FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Richie-67-485852 Superb no nonsense entertainment that deserves nine hours of watching time. Richard Chamberlain pulls it off along with an excellent support cast to bring us a good story to tell with history thrown in. Great scenes of the Japanese culture and customs too. This has held up to the tests of time and it is only $20 or less for the whole thing depending on where you shop making it ideal for the home library. Watching this makes...

ebiros2 Based on a real life English pilot William Adam's (Japanese name Miura Anjin) life, Shogun is a fictional account of John Blackthorn's adventure in the feudal era (Azuchi Momoyama period) Japan. Some other characters are also based on actual historic figure (Like Kagetora is caricature of Iyeyasu ), but their names are changed in this story. Tossed by a storm, John Blackthorn's (Richard Chamberlain) ship Erathmus reaches the shore of Japan. He's met with Lord Yabu's (Franky Sakai) soldiers. Blackthorn is initially shocked at the barbaric deeds of the samurai but gradually leans the ropes to live in this foreign country.Cultural depiction of Japan of the era is not entirely accurate, and behavior is exaggerated to bring the point to the viewers. This was in the early '80s when the Americans were still getting acquainted with sushi, and knew lot less about the Japanese culture. But it was bold move on NBC's part to broadcast such epic story for 5 nights in a row when this series first aired. Japanese actress Yoko Shimada won the Emmy for best actress that year.It's not an authentic portrayal of samurai culture which is bit unfortunate, but the series deserves an A+ for putting the period drama of Japan in the early '80s. 20 years later, Hollywood does a much better job with the likes of "The Last Samurai" that impressed even the Japanese with its accurate depiction of Japanese towns and villages.The show should be viewed with couple of grains of salt, but the adventure of John Blackthorn is an intriguing and exciting tale to watch.

Montserrat Casanova Making a mini-series out of James Clavell's historic and highly intricate novel Shogun was an ambitious and groundbreaking undertaking that hasn't stopped fascinating audiences all over the world since it was first broadcast in 1980 . The fictionalized story, entirely filmed on location, takes place in Japan and tells us through the eyes of English sailor John Blackthorne, shipwrecked on the shores of the Japans, the power struggle between several feudal lords and between these and the Jesuits. Together with Blackthorne we discover early 17th century Japan, with him we progressively gain an understanding of the Japanese people and their culture, like him we are torn between the loyalty towards lord Toronaga and the wish to return to open seas and capture the Portuguese Black Ship, we also fall in love with Mariko, his beautiful married interpreter, we share his despair to be stripped from his ship the Erasmus and we are proud when he is granted the status of samurai and hatamoto . No one could have personified Blackthorne better than Richard Chamberlain. He IS Blackthorne, true to his huge talent and his magic capacity to fade into the character he is interpreting. Richard Chamberlain carries the whole complex production on his shoulders, he is practically in every scene, not only in dialog with other characters but also without uttering a word, he drives the story thus making the audience understand what is going on and what are his nuanced feelings. A tour de force charismatic Richard Chamberlain carries out brilliantly. Moreover he is intensely dramatic in the seppuku scene, funny and touching in the sailor's dance, wonderfully romantic as Mariko's lover and wears the silk kimonos with unmatched class and elegance. The whole cast is splendid. The actors who play the Jesuits and the crew of the Erasmus, are beautifully cast, all out of English theater. To quote but a few : Damien Thomas, Alan Badel, Michael Hordern, John Rhys-Davies. John Rhys-Davies plays the part of the pilot of the Black Ship with such tremendous energy and gusto that some consider exaggerated. Not in my opinion, his acting is very useful in the sense that it helps to underline Blackthorne's composed and reflexive nature. The same has to be said of the Japanese actors, the mythical Toshira Mifune, Yoko Shimada, Frankie Sakai, Yuki Meguro, Hideo Takamatsu, all sensational, with incredible presence.The fact that Shogun was entirely shot in Japan grants the mini-series the stamp of authenticity, further stressed by the resort to Japanese without dubbing. The sets, made by Japanese craftsmen following century old traditions, are magnificent not to speak of the quality of the light and photography as well as of the music by Maurice Jarre. Jerry London, the director, and Eric Bercovici, both script writer and executive producer, supported by the cast and crew, succeeded in making a master piece. The filming of Shogun was a "wonderful nightmare" recalls Richard Chamberlain . To enjoy this excellent and spectacular mini-series and to know more about its making watch the five DVDs including a documentary on the making of Shogun .

seanowain Great mini-series, but I was under the impression that there were TWO versions of the series, the second about 4 hours longer and following the book in far greater detail than the one available now on DVD. For example, I remember Miko-san as fighting a samurai before she was to commit seppuku in the 4th DVD, which occurred before Lord Yabu betrayed them in Osaka Castle. Also, this one had English sub-titles when the Japanese were speaking. Please tell me I am right before I start trying to find which reality I saw that series in, I really want a DVD of the fuller version. As for the series, either version is to be treasured, I know I treasure the one I have.