Shogun

Well like many others, Shogun fueled my first real interest in Japan. I watch it at least twice a year, and am always trying see something new, like a kid attempting to suck that one last drop from a soda pop. I inhaled the movie, as many did and I began studying it's language some time ago. When asked my interest in Japan in a Japanese course I once took, I said I watched shogun 36 times. I read the book too, and it was great. Every time I see the movie, I always get sad toward the end, cause I know it's coming and there's no more. I always wished Clavell had done a sequel, in the same time frame. Toshiri Mifune was wonderfull, and Orson Wells voice was perfect. The whole cast was great. The music was wonderful, but sadly I have never been able to find a soundtrack for it.

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In 1976, James Clavell wrote an epic masterpiece: the story of Blackthorne, an English sailor lost in Feudal Japan. He gradually finds his place, oft the central pawn of political intrigues between various foreign powers and the local warlords. In 1980, this miniseries was unleashed on the world and created a whole new audience for the mammoth bestseller. No small feat considering the length and complexity of Clavell's 1200+ page door-stopper. Clocking in at almost 10 hours, this mega-budgeted series delivers the goods. People who have seen "The Last Samurai" might see a few plot similarities (even in certain smaller details: Tom Cruise sports exactly the same haircut as Richard Chamberlain). With all respect for the 2003 film, Shogun is far out of it's reach.

Richard Chamberlain embodies Blackthorne to perfection, successfully gaining our empathy through an ambiguous yet very human performance. Supporting him are Japanese icon Toshiro Mifune as the shrewd warlord and aspiring shogun Torunaga, who befriends/manipulates Blackthorne, and Yoko Shimada as Blackthorne's translator, confident and friend. Every actor gives life to Clavell's carefully drawn and layered characters (most of all a very bombastic John Rhys-Davies). For a television miniseries, the technical specs are quite surprisingly good. Indeed the budget must have been quite important (and set a record at the time) but never is the story or it's rhythm scarified to show-off. The direction and photography are quite tasteful, often reminiscent of early Kurosawa, only in color. Maurice Jarre's score might not reach the lofty heights of his work for David Lean but it serves it's purpose.

Many will tell you that the book is better. It is certainly more intimate and detailed, but a more faithful and excellent adaptation of such a rich book you are not likely to see anytime soon. For anyone with a taste for epics, Japan or just plain good entertainment, this is essential viewing.

Without a doubt, this is the best American movie about the Orient that has been ever made. Nothing we Americans will do will ever surpass this. Next to Akira Kurosawa's amazing works, there is Shogun. Shogun is in excellent company.

Do NOT see the shortened version, see all of it. The multi tape version is great; and the single tape mini version is a travesty.

The MiniSeries Shogun is my all time favorite program. It is a romantisied account of the adventures of the first Englishman to reach Japan. The main character John Blackthorne is based on the real life person William Adams who was the only non Japanese ever to become a samurai. He was also a feudal lord in Japan ( called a Daimyo ) and the first Admiral of the Japanese Navy.

The acting is excellent and something which I found interesting and unusual about this series is that one of the ways that the movie uses to put you into the mind of the main character is that as he doesn't know any Japanese when he arrives there are no subtitles when the characters are speaking Japanese.

As I said earlier my all time favorite program and one I wish could be seen by more people more often. I did buy the series.

Any movie with this magnificent actor even showing up in a cameo, I give a 10. Actually, the costumes weren't very good, & a lot of the true historical facts were sometimes a little silly, but Toshiro Mifune makes the movie a classic. He's elemental, a force of nature, fantastic. Watch it just to get a glimpse of this wonderful actor's presence & charisma. The movie is based on the book by Clavell, & he did write the part of Toranaga with Toshiro in mind. The movie does follow the book pretty closely, and the book is based very loosely on an Englishman who was stranded on the Japanese Islands in the early 1600's.All-in-all, the movie on DVD is a lot better than the previous video tape that was out.