, fatalism has negative connotations. It implies that someone else is in control, and may not have our best interests at heart. And so much of Japanese religion is devoted to submissing to fate that it is distasteful. How do you really know if it is fate? And since we all have some cosmic doom hanging over us, is that why the Japanese spend so much psychological energy to beautify things?

    So I found the two incidents of redemption and fate-breaking a breath of clean air. Artistically, watching Shinbei move from a ne're-do-well Han Solo, to becoming a zombie-ghoul to becoming a hero for the rightwise born princess. My favorite charter is the no-name red Samurai who breaks from the Evil Witch's ranks, and goes over to Princess Shizuhime's raiders.

    I liked the glowstones. They are a common image, found in The Dark Crystal, the Silmarillion, the Lensmen, Kabbalah, and the Book of Mormon. Jung has a lot to say about stones and identities in "Man and His Symbols." Hint: the eight ninjas stone-bearers become stones at the end of the movie.

    One last note: Most Americans chuckle at the princess who had to marry a dog (reversing Elvis's lamentation), but Frazer points out that such thaumaturgic marriages were common in the ancient world ("The Golden Bough," Ch. XII).

    I would rate this movie PG-13, due to several scenes of graphic violence (a cheek being cut, and a beheading), and partial nudity (we see the backside of a woman emerging from a pool), which seems to have been edited to American sensibilities. As it stands, it is a soft PG-13.

    2 out of 5 stars What's Up with the Cover Photo!!???.......2006-12-13

    Does anyone know why a scene of Toshiro Mifune as Musashi in "Samurai Trilogy" is on the cover of this DVD!??

    3 out of 5 stars It's not THAT bad...(WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS!!).......2005-10-11

    I personally liked the movie...Ok, so it was kinda corny at times, but it had it's 'alright' moments:
    1. The look on the princess's face when she agreed to eat the snake (you got to admit, the look WAS pricless)
    2. When Shinbei goes riding through the village calling out, "BRING ME THE GIRLS!!"
    3. When Shinbei was kicked out of the group and the princess gives him her flute...
    4. When Shinbei finds out the evil witch is his mother!!!
    5. When the evil witch goes in the bath (that looks alot like tomato soup!)fully clothed, and comes out young and...naked..then she takes a drink of the tomato bath...mmm..
    6. When Shinbei becomes evil and tries to kill the princess and then gets struck by lightning and wakes up and makes love to the her.
    7. Not to forget the fantastic fight scene at the end of the film where all but Shinbei and the princess die, not to mention all the wonderful ways they died...

    So, all-in-all, the best actor in the whole movie was Hiroyuki (henry) Sanada (who played the main character) and Sonny Chiba really did suck, but seems to get ALL the CREDIT!! >_ < probibly a good thing so not damage Hiroyuki's wonderful future as an actor...over all I think this was a fun, corny, mindless kind of movie that you really don't have to think about..just enjoy! ^_^

    2 out of 5 stars Very silly.......2004-12-14

    Legend of the Eight Samurai is just as bad as you'd think it should be. The plot bounces around in a most confusing fashion, but who cares about what's going on, anyway? The word Samurai is interchanged with Ninja in this story. The cast includes such characters as The Princess, Necktie Ninja, pantsless Samurai, unloved lady ninja, Elvis Samurai, The Evil Queen, the old lady who tears her own face off, and a bevy of poisonous women. Throw in tentacles and glowing blue balls, and the MST3K-style jokes happen all on their own. For ease of comprehension, all you need to remember is that the way of the Samurai is death, and expect a final deathcount of Shakespearian proportions.
    Legend of the Eight Samurai
    Average customer rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
    • Would have been better to seen the subtitle version.
    • Soft PG-13/Case-study for Carl Jung
    • What's Up with the Cover Photo!!???
    • It's not THAT bad...(WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS!!)
    • Very silly
    Legend of the Eight Samurai
    Starring: Hiroko Yakushimaru , Hiroyuki Sanada , Sonny Chiba , Etsuko Shihomi , and Yuki Meguro
    Director: Kinji Fukasaku
    Manufacturer: Leisure Entertainment
    ProductGroup: DVD
    Binding: DVD

