 | Seven Samurai - 3 Disc Remastered Edition (Criterion Collection Spine # 2)
Buy new: $21.99 / Used from: $19.98 Seven Samurai - Arguably one of the 10 best movies ever made, regardless of genre. Certainly it is arguably the greatest Samurai movie ever (whether or not it wins that argument is up to you).
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 | When the Last Sword Is Drawn
Buy new: $18.99 / Used from: $11.98 A modern classic. When the Last Sword is Drawn is just a little offbeat, very human, and extremely compelling.
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 | Yojimbo - Remastered Edition (Criterion Collection Spine #52)
Buy new: $35.99 / Used from: $18.67 Kurosawa's attention to detail and mood combined with Toshiro Mifune's amazing performance put this near the top of the list - another MUST HAVE DVD.
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 | The Twilight Samurai
Buy new: $24.49 / Used from: $7.94 One of the most touching Samurai movies ever made (a direct descendant of Samurai Rebellion in theme). Not an action movie, but a great drama with a pair of swordfights. Highly recommended.
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 | Samurai Rebellion - Criterion Collection
Buy new: $27.49 / Used from: $17.29 Another great movie with Toshiro Mifune. This one is more of a drama, with little action until the end - but the movie is never boring, never dull, never less than compelling.
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 | Ran - Criterion Collection
Buy used from: $26.50 Kurosawa's later era masterpiece. Not as much a Samurai movie as a political drama Ran is easily one of his best films. The DVD from Criterion is fantastic as well.
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 | Sanjuro - Remastered Edition (Criterion Collection Spine #53)
Buy new: $35.99 / Used from: $13.96 Sanjuro is a great action/adventure movie with a great sense of humor (it's not a comedy, but more like Raiders of the Lost Ark - mixing humor with the action and adventure). Great stuff!
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 | The Sword of Doom - Criterion Collection
Buy new: $24.49 / Used from: $12.27 One of the darkest Samurai movies this side of Hara-Kiri. Tatsuya Nakadai is simply brilliant (and truly frightening) as a ruthless Samurai.
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 | Samurai Banners
Buy new: $26.99 / Used from: $14.93 Epic in scope, well written and directed, stylistically Samurai Banners is the middle ground between Yojimbo and Ran. Another great performance from Toshiro Mifune.
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 | Sword of the Beast - Criterion Collection
Buy new: $26.99 / Used from: $11.95 Definitely an underrated movie. Sword of the Beast was a pleasant surprise - holding up very well on both the action side and the dramatic side.
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 | The Hidden Fortress - Criterion Collection
Buy new: $20.49 / Used from: $7.25 Another of Kurosawa's action/adventure movies - again with great direction and fantastic performances. This one is a lot of fun.
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 | Harakiri - Criterion Collection
Buy new: $31.49 / Used from: $21.95 Perhaps this one should be higher on the list. Harakiri is one dark, fairly depressing movie - but brilliant! Another great performance from Tatsuya Nakadai.
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 | The Hidden Blade
Buy new: $16.49 / Used from: $7.99 From the director of Twilight Samurai, The Hidden Blade touches on many of the same themes. Another great movie that has more drama than action.
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 | Samurai Assassin
Buy new: $26.99 / Used from: $12.87 Another tour-de-force for Toshiro Mifune. Samurai Assassin is fantastic.
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 | The Shogun Collection
Buy used from: $9.99 This was the only way I could get the system to list:
SHOGUN'S SAMURAI - a historical epic from legendary director Kinji Fukasaku. Simply fantastic. A "Must Have," for sure.
SWORDS OF VENGEANCE - Another movie from Fukasaku, not quite as good as Shogun's Samurai, but pretty close.
The other two movies in the collection are not nearly as good.
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 | Dora-Heita
Buy new: $13.49 / Used from: $7.00 When a movie is co-written by 4 of the greatest Japanese directors of all time (including Akira Kurosawa), how can you go wrong?
You can't. It may not be one of the ten best samurai movies ever, but isn't all that far off, either. A really entertaining movie brought to life after 30 years by director Kon Ichikawa.
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 | Kill! - Criterion Collection
Buy new: $26.99 / Used from: $7.95 This is supposed to be slightly "campy," and tongue in cheek. I suppose it is - slightly. In the end this is a great action/adventure movie with some great action and a solid story.
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 | Samurai I - Musashi Miyamoto - Criterion Collection
Buy new: $26.99 / Used from: $7.95 Toshiro Mifune's OTHER Samurai "series," the Samurai movies chronicling the life of Musashi Miyamoto is well regarded with good reason.
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 | Samurai II - Duel at Ichijoji temple - Criterion Collection
Buy new: $26.99 / Used from: $6.98 |
 | Samurai III - Duel at Ganryu Island - Criterion Collection
Buy new: $26.99 / Used from: $7.50 |
 | Red Lion
Buy new: $26.99 / Used from: $14.29 Red Lion is definitely an Action/Adventure/Comedy in the beginning, but by the end it has become a DEADLY serious action/drama. Well worth watching - more than once!
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 | Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman, Vol. 1 - The Tale of Zatoichi
Buy new: $17.99 / Used from: $2.80 Rather than listing all the best Zatoichi movies (about 10 or 12 of them truly belong on this list), I'll just list this one as a representation of the entire series.
Shintaro Katsu is quite good as the blind swordsman, and this movie series ended up with 26 movies before Katsu hung up his cane for good.
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 | Ronin Gai
Buy new: $22.49 / Used from: $11.00 Another solid Samurai movie from the modern era.
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 | The Last Samurai (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Buy new: $6.49 / Used from: $1.07 A Hollywood Samurai movie. Pretty darned good, actually. As good as the great Japanese movies? Maybe, maybe not - you decide (I think it's pretty darned close).
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 | Incident at Blood Pass
Buy new: $26.99 / Used from: $6.28 Good Samurai film with both Toshiro Mifune and Shintaro Katsu.
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