THREE OUTLAW SAMURAI (1964)

(Directed by Hideo Gosha)

(Written by Keiichi Abe, Gin’ichi Kishimoto and Eizaburo Shiba)

(Starring Tetsurô Tanba, Isamu Nagato and Mikijirô Hira)

I was going through old samurai films that were available on netflix, so my Dad and I could dedicate a night to Chambara awesomeness, and noticed that “Three Outlaw Samurai” had become available. I accessed my mind palace- which for some reason is filled with the dinosaurs from “Carnosaur 3“- in order to retrieve my “Three Outlaw Samurai” folder and found in its place…”Yojimbo” and “Sanjuro” having sex with “Kiru!“, while “The Tale of Zatoichi” watched. You might think that’s weird, but I assure this is a common occurrence within my mind palace. But this concerned me, because “Three Outlaw Samurai” seemed to be oddly absent within my memories of “Three Outlaw Samurai”, being replaced by the naughty exploits of other films. But how could this be? I searched the corners and saw a novice Hideo Gosha waiving at me, so at least one puzzle fell into place. This was the big directorial debut of Gosha, who would go on to make Chambara classics like “Sword and the Beast“, so that had to mean this was a good movie…right? I then spotted the remnants of my original lost review, recalling a 3-star rating. So I obviously liked “Three Outlaw Samurai“, but I still couldn’t remember any of it. Maybe I was lost in my inexperience at the time and the feature just doesn’t hold up? I decided to solve this mystery by…watching it…and came to a simple conclusion. “Three Outlaw Samurai“, which probably should be called “Three Outlaw Ronin“, is an entertaining Chambara opus thanks to an abundance of style and swordplay. But it’s not likely to last very long within your memory because it borrows from every trendy samurai flick of its time…

Hideo Gosha really does give an impressive debut. He, his cinematographer and editor show off innovative compositions and superb camera work- dutch angles, tracking shots and more. This was actually a brave move by the director, as the Japanese weren’t really big when it came to fancy camera stuff. The concern was that these stylish indulgences would distract the audience, but Gosha’s decision to include them gave the film its own life. The lighting was also very interesting, focusing mainly on characters faces. Everything else is a bit dark and shadowy, which at times seems to contrast the tone, but foreshadows and gloom that the story is about to encounter. While a little rough around the edges, you can definitely see the blooming artistry that Gosha would soon perfect- even if he is confined by the unoriginal storyline. But this wouldn’t be Gosha if there wasn’t symbolism, and I did think it was noticeable enough to leave its impact while not trying too hard to get your attention. The battles are raw and ambitious- whether they involve lots of warriors or only two. The final fight sequence is awesomely choreographed and I was on the edge of my seat. Sword fighting within this genre is generally pretty clumsy looking, and “Three Outlaw Samurai” is no exception, but it adds to the realism. Regardless of the skills at hand, you always feel like the characters are in danger and I liked how there were often shots of swords ALMOST connecting with ours heroes flesh as it added to the tension. Gosha would ultimately adopt a slower, methodical style of pacing, but for his debut he made sure to keep things moving rather quickly. The pace alone makes this a potential gateway drug for newbies, as most examples of this genre tend to be pretty slow, which can alienate potential fans. But “Three Outlaw Samurai” is very fast paced.

One of the most interesting attributes of “Three Outlaw Samurai” is how funny the three main characters are, even amidst the very bleak carnage. Each ‘hero’ brings their own style of humor and the chemistry between them is so magnificent that I find myself taking points away simply because they don’t share enough screen-time together. The story has all the familiar conventions of dramatic intrigue- betrayals, forbidden love, class friction, reluctant heroes, etc- but it does tell this story well. As a viewer, I connected to the plight of the peasants and admired that everyone is presented as somewhat shady. There is a certain sadness to this chain of events, as if the film is commenting on disappointment, both with the samurai and peasants. The Samurai failed to uphold their code, while the peasants failed at being any better. In the end, a lot of suffering had to be endured only for nothing to change. “Three Outlaw Samurai” has nothing objectively wrong with it. Well, there are some contrivances that are hard to believe, but that fits in with the Japanese way of storytelling. But either way, it fails to be a great film along the lines of the films it pays homage to. Why? Because it’s so successful that it resembles its inspirations a bit too closely. It has very little to offer, besides some of the camera work, that we haven’t seen before. It is not like “Kiru”, a knock-off which went out of its way to differentiate itself from its predecessors. I don’t believe that constantly reminding us of other, better works is going to make any movie look good. “Seven Samurai” and “Yojimbo” set the bar very high, so why is “Three Outlaw Samurai” constantly drawing our attention to that bar? “Three Outlaw Samurai” is a very entertaining genre piece, but you’ll accidentally start remembering other movies in place of it because of the familiarities.

Violence: Not rated. There is some blood.

Nudity: None, but rape is both mentioned and attempted. There is also a love scene where characters make out, before it cuts away.

Overall: “Three Outlaw Samurai” is worth a watch for fans of the genre, but it’s not on par with most of Gosha’s later works or the more famous movies of Kurosawa- whom Gosha is obviously borrowing from.

