As I noted in another email, I've been getting into samurai
films
(yakuza, too). Much of this stuff is pretty damned
hardboiled, especially in the aspect of the cold loner hero
fighting against overwhelming odds, both in the number of
adversaries and in how corrupt the society is. I said
adversaries instead of bad guys because some of these guys,
particularly Lone Wolf and Cub, are pretty bad themselves.
After being framed by court rivals who killed his wife, the
Shogun's former executioner, Ogami Itto, and his toddler son,
Daigoro, decide to
"live as demons at the crossroads of hell." They hire
themselves out as assassins while still being hunted by those
court rivals who still want him dead.
(I know this series was supposed to be an inspiration for
Road to Perdition, but does anyone know if James Lee Burke is
a fan? While watching the first, I was struck by how much the
scene where Ogami Itto's wife is killed was like that in
which Robicheaux's wife was killed in Heaven's
Prisoner.)
Finally, my questions: Does anyone know if any samurai tales
have been translated into English? I've read the stories
behind Rashomon, but I'm thinking more of the pulpy samurai
tales than the artier ones of Kurosawa (not to say I don't
like those, too). I've read the Lone Wolf manga, but it seems
that many of these movies, like the Zatoichi series, are
based on short stories or novels. Have any been
translated?
Secondly, can anyone think of direct influence of samurai on
US hardboiled? Although I can't think of any off the top of
my head (other than the movie Ghost Dog), I know I've read
books where characters
(and/or their writers) have seen themselves as modern day
samurai, often referring to Bushido. Can anyone remember any
of these? Again, I know about Kurosawa's influence (Seven
Samurai to Magnificent Seven, Yojimbo to Fistfull of
Dollars), but others?
Mark
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
--------------------~-->
$4.98 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/Q7_YsB/neXJAA/yQLSAA/kqIolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rara-avis-l/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email
to:
rara-avis-l-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 26 Dec 2004 EST