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    Action & AdventureAction & Adventure | Japan | By Country | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video
    Chiba, SonnyChiba, Sonny | ( C ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
    Fukasaku, KinjiFukasaku, Kinji | ( F ) | Directors | Stores | DVD | Video
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    1. Sonny Chiba Samurai
    2. Makai Tensho: Samurai Reincarnation
    3. Street Fighter/Return of the Street Fighter
    4. Beyond Justice
    5. The Sonny Chiba Collection: Shogun's Ninja

    ASIN: B0000640UV
    Release Date: 2002-01-08

    Customer Reviews:

    3 out of 5 stars Would have been better to seen the subtitle version........2007-01-31

    The dub is pretty bad. A subtitled version would have been better.

    3 out of 5 stars Soft PG-13/Case-study for Carl Jung.......2007-01-21

    First, this film has nothing to do with the Kurosawa classic that has one less Samurai. In the movie the band is referred to as ninjas, and I am not sure why they rendered the title differently. If they are trying to cash in on the famous movie, this makes sense in a Dilbert marketing sort of way. If they are trying to move away from the ninja image associated with 1980's movies and the turtles, forget about it--we've moved past it all.

    What impressed me about this movie was its ability to manage an intricate story with many characters, and still keep me riveted to the screen. Personally, I would have cut the eight down to three. As it is, some the ninjas seem to be numeric placeholders. If they had made the movie a half an hour longer, the could have fleshed out the people. However, since their individual back-stories are not essential to the plot, it is well they are not elaborated upon.

    Although the special effects seem hokey by 21st Century standards (and even by 1983 standards), I was able to look past them and saw what the effects were pointing to: a tale of family honor, revenge, magic (magia and goetia), and a brooding fate.

    It is this omnipresent (and omnivorous) fate that wrangles me the most. To Americans, fatalism has negative connotations. It implies that someone else is in control, and may not have our best interests at heart. And so much of Japanese religion is devoted to submissing to fate that it is distasteful. How do you really know if it is fate? And since we all have some cosmic doom hanging over us, is that why the Japanese spend so much psychological energy to beautify things?

    So I found the two incidents of redemption and fate-breaking a breath of clean air. Artistically, watching Shinbei move from a ne're-do-well Han Solo, to becoming a zombie-ghoul to becoming a hero for the rightwise born princess. My favorite charter is the no-name red Samurai who breaks from the Evil Witch's ranks, and goes over to Princess Shizuhime's raiders.

    I liked the glowstones. They are a common image, found in The Dark Crystal, the Silmarillion, the Lensmen, Kabbalah, and the Book of Mormon. Jung has a lot to say about stones and identities in "Man and His Symbols." Hint: the eight ninjas stone-bearers become stones at the end of the movie.

    One last note: Most Americans chuckle at the princess who had to marry a dog (reversing Elvis's lamentation), but Frazer points out that such thaumaturgic marriages were common in the ancient world ("The Golden Bough," Ch. XII).

    I would rate this movie PG-13, due to several scenes of graphic violence (a cheek being cut, and a beheading), and partial nudity (we see the backside of a woman emerging from a pool), which seems to have been edited to American sensibilities. As it stands, it is a soft PG-13.

    2 out of 5 stars What's Up with the Cover Photo!!???.......2006-12-13

    Does anyone know why a scene of Toshiro Mifune as Musashi in "Samurai Trilogy" is on the cover of this DVD!??