Rating: 3/4

DISCARDED MATERIAL (original review)

“Three Outlaw Samurai” is one of those 60’s Chambara films that populated Japan in the day thanks to Akira Kurosawa’s revolutionary genre films. I had heard of the title, but like most of the works of director Hideo Gosha, it’s not very easy to find in the west. God bless IFC for showing it. Speaking of the director, he was a big name in his day, but this is actually my big Hideo Gosha debut. Shame on me, right? It is fitting, however, as “Three Outlaw Samurai” was Hideo Gosha’s big movie debut as well. I do know that Gosha worked on the television series of the same name prior to his movie career. Regardless, “Three Outlaw Samurai” probably doesn’t exist within the same continuity as the series because the trio are not acquainted with each other at the beginning of the movie.

The film opens with us staring at the back of Sakon Shiba(Tetsuro) and we find ourselves reminded of Kurosawa’s “Yojimbo”. Seriously, he looks identical to Toshiro Mifune in this scene that I couldn’t help but wonder if someone accidentally put on the wrong movie. He wanders into a hut where three peasants have taken Aya(Miyuki) hostage, who looks to be of high class. Shiba presumes that they raped her and prepares to dispatch them when they quickly explain the situation. She is the daughter of the magistrate and they have taken her hostage so that they can get him to lower their taxes. Maybe I’m missing something here, but later on they try to get their petition to the Lord instead. So I’m not completely sure why they’d need the magistrate to do it. But I think it’s my fault if I missed that, so we’ll move on. Shiba decides to hang around and eventually help them out. Now it’s looking an awful lot like Kurosawa’s “Sanjuro”.

Meanwhile, Kikyo(Mikijiro) is working for said magistrate as a guard(a Yojimbo maybe?) and has been assigned to get Aya back. So Kikyo goes with a few vagabonds, including Sakura(Isamu), a skilled spearman. When they arrive, Shiba and Sakura face off. But when Sakura learns what the peasants are aiming for, he decides to join for. After all, he used to be one too. Shiba offers Kikyo the chance to join them, but he refuses. But this is called “Three Outlaw Samurai” after all, so we guess that he eventually will. Now it is slightly sounding like “Seven Samurai”, but with less actual samurai. What follows is a bunch of twists and turns filled with betrayals, unstated romance and death. To be honest, the film almost has the structure of a political intrigue piece(a popular Chambara motif), but it never becomes convoluted or confusing. Perhaps because it focuses both on the upper class and the lower class, it is balanced enough to keep the pacing swift, but the intrigue effective as well.

Hideo Gosha really does give an impressive debut. He shows superb compositions and some innovative camera work. The Dutch angles, which are like tilted angles, are really impressive, especially when they switch to this in mid scene. This was actually a brave move by the director, as the Japanese weren’t really big when it came to fancy camera stuff. They could do stylish stuff, but that was always in front of the camera. For the most part, they were like the Russians in that they believed that fancy camera tricks would cause the audience to become aware of the camera. But Hideo Gosha’s decision to include them gave the film it’s own life. In many ways, it makes the movie. The lighting was also very interesting, focusing mainly on characters faces. Finally, the battle sequences are raw and ambitious. The final battle sequence is superbly choreographed and I was always on the edge of my seat. One thing you want to look out for is his staging of sequences. This amps up the fight scenes and lets the images stick with the viewer. Hell, to top it off, he even throws in clever symbolism.

“Three Outlaw Samurai” has nothing objectively wrong with it. Well, there are some contrivances that are hard to believe, but that fits in with the Japanese way of storytelling. But either way, it fails to be a great film along the lines of the films it pays homage too. Why? Because it tries too hard to homage. It has very little to offer, besides some of the camera work, that we haven’t seen before. It is not like “Kiru”, a knock-off which intentionally tries to be different and succeeds. “Three Outlaw Samurai” is a very entertaining genre piece, it simply is too familiar to be anything else.

Tetsuro Tamba (Shiba) is intense, but shows some range as well. He really is a good actor. Isamu Nagato (Sakura) is amusing, but also gets to show the most depth. In many ways, he’s the true main character because he develops the most. Mikijiro Hira (Kikyo) is cool as the cynical dude. Miyuki Kuwano (Aya) does fine as the hostage.

“Three Outlaw Samurai” has an interesting tale to tell. It is Japanese cinema at its finest, albeit not at its most original. We’ve seen it all before, but as homage to the films of Kurosawa, you can’t deny he pays full respect to the master. Furthermore, there is an interesting subtext. To quote an imdb user, “The bottom line is that “Sanbiki” is a solid and gripping chambara, with a solid morality tale disguised as a cynical amorality tale”. I could’ve have said it better. There is also a certain sadness about it, as if the film is commenting on disappointment, both with the samurai and peasants. The Samurai failed to uphold their code, while the peasants failed at being any better. I admire “Three Outlaw Samurai” for this, and wish I could rate it higher.

“Three Outlaw Samurai (1964)” movie review.

DISCARDED MATERIAL (original review)

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