Six-String Samurai (1998)

Strong and Moving!

Best movie ever!

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Where to begin? Imagine a movie inspired from Mad Max and Samurai movies directed by Quentin Tarantino based on a story written by Philip K. Dick. Close enough? 'Six-String Samurai' is oddball action adventure film that takes place in the post-apocalyptic universe where the finest guitarists are also fine swordsmen and martial artists. The film is filled with references to film classics (starting from 'El Topo' and finishing with 'Star Wars'), bizarre characters, weirdness and well staged fighting scenes. The last one can be attributed to the film's writer and main star Jeffrey Falcon's real martial arts skills. In general, the film takes itself as what it is - low budgeted science-fiction. Not too serious and pretentious, and at the same time carefully avoiding the territories on tasteless banality. Films like this tend to be more fun and enjoyable to the cast and crew, than the viewer. 'Six-String Samurai' is the rare exception - the film is highly enjoyable romp. And with every scene, the true heart and soul of the filmmakers can be felt. Perfect example of when you don't have big budgets, but have enormous amounts of imagination.

This film is a must-see; I simply love it! Don't take it too seriously, though . . . if you lack humor, you'd better stay away from it. This film tries to be everything at once - and partly succeeds. This film is your run-of-the-mill post-apocalyptic surf boogie rockabilly rock'n'roll martial arts roadmovie adventure. Complete with chase scenes, fighting, (lack of) romance, magic, army (in singular - the red army), Elvis-inspired boogie-woogie, exposions . . . the list goes on and on."Rumour has it!"Great fun!

i'm actually typing this as i watch this movie for about the tenth time. does it have flaws? certainly. the editing can be rough, the pacing is a bit slow, and the ending is very good but a bit unsatisfying (it makes you want SSS Part II). But this is the sort of movie I wish there were more of: a sincere, stylistically consistent romp through one man's vision. Well-acted, action-packed, but most importantly a convincing construction of a fantastical universe that sucks you in for 90 minutes. I've seen this movie 10-15 times and every time it gets better. Plus, it has the best quotable one-liners. "Follow the yellow back road, homie. It'll always be the same, wherever you go."

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy cult movies. I enjoy them so much I watch about every one I can sink my teeth into. But this was just.. a joke? The cover of the film looked cool and promising but when watching the film you'll soon discover that it has people who are not familiar with the concept of acting, the storyline is unoriginal and boring. This along with one other film are the worst movies I have seen in my life. I remember having finished watching this movie that I kind of lost faith in humanity. There was just something wrong with being able to make that piece of crap of a movie that it is. For anyone to rate this above 2 stars is mind boggling to me. And oh my dear God I can't see how it's getting 6.4 stars, unless the director and his crew hacked into this site and changed the score. Makes you wonder.