    3 out of 5 stars It's not THAT bad...(WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS!!).......2005-10-11

    I personally liked the movie...Ok, so it was kinda corny at times, but it had it's 'alright' moments:
    1. The look on the princess's face when she agreed to eat the snake (you got to admit, the look WAS pricless)
    2. When Shinbei goes riding through the village calling out, "BRING ME THE GIRLS!!"
    3. When Shinbei was kicked out of the group and the princess gives him her flute...
    4. When Shinbei finds out the evil witch is his mother!!!
    5. When the evil witch goes in the bath (that looks alot like tomato soup!)fully clothed, and comes out young and...naked..then she takes a drink of the tomato bath...mmm..
    6. When Shinbei becomes evil and tries to kill the princess and then gets struck by lightning and wakes up and makes love to the her.
    7. Not to forget the fantastic fight scene at the end of the film where all but Shinbei and the princess die, not to mention all the wonderful ways they died...

    So, all-in-all, the best actor in the whole movie was Hiroyuki (henry) Sanada (who played the main character) and Sonny Chiba really did suck, but seems to get ALL the CREDIT!! >_ < probibly a good thing so not damage Hiroyuki's wonderful future as an actor...over all I think this was a fun, corny, mindless kind of movie that you really don't have to think about..just enjoy! ^_^

    2 out of 5 stars Very silly.......2004-12-14

    Legend of the Eight Samurai is just as bad as you'd think it should be. The plot bounces around in a most confusing fashion, but who cares about what's going on, anyway? The word Samurai is interchanged with Ninja in this story. The cast includes such characters as The Princess, Necktie Ninja, pantsless Samurai, unloved lady ninja, Elvis Samurai, The Evil Queen, the old lady who tears her own face off, and a bevy of poisonous women. Throw in tentacles and glowing blue balls, and the MST3K-style jokes happen all on their own. For ease of comprehension, all you need to remember is that the way of the Samurai is death, and expect a final deathcount of Shakespearian proportions.
    The Sonny Chiba Collection: Legend of the Eight Samurai
    Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
    • Fantasy Samurai film
    • A COMEDY CLASSIC
    • Not great!
    The Sonny Chiba Collection: Legend of the Eight Samurai
    Starring: Sonny Chiba , Hiroku Yokoshimaru , and Hiroyuki Sanada
    Director: Kinji Fukasaku , and Haruki Kadokawa
    Manufacturer: Adness
    ProductGroup: DVD
    Binding: DVD

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    ASIN: B0006IINIC
    Release Date: 2005-02-08

    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars Fantasy Samurai film.......2007-01-29

    The film is not the typical samurai flick but instead it is a fantasy samurai, vampire-gore film. The legend of the eight samurai is a story about the satomi clan being cursed by evil. The evil is after the surviving satomi's clan princess to consume the princess skin so that they can enhance their beauty and offer the princess blood to their master. The princess only hope are the eight samurai who in karma each behold a magic ball crystal from the princess fukei hundred years ago. Each of the eight samurai came from adversity through either isolation, loneliness, and lose. Soon their life change when they found out that their hope and destiny lies on the princess.

    The storyline is oustanding with great cast deliviring a solid performance. In addition, the special effect is great for its time. There is a quote on the back cover of the dvd that says "The Star Wars of Samurai Films" and indeed it is.

    Adness provide us with high quality release of the film that made the original american version a waste of a classic film.

    Grade: B+ Highly recommended!

    5 out of 5 stars A COMEDY CLASSIC.......2006-01-22

    This film is comedy gold! How can anyone not like Sonny Chiba films? This film has incredibly hilarious action scenes even if that was not the intention of the film makers. If it makes me laugh its good! Come on Giant Centipede! A flying Snake! The whole group of bad guys akwardly laughing on top of a mountian, for what reason you dont know! If your not the serious type and you want a good laugh this is it. A whole PILE of CHEESE!!

