Member Review The Last Samurai (2003)

[TallTallMan]

I went to the library yesterday and picked up The Last Samurai. I haven't watched it just yet, but it's about a Civil War veteran, and was wondering how everybody else felt about it. It's directed by Edward Zwick (Glory), so it should be a masterpiece (still never seen Legends of the Fall).

 

[RedRover]

Great fun.

Back when it came out my chums called it "Dances with Samurai," and "Top Sho-Gun."

Reminded me some of the 1980 mini-series Shogun, or movie "Bushido Blade" from 1981, etc.

 

[wausaubob]

Since the movie contained a portrayal by Ken Watanabe, we might have been spare Tom Cruise. The Japanese actors and actresses were great.

 

[121st PA Vols]

An excellent and fun movie. You will be entertained. Great cinematography.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

It has some of the usual tropes and embellishments you'd expect, but it's really good film.

 

[benmax]

Beautiful cinematography, beautiful scenery, lighting, music score, set design.

But Tom Cruise was positively awful, very miscast and really ruined the flow and connection of the movie.

The Japanese cohort of performances was stellar.

 

[GELongstreet]

It is an extremely well-made and very beautiful film.

That being said they should have put the French in there but since we already got Wasabi I don't know if we'll ever get a Frenchman in Japan again.

 

[Kearny The Magnificent]

The opening battle scene is awesome. The psychological side of warfare is shown along with how the environmental conditions could impact a battle.

 

[uaskme]

I saw it 20 yrs ago.

It got a lot of pushback. More Yankee Savior Syndrome. Concept was a little hard to swallow. Be interesting to see if those attitudes have changed.

 

[TallTallMan]

I'm going to watch it tomorrow. I'm surprised at how not-long it is. Most movies like that are three hours.

 

[thomas aagaard]

I like it. Beautiful movie, good soundtrack and good entertainment.
But as others have mentioned, the main (western) characters really should have been French if we look at the historical parts of it.

For the question of accuracy I will suggest this video.

 

[Belfoured]

Beautiful cinematography, beautiful scenery, lighting, music score, set design.

But Tom Cruise was positively awful, very miscast and really ruined the flow and connection of the movie.

The Japanese cohort of performances was stellar.

I pretty much agree on Cruise but I don't think that outweighed all the other very strong attributes. They probably needed somebody like him to market it. The box office gross indicates they may have made the right decision.

 

[TallTallMan]

I pretty much agree on Cruise but I don't think that outweighed all the other very strong attributes. They probably needed somebody like him to market it. The box office gross indicates they may have made the right decision.

Zwick seemed to always work with girl favorites: Matthew Broderick, Brad Pitt, and of course Cruise.

 

[Desert Kid]

"Our general has fallen my lord! Shamefur dispray!!!"

 

[TallTallMan]

I wonder if his three 1800s movies can be a trilogy of American themes: Glory is about civil rights and the meaning of freedom; The Last Samurai is about America abroad and foreign policy; and Legends of the Fall is about the anti-American Dream. I haven't seen the last two so that's guesswork.

 

[Desert Kid]

I wonder if his three 1800s movies can be a trilogy of American themes: Glory is about civil rights and the meaning of freedom; The Last Samurai is about America abroad and foreign policy; and Legends of the Fall is about the anti-American Dream. I haven't seen the last two so that's guesswork.

Legends of the Fall really can be seen as a spiritual sequel to Dances With Wolves.

 

[TallTallMan]

Legends of the Fall really can be seen as a spiritual sequel to Dances With Wolves.

For some iconoclasm, I don't love Dances With Wolves that much. It's TV ripoff Son of the Morning Star is a lot better and more accurate.

 

[Belfoured]

For some iconoclasm, I don't love Dances With Wolves that much. It's TV ripoff Son of the Morning Star is a lot better and more accurate.

Legends of the Fall is yet another production partly filmed in the RM Front of western AB. Yeah, I have an obsession. (But I do like seeing places I know in films). The thing that po's Canadians is that the script is never set in AB - it's always MT, WY, etc etc. And to boot, some of the scenes were shot in Vancouver. But the script is never set in BC ....

 

[RedRover]

For some iconoclasm, I don't love Dances With Wolves that much. It's TV ripoff Son of the Morning Star is a lot better and more accurate.

Both Dances with Wolves and Son of the Morning Star were filmed after the tremendous success of CBS televisions' "Lonesome Dove" which aired in February, 1989. Dances was filmed later that year, and released in theaters on Nov. 21, 1990.

