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Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)

R  |   |  Action, Crime, Drama  |  24 March 2000 (USA)
7.6
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Ratings: 7.6/10 from 66,845 users   Metascore: 67/100
Reviews: 343 user | 166 critic | 31 from Metacritic.com

An African American mafia hit man who models himself after the samurai of old finds himself targeted for death by the mob.

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Title: Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) on IMDb 7.6/10

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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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Dennis Liu ...
Frank Minucci ...
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Gene Ruffini ...
Frank Adonis ...
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Kenny Guay ...
Vince Viverito ...
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Storyline

A hitman who lives by the code of the samurai, works for the mafia and finds himself in their crosshairs when his recent job doesn't go according to plan. Now he must find a way to defend himself and his honor while retaining the code he lives by. Written by Scott Jarreau

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Taglines:

All assassins live beyond the law... only one follows the code See more »


Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and language | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
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Details

Official Sites:

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Language:

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Release Date:

24 March 2000 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Ghost Dog  »

Filming Locations:

 »

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$166,344 (USA) (3 March 2000)

Gross:

$255,412 (Brazil) (21 February 2003)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

The inter-chapter quotations come from the book "Hagakure: The Way of the Samurai" by Yamamoto Tsunetomo, published by Kodansha International. See more »

Goofs

When Ray is riding in the limo watching cartoons, he starts out with two flowers in lapel, then he only has one. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai is found in death. Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Every day when one's body and mind are at peace, one should meditate upon being ripped apart by arrows, rifles, spears, and swords. Being carried away by surging waves. Being thrown into the midst of a great fire. Being struck by lightning, being shaken to death by a great earthquake. Falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease, or committing seppuku at the death of one's ...
See more »

Crazy Credits

The second to last person thanked at the credits' close is Akira Kurosawa--the Japanese filmmaker who filmed one of the Ghost Dog's central texts, Rashomon. See more »

Connections

References American Graffiti (1973) See more »

Soundtracks

Ice-Cream
(instrumental mix)
Written by R. Diggs and C. Woods
Produced, mixed and arranged by RZA for Wu-Tang Productions, Inc.
Published by Careers-BMG Music Publishing, Inc.
On behalf of Ramecca Music and Wu-Tang Publishing (BMI)
Featuring Ghostface Killah, Cappadonna and Raekwon
Raekwon appears courtesy of Loud Records
See more »

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User Reviews

I live by a code
19 November 2004 | by (Brisbane, Australia) – See all my reviews

The movie is about codes of conduct, with 2 main codes that are dying out or are dead.

One is the code of the Mafia the other is the Samurai.

The basic plot is this. One of the Mafia wiseguys must be killed as he is having an affair with the daughter of the Mafia Don.

The person they get to do it is an African American who lives by the code of the Samurai and goes by the name of Ghost Dog. To be honest, I have met many Japanafiles so this is not so unbelievable.

But the code of the Mafia means that if you kill a wiseguy then you must be killed or the Mafia person who hired him must be killed.

Jim Jarmusch makes movies where the characters close relations based on only very small things. The Mafia wiseguy saved Ghost Dogs life, so now he must be his retainer. He lives off the land (lives on a roof, steals the cars and equipment he needs to do a job). There is also a friendship between 2 people who don't speak the same language. It is the connection between people that is so important here.

If you saw Dead man and like it, then you will love Ghost Dog. It is funny, serious, dark, tragic and beautiful all at the same time. Dead man missed the mark with some similar themes (though the DVD of Dead man has some deleted scenes that would have made the movie much better and reflected better the idea of small connections being strong connections).

I loved this movie, and I don't expect everyone else to. Art house movies have small audiences for this exact reason. I know a lot of people who avoided this movie because they thought it was cheesy. The answer is, yes it is, and most of the bad reviews reflect this same idea.

Also I love the sound track, with lots of Phat beats, and uses Hip Hop (African American culture) to reflect Japanese culture.


52 of 62 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

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