johnlink bundles his SAMURAI TRILOGY rankings
I’m not sure why it has taken me so long to bundle these together, but here are all three of Hiroshi Inagaki’s SAMURAI trilogy articles in one place. The series stars legendary Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune in the lead role, Miyamoto Musashi. I’m sure I said this somewhere over the course of the articles, but when I envisioned tackling a bunch of series in 2012, this was not one of the ones I was thinking of. I am so thankful to Turner Classic Movies for running these movies!
Scores for FILM; MOVIE; ACTING; WRITING; BONUS (if applicable). Then the average score.
SAMURAI I: FILM: 6; MOVIE: 8; ACTING: 6; WRITING: 7; AVERAGE SCORE: 6.75
SAMURAI II: FILM: 6; MOVIE: 7; ACTING: 6; WRITING: 7; AVERAGE SCORE: 6.5
SAMURAI III: FILM: 7; MOVIE: 8; ACTING: 7; WRITING: 8; BONUS: 2 (music and duel); AVERAGE SCORE: 8
As can be inferred from the scores above, the trilogy is solid through the first two before rising to a whole other level for the final installment. The look and feel of the first movie (shot mostly on location) is very different from the other two (shot much more in studio), yet there really is an organic through-line to this series, thanks to Inagaki to be sure, but kudos especially to Mifune for making this as memorable as it is. This is a series worth seeking out. Links to the original articles can be found here…
johnlinkmovies 
I’ve had this set sitting on my shelf for a few months and kind of forgot about it. Reviews are about what I expected, but I still love these types of movies.
These had been on the periphery of my radar for years. Glad I got to them finally, but I wouldn’t say they are must see for all film fans. If this is your genre, though, absolutely worth a visit!
It’s a genre I tend to gravitate towards, so that is a go!