    1 out of 5 stars Not great!.......2005-10-24

    This film is about a Japense princess who escapes from her clan rivals, who mets up with bunch of samuri's who tries to protect her from the bad people. The kid from the movie Reincarnation of the Samuri is in this film. He was aful in that film and he is aful in this film. This movie has some very bad acting in it, and the actions in this movie was not very impressive. Only interesting character in this movie was the Rival dark prince who was very into taking females skin and use it as his own skin. You do not see this actually happing, though, you just hear him talk about it.
    Legend of the Eight Samurai
    Average customer rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
    • Would have been better to seen the subtitle version.
    • Soft PG-13/Case-study for Carl Jung
    • What's Up with the Cover Photo!!???
    • It's not THAT bad...(WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS!!)
    • Very silly
    Legend of the Eight Samurai
    Starring: Hiroko Yakushimaru , Hiroyuki Sanada , Sonny Chiba , Etsuko Shihomi , and Yuki Meguro
    Director: Kinji Fukasaku
    Manufacturer: Platinum Disc
    ProductGroup: DVD
    Binding: DVD

    GeneralGeneral | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video
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    GeneralGeneral | Japan | By Country | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video
    Action & AdventureAction & Adventure | Japan | By Country | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video
    Chiba, SonnyChiba, Sonny | ( C ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
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    1. Sonny Chiba Samurai
    2. Makai Tensho: Samurai Reincarnation
    3. Street Fighter/Return of the Street Fighter
    4. Beyond Justice
    5. The Sonny Chiba Collection: Shogun's Ninja

    ASIN: B00005CDV7
    Release Date: 2001-01-30

    Customer Reviews:

    3 out of 5 stars Would have been better to seen the subtitle version........2007-01-31

    The dub is pretty bad. A subtitled version would have been better.

    3 out of 5 stars Soft PG-13/Case-study for Carl Jung.......2007-01-21

    First, this film has nothing to do with the Kurosawa classic that has one less Samurai. In the movie the band is referred to as ninjas, and I am not sure why they rendered the title differently. If they are trying to cash in on the famous movie, this makes sense in a Dilbert marketing sort of way. If they are trying to move away from the ninja image associated with 1980's movies and the turtles, forget about it--we've moved past it all.

    What impressed me about this movie was its ability to manage an intricate story with many characters, and still keep me riveted to the screen. Personally, I would have cut the eight down to three. As it is, some the ninjas seem to be numeric placeholders. If they had made the movie a half an hour longer, the could have fleshed out the people. However, since their individual back-stories are not essential to the plot, it is well they are not elaborated upon.

    Although the special effects seem hokey by 21st Century standards (and even by 1983 standards), I was able to look past them and saw what the effects were pointing to: a tale of family honor, revenge, magic (magia and goetia), and a brooding fate.

    It is this omnipresent (and omnivorous) fate that wrangles me the most. To Americans, fatalism has negative connotations. It implies that someone else is in control, and may not have our best interests at heart. And so much of Japanese religion is devoted to submissing to fate that it is distasteful. How do you really know if it is fate? And since we all have some cosmic doom hanging over us, is that why the Japanese spend so much psychological energy to beautify things?

    So I found the two incidents of redemption and fate-breaking a breath of clean air. Artistically, watching Shinbei move from a ne're-do-well Han Solo, to becoming a zombie-ghoul to becoming a hero for the rightwise born princess. My favorite charter is the no-name red Samurai who breaks from the Evil Witch's ranks, and goes over to Princess Shizuhime's raiders.

    I liked the glowstones. They are a common image, found in The Dark Crystal, the Silmarillion, the Lensmen, Kabbalah, and the Book of Mormon. Jung has a lot to say about stones and identities in "Man and His Symbols." Hint: the eight ninjas stone-bearers become stones at the end of the movie.

    One last note: Most Americans chuckle at the princess who had to marry a dog (reversing Elvis's lamentation), but Frazer points out that such thaumaturgic marriages were common in the ancient world ("The Golden Bough," Ch. XII).

    I would rate this movie PG-13, due to several scenes of graphic violence (a cheek being cut, and a beheading), and partial nudity (we see the backside of a woman emerging from a pool), which seems to have been edited to American sensibilities. As it stands, it is a soft PG-13.

