XoWizIama Excellent adaptation.

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

BigElefant Three Outlaw Samurai is an incredibly accomplished debut feature from acclaimed director, Hideo Gosha. Dealing with familiar samurai themes of honour and loyalty the film distinguishes itself from the competition due to its unwavering cynicism.The film follow three different samurai warriors. Each who are different type of the loyal swordsman. But you could ask. Loyalty to whom? Loyalty to a system you in your heart believe is wrong? Is it your duty to fight for a cause that not many people are willing to risk their lives for? And who's lives are worth sacrificing for the sake of the greater cause? There's also a great deal of mistrust for authorities in the film. I suspect that is one of Hideo Gosha's trade marks, together with not being that interested in portraying the samurai as just a honorable code follower. This being more a film about class and empathy than anything else, and it's all quite interesting if you consider the small scale socialistic revolution that's going on here.The film is doesn't shy away from showing the violence. In modern action films they cut fast through the action. Here, you can follow the action without having too many unnecessary cuts. It feels like the characters is actually fighting, not that it is staged which makes it more realistic.The cinematography was excellent. I was also impressed by how well the film was shot. That the contrasts between black and white resemble the appearance of a clean chessboard. Everything is so marvelously framed, and the camera so exquisitely balanced. With intrepid camera stunts that range from panoramic landscapes to long horizontal tracking shots, that the action, tension, betrayal, terror and even the heartwarming moments are brought to their full audience-involvement capacity. It maximizes the potential for such a simple plot. Not a single second is wasted, as all events portrayed are of understandable importance to the evolution of the story, with a timing that never bores or irritates.It was also apparent that Three Outlaw Samurai has been a major influence on all of the samurai films that we see today. I also read that this is an inspiration for Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. Hope the fight scenes in The Last Jedi are similar to the final fight scene in this movie.In the end this is a movie where not a single person is to be trusted. It is a bloody, deceitful, beautiful film. I highly recommended!

WILLIAM FLANIGAN Viewed on DVD. Restoration = ten (10) stars. Director Hideo Gosha has conjured up yet another version of a samurai sub-cultural way of life in this 1964 photo play. The interactions between different food-chain classes of sword swingers and different/aberrant samurai honor codes within the same samurai class make for welcomed breaks between typical (more or less) slashing scenes. The plot revolves around three samurai who are torn between the plight of the down trodden (as usual) peasants (here the lowest of the low class from which these samurai seemed to have emerged (and would probably like to--but can not--forget) and the local rulers who pay slasher salaries. (What might make for a far more interesting script would be to explore how peasants managed to become skilled and educated samurai equal to those who have inherited samurai class standing). Acting is for the most part dynamic (and not role-based stereotypical--facial expressions are hard to forget), and directing/editing is first rate. Cinematography (wide-screen, black and white) and scene lighting are excellent. Music is a bit jarring, but otherwise OK. Subtitles seem reasonably close to the actual dialog which is a challenge to always comprehend due to the use of regional slang. Worth watching once. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

lokko53 A wandering ronin stumbles upon a mill building after finding a woman's hair pin. Inside three peasants have kidnapped the magistrate's daughter in order to seek justice on behalf of all the peasants. The cynical samurai schools the peasants on how to handle a kidnapping. The humorous but portentous beginning sets up the characters and action of the film.It is an entertaining chambara film, but there is lack of depth in terms of character study that set apart the best films. Nevertheless, it is a quality, skilled debut film by Hideo Gosha.During some of the sequences, the camera makes a well timed dutch tilt to present the action in the film. The action and suspense in the film is well choreographed as the upper hand changes during the first act. The action is restrained and purposeful which makes the fights much more compelling.SPOILERSIn this film we see the loyalty of two of the samurai to the peasants as a virtue despite all the hesitations on their part. Are they only defending the peasants because there are no better options for independent samurai? The third samurai works for the ruthless magistrate. He switches allegiances out of necessity when the magistrate places a price on his head.Part of the film looks at class warfare as the magistrate hoards all the goods and the peasants starve. The film does not fall into romantic view of the struggle which is what sets it apart from other films. In the end, the peasants are too afraid to take action and risk their lives in the name of justice. They are unwilling to present their demands to the Lord of the magistrate when he visits. When people cannot take their own fate into their own hands, there is not much that can be done for them. The daughter of the magistrate develops empathy for the plight of the peasants, but also remains deeply loyal to her father in their family bond. The magistrate is the only two dimensional character. He is ruthless and ready to betray anyone in his way. In some regards, the number of betrayals by the magistrate in the film detract from the possibilities of greater character development as his own character.I loved the dust blown by in several sequences that make the locales of combat come across as much more desolate and rugged.Nevertheless, this is a great film for lovers of samurai films who wish to delve deeper than the typical popular films.

abyss232002 after watching Gosha's other movies, my curiuosity for other samurai films made me buy this movie, first of all, I like the main character on this film the masterless samurai character, he was in Harakiri, and maybe goyokin nakadai's brother in law/ nemesis, anyway,the movie has some humor on it, has some great swordplay, I recomended this film because it is not all drama like samurai assassin and rebellion, there's alot of talking, until the last 5 minutes of the film