Three Outlaw Samurai

Play trailer

Three Outlaw Samurai

1964

1h 35m

Action

History

Drama

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

80%

Tomatometer

5 Reviews

88%

Popcornmeter

250+ Ratings

Three lowly farmers capture the daughter of a greedy local governor. The men intend to hold the girl for ransom until taxes are lowered. Unfortunately, they don't have any combat experience and are outmatched by the governor's thugs. Luckily, Sakon Shiba (Tetsuro Tamba), a scrupulous wandering warrior, arrives in town. Shiba, his warrior friend Kyojuro Sakura (Isamu Nagato) and ex-government ronin Einosuke Kikyo (Mikijirō Hira) defend the peasants, which leads to a final, brutal showdown.

Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

It's a Gosha film that lacks the intensity of the chambara cinema found in other masters such as Kurosawa, Inagaki, Kobayashi, and Okamoto. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 6/10

Jul 2, 2021

Full Review

Rob Aldam

Backseat Mafia

A swashbuckling and rambunctious tale of power, loyalty and revenge.

Jul 16, 2020

Full Review

Kevin Wight

The Wee Review

It's the willingness to subtly subvert the tropes of the samurai film that makes it such compelling viewing and deserving of far higher esteem among the genre's heavyweights.

Rated: 4

Jul 15, 2020

Full Review

James Kendrick

Q Network Film Desk

duly impressive in both its strong, unadorned narrative pacing and its rich cinematography

Rated: 3/4

Mar 7, 2012

Full Review

Christopher Long

Movie Metropolis

It's not that no good deed goes unpunished, just that good deeds, like bad ones, are most likely to go for naught.

Rated: 8/10

Feb 12, 2012

Full Review

Read all reviews

Matthew D

Hideo Gosha has been compared to Samuel Fuller in that both make popcorn action movies as a vehicle for social commentary. The comparison is appropriate.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

07/04/22

Full Review

s r

A good samurai story about injustice, loyalty and honor. Despite its entertaining aspects, it fell short of greatness with a renegade plot and distracting music. Great sword fights though and quality acting. Saw it on TCM.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

It's clumsy in its editing and storytelling, but "Three Outlaw Samurai" still manages to shine through its themes and action sequences.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/12/23

Full Review

johnathon w

Classic samurai film that takes a twist on the genre, as loyalties change and the good guys are not always clear. The main cast is superb, with each samurai balancing a different level of cynicism in regards to the plight of the peasants against the magistrate. While some are more optimistic, others don't care one way or the other, but all recognize the injustice happening. Behind the camera, director Hideo Gosha crafts almost a crime noir version of a samurai tale, with no real good guys are bad guys (the peasants have real complaints about their plight, but when given an opportunity to something, don't act, while the magistrate is more a bureaucrat than a dictator). Overall, a nice twist of the samurai movie, showing the shades of honor involved.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Nothing but brilliant.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This is a fantastic samurai movie on the level of Akira Kurosawa. Direction is great and the characters are well rounded. A very fine film.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Hideo Gosha

Director

Tetsurô Tanba

Sakon Shiba

Isamu Nagato

Kyôjûrô Sakura

Mikijirō Hira

Einosuke Kikyô

Miyuki Kuwano

Aya

Kyoko Aoi

Omitsu

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

Khartoum

100%

66%

Khartoum

Watchlist

Spartacus

94%

87%

Spartacus

Watchlist

Sodom and Gomorrah

50%

37%

Sodom and Gomorrah

Watchlist

55 Days at Peking

57%

57%

55 Days at Peking

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

Synopsis

Three lowly farmers capture the daughter of a greedy local governor. The men intend to hold the girl for ransom until taxes are lowered. Unfortunately, they don't have any combat experience and are outmatched by the governor's thugs. Luckily, Sakon Shiba (Tetsuro Tamba), a scrupulous wandering warrior, arrives in town. Shiba, his warrior friend Kyojuro Sakura (Isamu Nagato) and ex-government ronin Einosuke Kikyo (Mikijirō Hira) defend the peasants, which leads to a final, brutal showdown.

Director: Hideo Gosha
Screenwriter: Hideo Gosha, Eizaburo Shiba, Keiichi Abe
Genre: Action, History, Drama
Original Language: Japanese
Runtime: 1h 35m