    2 out of 5 stars What's Up with the Cover Photo!!???.......2006-12-13

    Does anyone know why a scene of Toshiro Mifune as Musashi in "Samurai Trilogy" is on the cover of this DVD!??

    3 out of 5 stars It's not THAT bad...(WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS!!).......2005-10-11

    I personally liked the movie...Ok, so it was kinda corny at times, but it had it's 'alright' moments:
    1. The look on the princess's face when she agreed to eat the snake (you got to admit, the look WAS pricless)
    2. When Shinbei goes riding through the village calling out, "BRING ME THE GIRLS!!"
    3. When Shinbei was kicked out of the group and the princess gives him her flute...
    4. When Shinbei finds out the evil witch is his mother!!!
    5. When the evil witch goes in the bath (that looks alot like tomato soup!)fully clothed, and comes out young and...naked..then she takes a drink of the tomato bath...mmm..
    6. When Shinbei becomes evil and tries to kill the princess and then gets struck by lightning and wakes up and makes love to the her.
    7. Not to forget the fantastic fight scene at the end of the film where all but Shinbei and the princess die, not to mention all the wonderful ways they died...

    So, all-in-all, the best actor in the whole movie was Hiroyuki (henry) Sanada (who played the main character) and Sonny Chiba really did suck, but seems to get ALL the CREDIT!! >_ < probibly a good thing so not damage Hiroyuki's wonderful future as an actor...over all I think this was a fun, corny, mindless kind of movie that you really don't have to think about..just enjoy! ^_^

    2 out of 5 stars Very silly.......2004-12-14

    Legend of the Eight Samurai is just as bad as you'd think it should be. The plot bounces around in a most confusing fashion, but who cares about what's going on, anyway? The word Samurai is interchanged with Ninja in this story. The cast includes such characters as The Princess, Necktie Ninja, pantsless Samurai, unloved lady ninja, Elvis Samurai, The Evil Queen, the old lady who tears her own face off, and a bevy of poisonous women. Throw in tentacles and glowing blue balls, and the MST3K-style jokes happen all on their own. For ease of comprehension, all you need to remember is that the way of the Samurai is death, and expect a final deathcount of Shakespearian proportions.
    Legend of the Eight Samurai
    Average customer rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
    • Would have been better to seen the subtitle version.
    • Soft PG-13/Case-study for Carl Jung
    • What's Up with the Cover Photo!!???
    • It's not THAT bad...(WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS!!)
    • Very silly
    Legend of the Eight Samurai
    Starring: Hiroko Yakushimaru , Hiroyuki Sanada , Sonny Chiba , Etsuko Shihomi , and Yuki Meguro
    Director: Kinji Fukasaku
    Manufacturer: Brentwood Home Video
    ProductGroup: DVD
    Binding: DVD

    GeneralGeneral | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video
    GeneralGeneral | Martial Arts | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video
    GeneralGeneral | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video
    GeneralGeneral | Japan | By Country | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video
    Action & AdventureAction & Adventure | Japan | By Country | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video
    GeneralGeneral | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video
    Chiba, SonnyChiba, Sonny | ( C ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
    Fukasaku, KinjiFukasaku, Kinji | ( F ) | Directors | Stores | DVD | Video
    4-for-3 All DVDs4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video
    GeneralGeneral | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video
    JapanJapan | Asian Cinema | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video
    Martial ArtsMartial Arts | By Genre | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video
    DVDs Under $7.49DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video
    ( L )( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
    Similar Items:
    1. Sonny Chiba Samurai
    2. Makai Tensho: Samurai Reincarnation
    3. Street Fighter/Return of the Street Fighter
    4. Beyond Justice
    5. The Sonny Chiba Collection: Shogun's Ninja

    ASIN: B0001MDQJE
    Release Date: 2004-03-09

    Customer Reviews:

    3 out of 5 stars Would have been better to seen the subtitle version........2007-01-31

    The dub is pretty bad. A subtitled version would have been better.

