At some point in my career as a student at the University of Kentucky I took a great class on Japanese film. As part of this class we watched a trilogy made between 1954-1956 best known in the United States as Samurai I, II, and III. The trilogy tells the story of Miyamoto Musashi and is based on the novel by Eiji Yoshikawa Musashi.
Musashi is a more than legendary character in Japanese history and so it is fitting that he is played in this series by the legendary Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune. The three movies are titled Miyamoto Musashi, Duel at Ichijoji Temple, and Ganryu Island Duel. They are each wonderful on their own, but tie together very nicely to tell a very complete story. Mifune is the main force behind this movie as he controls the screen every second he is on it, but he also has a very good supporting cast especially Ken Takakura playing Sasaki Kojiro. The women in the movie are the only question mark as they are all madly in love with Musashi and are generally either evil or weak and do a lot of crying. But if you like westerns and samurai movies this is a must see.