So, Son of the Morning Star was already bouncing around the market looking to go into production evidently, and with the success of Lonesome Dove for CBS, ABC Television picked it up. It was based on a book of great popularity. The TV mini-series was filmed over the summer of 1990... From July 15, 1990, star of the show Gary Cole comments...

By October 28, there was a rough cut of the mini-series completed, that author Evan Connell watched... mentions working with Harrison Ford's wife Melissa Matheson on the screenplay...

Mr. Cole, then starring in the NBC television network show "Midnight Caller" was cast as General Custer...

Cole noted it was quite an adventure taking on the role which transcended method acting...

Interestingly, in the late 1980s when the min-series was being developed and shopped to the networks, Kevin Costner was attached to play Custer in "Son of the Morning Star" following his rambunctious turn in the western "Silverado" (1985). But with interminable delays, he struck off to make his own Western horse opera by 1989...

Son of the Morning Star was aired on ABC on Feb. 3, 1991, smack in the midst of Operation Desert Storm, which dominated the news, and made CNN a big deal. Some reviewers decried the airing of the film in the midst of the opening of a new war was a problem for it...

Son of the Morning Star was not a success in the Neilsen ratings. For example, it came in 42nd place in its part 2 showing... in spite of its lengthy and expensive production:

AS an aside, I notice the Western series "Young Riders" came in at 65, and the Lee Horsley Western series "Guns of Paradise" was airing that week, coming in at no. 66. My family watched those shows back then. My late mother really liked the latter show.

Anyhow, the Son of the Morning Star reception was something of a last stand for ABC's head of television productions, Mr. Sabinson...

ABC had also greenlighted production of a mini-series based on the novel "The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara, but with the disappointing ratings versus the cost of Son of the Morning Star, the network dropped it...

Ted Turner picked that production up, and added it to his Turner Network Television Civil War pantheon, filming in 1992, and debuting in theaters in 1993 as "Gettysburg"...

 

[TallTallMan]

Both Dances with Wolves and Son of the Morning Star were filmed after the tremendous success of CBS televisions' "Lonesome Dove" which aired in February, 1989. Dances was filmed later that year, and released in theaters on Nov. 21, 1990.

So, Son of the Morning Star was already bouncing around the market looking to go into production evidently, and with the success of Lonesome Dove for CBS, ABC Television picked it up. It was based on a book of great popularity. The TV mini-series was filmed over the summer of 1990... From July 15, 1990, star of the show Gary Cole comments...

View attachment 539440
View attachment 539425

By October 28, there was a rough cut of the mini-series completed, that author Evan Connell watched... mentions working with Harrison Ford's wife Melissa Matheson on the screenplay...

View attachment 539426
View attachment 539427


Mr. Cole, then starring in the NBC television network show "Midnight Caller" was cast as General Custer...

View attachment 539428View attachment 539429


Cole noted it was quite an adventure taking on the role which transcended method acting...

View attachment 539430
View attachment 539431

View attachment 539432


Interestingly, in the late 1980s when the min-series was being developed and shopped to the networks, Kevin Costner was attached to play Custer in "Son of the Morning Star" following his rambunctious turn in the western "Silverado" (1985). But with interminable delays, he struck off to make his own Western horse opera by 1989...

View attachment 539433


View attachment 539434



Son of the Morning Star was aired on ABC on Feb. 3, 1991, smack in the midst of Operation Desert Storm, which dominated the news, and made CNN a big deal. Some reviewers decried the airing of the film in the midst of the opening of a new war was a problem for it...

View attachment 539435

Son of the Morning Star was not a success in the Neilsen ratings. For example, it came in 42nd place in its part 2 showing... in spite of its lengthy and expensive production:

View attachment 539439

AS an aside, I notice the Western series "Young Riders" came in at 65, and the Lee Horsley Western series "Guns of Paradise" was airing that week, coming in at no. 66. My family watched those shows back then. My late mother really liked the latter show.

Anyhow, the Son of the Morning Star reception was something of a last stand for ABC's head of television productions, Mr. Sabinson...

View attachment 539436
View attachment 539437


ABC had also greenlighted production of a mini-series based on the novel "The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara, but with the disappointing ratings versus the cost of Son of the Morning Star, the network dropped it...

Ted Turner picked that production up, and added it to his Turner Network Television Civil War pantheon, filming in 1992, and debuting in theaters in 1993 as "Gettysburg"...

It's like it all came together at once. I wish it happen come again!

I've read the Connell book. It's just good, if not disjointed (avant garde history).