    3 out of 5 stars Soft PG-13/Case-study for Carl Jung.......2007-01-21

    First, this film has nothing to do with the Kurosawa classic that has one less Samurai. In the movie the band is referred to as ninjas, and I am not sure why they rendered the title differently. If they are trying to cash in on the famous movie, this makes sense in a Dilbert marketing sort of way. If they are trying to move away from the ninja image associated with 1980's movies and the turtles, forget about it--we've moved past it all.

    What impressed me about this movie was its ability to manage an intricate story with many characters, and still keep me riveted to the screen. Personally, I would have cut the eight down to three. As it is, some the ninjas seem to be numeric placeholders. If they had made the movie a half an hour longer, the could have fleshed out the people. However, since their individual back-stories are not essential to the plot, it is well they are not elaborated upon.

    Although the special effects seem hokey by 21st Century standards (and even by 1983 standards), I was able to look past them and saw what the effects were pointing to: a tale of family honor, revenge, magic (magia and goetia), and a brooding fate.

    It is this omnipresent (and omnivorous) fate that wrangles me the most. To Americans, fatalism has negative connotations. It implies that someone else is in control, and may not have our best interests at heart. And so much of Japanese religion is devoted to submissing to fate that it is distasteful. How do you really know if it is fate? And since we all have some cosmic doom hanging over us, is that why the Japanese spend so much psychological energy to beautify things?

    So I found the two incidents of redemption and fate-breaking a breath of clean air. Artistically, watching Shinbei move from a ne're-do-well Han Solo, to becoming a zombie-ghoul to becoming a hero for the rightwise born princess. My favorite charter is the no-name red Samurai who breaks from the Evil Witch's ranks, and goes over to Princess Shizuhime's raiders.

    I liked the glowstones. They are a common image, found in The Dark Crystal, the Silmarillion, the Lensmen, Kabbalah, and the Book of Mormon. Jung has a lot to say about stones and identities in "Man and His Symbols." Hint: the eight ninjas stone-bearers become stones at the end of the movie.

    One last note: Most Americans chuckle at the princess who had to marry a dog (reversing Elvis's lamentation), but Frazer points out that such thaumaturgic marriages were common in the ancient world ("The Golden Bough," Ch. XII).

    I would rate this movie PG-13, due to several scenes of graphic violence (a cheek being cut, and a beheading), and partial nudity (we see the backside of a woman emerging from a pool), which seems to have been edited to American sensibilities. As it stands, it is a soft PG-13.

    2 out of 5 stars What's Up with the Cover Photo!!???.......2006-12-13

    Does anyone know why a scene of Toshiro Mifune as Musashi in "Samurai Trilogy" is on the cover of this DVD!??

    3 out of 5 stars It's not THAT bad...(WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS!!).......2005-10-11

    I personally liked the movie...Ok, so it was kinda corny at times, but it had it's 'alright' moments:
    1. The look on the princess's face when she agreed to eat the snake (you got to admit, the look WAS pricless)
    2. When Shinbei goes riding through the village calling out, "BRING ME THE GIRLS!!"
    3. When Shinbei was kicked out of the group and the princess gives him her flute...
    4. When Shinbei finds out the evil witch is his mother!!!
    5. When the evil witch goes in the bath (that looks alot like tomato soup!)fully clothed, and comes out young and...naked..then she takes a drink of the tomato bath...mmm..
    6. When Shinbei becomes evil and tries to kill the princess and then gets struck by lightning and wakes up and makes love to the her.
    7. Not to forget the fantastic fight scene at the end of the film where all but Shinbei and the princess die, not to mention all the wonderful ways they died...

