Stray Dogs & Lone Wolves: The Samurai Film
Think Japanese films are inaccessible?
Take away the space ships from Star Wars (1977), and you’ve got Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress (1958). Replace Toshiro Mifune with Clint Eastwood and swords with guns, and Yojimbo (1961) becomes A Fistful of Dollars (1964). (Which isn’t to say that Yojimbo wasn’t based on Dashiell Hammett’s classic pulp novel, Red Harvest….) What is Throne of Blood except Macbeth with Toshiro Mifune? Ran except King Lear with Tatsuya Nakadai?
The United States has its Western movies, Japan has its samurai films, and they each reveal the “iconic” nature of their country’s history. Most Western fans love the samurai films for their seemingly never-ending sword fights, but there is so much more to enjoy…and learn, from this genre, if one only knows the history behind what one is seeing.
Whether you are a fan of ‘the samurai film’ genre, or just want to know what all the fuss is about, Stray Dogs & Lone Wolves: The Samurai Film Handbook is for you.
Author Patrick Galloway is a lifelong student of Asian philosophy, film and culture, and his love and knowledge for the samurai film genre is evident on every page.
The bulk of the book is given over to synopses of some of the classic samurai films from each decade (1950s, early, mid and late 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and beyond). The main point when reading a synopsis is…does the writer succeed in making the reader actually want to see the film? And in Galloway’s case, the answer is yes. In fact, I stopped reading this book half way through to go out to my local library to put in orders for a few of them. (I live near a small library that doesn’t carry *any foreign films, but they’re part of the interlibrary loan program….)
Within each synopsis – for the newcomer to each film – is information about the movie itself, from the tendencies of its director, screenwriter or actors, or other trivia, that will make this book of much use to the knowledgeable enthusiast as well.
Over fifty films are described, from the classics that everyone knows from film class – Seven Samurai and Rashomon – to the Musashi Miyamoto trilogy, the Zatoichi series, the Lone Wolf and Cub series, Lady Snowblood and many, many more.
The introductory matter is important and useful as well, and engagingly written.
Galloway begins by explaining what a samurai film is (has samurai in it, sword fighting, and takes place during one of two historical periods (Warring States Period: 1478-1603, when samurai were fighting in all kinds of Civil Wars, and the Edo Period: 1603-1868, when samurai were the ruling class but there were no wars to fight).
He explains the history of the samurai and the code of Bushido, and the historical setting (the historical periods mentioned above) in which these movies take place. He explains the mystique, and importance, not only of the sword but also of nature to the Japanese psyche.
He gives background on the five major Japanese film studios, and includes information on the most famous screen writers, directors and actors in the genre.
And scattered throughout the book are trivia questions. To cite only two examples, why do samurai have bald heads, with a ponytail on top? Because the samurai wore helmets which were hot and uncomfortable, and only made worse by an abundance of hair. Only samurai wore their hair in this way, so it became a status symbol.
Why do samurai movies usually have unhappy endings?
“Things rarely end well for the protagonists in samurai films, there’s just no two ways about it. This is due in part to a principle of Japaese aesthetics known as “mono no aware,” literally “sadness of things,” the savoring of the exquisite pain and grief of mortality..where Hollywood moddycoddles the audience with happy endings, the hero overcoming impossible odds to ride off into the sunset with his best gal by his side, the Japanese are much more realistic. Nine times out of ten, when you go up against a superior force, you’re going to lose. Far more important to the Japanese moviegoer is what author Ivan Morris calls “the nobility of failure,” the fighting spirit of the doomed hero who struggles on, even in the face of certain death.”
Galloway encourages the reader to acquire the films with subtitles rather than dubbing, and I agree with him. The only way to immerse yourself in a foreign culture is to hear their language as well as see their films, and it takes only a few minutes to get used to reading subtitles with half an eye.
“In general what makes the samurai film genre so compelling, aside from the sword action, is its capacity for philosophy, politics, and complex states of mind, all wrapped up in the beauty and stunning simplicity of the Japanese aesthetic. Where else can one observe heated sword fights accompanied by cool musings on the nature of existence?” asks Galloway, and I have to answer, nowhere.
This book simply isn’t long enough. At 203 pages (not including the glossary or bibliography), author Patrick Galloway is only able to scratch the surface of the genre. Get this book…and then you will want to get these movies.
Stone Bridge Press specializes in books on Japanese history and culture, and this is a more than worthy addition to their catalog. To see what else they have to offer, www.stonebridge.com
Contents
Chapter 1: The World of the Samurai
Chapter 2: The Samurai Film Genre
Chapter 3: The Artists (selected actors and directors)
Chapter 4: Seeing the Films
Chapter 5: The 50s (8 films discussed)
Chapter 6: The Early 60s (9 films discussed)
Chapter 7: The Mid 60s (8 films discussed)
Chapter 8: The Late 60s (6 films discussed)
Chapter 9: The 70s (13 films discussed)
Chapter 10: The 80s and Beyond (7 films discussed)
Glossary and cross-index
Bibliography