    So, all-in-all, the best actor in the whole movie was Hiroyuki (henry) Sanada (who played the main character) and Sonny Chiba really did suck, but seems to get ALL the CREDIT!! >_ < probibly a good thing so not damage Hiroyuki's wonderful future as an actor...over all I think this was a fun, corny, mindless kind of movie that you really don't have to think about..just enjoy! ^_^

    2 out of 5 stars Very silly.......2004-12-14

    Legend of the Eight Samurai is just as bad as you'd think it should be. The plot bounces around in a most confusing fashion, but who cares about what's going on, anyway? The word Samurai is interchanged with Ninja in this story. The cast includes such characters as The Princess, Necktie Ninja, pantsless Samurai, unloved lady ninja, Elvis Samurai, The Evil Queen, the old lady who tears her own face off, and a bevy of poisonous women. Throw in tentacles and glowing blue balls, and the MST3K-style jokes happen all on their own. For ease of comprehension, all you need to remember is that the way of the Samurai is death, and expect a final deathcount of Shakespearian proportions.
    Sonny Chiba: Dragon Princess/Shogun's Ninja/The Bodyguard/Legend of the Eight Samurai
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Sonny Chiba: Dragon Princess/Shogun's Ninja/The Bodyguard/Legend of the Eight Samurai
      Starring: Dragon Princess , Shogun's Ninja , and Bodyguard
      Manufacturer: Platinum Disc
      ProductGroup: DVD
      Binding: DVD

      GeneralGeneral | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video
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      ASIN: B0007XG3VA
      Release Date: 2005-04-05
      Sonny Chiba Extreme Action: Dragon Princess/Legend of the Eight Samurai
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        Sonny Chiba Extreme Action: Dragon Princess/Legend of the Eight Samurai
        Starring: Sonny Chiba
        Manufacturer: Platinum Disc
        ProductGroup: DVD
        Binding: DVD

        GeneralGeneral | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video
        GeneralGeneral | Martial Arts | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video
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        ASIN: B00008G8SG
        Release Date: 1999-06-29
        Legend of the Eight Samurai/Shogun's Ninja
        Average customer rating: 3 out of 5 stars
        • I've Seen This As EIGHT Samurai, not Seven
        Legend of the Eight Samurai/Shogun's Ninja
        Starring: Sonny Chiba
        Manufacturer: Diamond Ent. Corp.
        ProductGroup: DVD
        Binding: DVD

        GeneralGeneral | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video
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        ASIN: B00005Q63X
        Release Date: 2003-01-01

        Customer Reviews:

        3 out of 5 stars I've Seen This As EIGHT Samurai, not Seven.......2003-05-31

        This is a tough movie to follow, and a real departure for Chiba from the 80's kung-fu stuff. This is basically Kabuki theatre on film. I can't recommend it for kung fu fans, but it is an interesting piece of cheaply-available DVD fodder for Chiba fans.
        Certainly worh the few dollars. Can't tell if it was filmed in widescreen or not for sure, but the DVD is full-frame.
        Martial Arts Extreme: Street Fighter/Dragon Princess/Legend of the Eight Samurai
        Average customer rating: Not rated
          Martial Arts Extreme: Street Fighter/Dragon Princess/Legend of the Eight Samurai
          Starring: Martial Arts Extreme
          Manufacturer: Platinum Disc
          ProductGroup: DVD
          Binding: DVD

          GeneralGeneral | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video
          GeneralGeneral | Martial Arts | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video
          Martial ArtsMartial Arts | Sports | Genres | DVD | Video
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          ASIN: B00008G8TE
          Release Date: 1999-06-29

          DVD:

          1. Capulina Chisme Caliente
          2. Bail Out
          3. The Inside Man
          4. The Art & Science of Traditional Shotokan Karate-Do - Kumite #1
          5. Knockout
          6. The Sender
          7. Dust to Dust
          8. Jackie Chan's Police Story
          9. The Shaolin Invincibles
          10. A Time to Die

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          Springtime in the Siennas

          The Arrival

          Lucy Show (REGION 1) (NTSC)

          DVD: Parasite

          ABBA - The Definitive Collection