Ghost Dog - The Way of the Samurai

Ghost Dog is director Jim Jarmusch’s ode to the 1967 Le Samourai by Jean-Pierre Melville. There are even scenes taken directly from that movie. Ghost Dog features Forest Whitaker as a solitary assassin who works for a gangster played by John Tormey. The movie is about the sense of duty Whitaker has for Tormey which he bases upon his study of ancient Japanese culture where the samurai was in the service of his lord. It’s also about Whitaker’s commitment to his craft of being a killer. On top of that the soundtrack is by RZA from the Wu-Tang clan. You can tell his distinctive style the minute the background music begins. There’s some low key comedy thrown in as well such as when Louie tells his mafia bosses he only contacts Whitaker through a bird. You can guess their reaction. The story is very subtle as that’s Jarmusch’s style, but it also goes with the source material as Le Samourai was the same.

To the casual viewer this may appear to be another "pigeons on the roof" movie out of ON THE WATERFRONTwith a lone wolf hero taking on the mob a la Marlon Brando. True, there are similarities. Both Terry Malloy and Ghost Dog are more connected to children and pigeons than they are to the adult world - but the former is so because he remains a childlike and illiterate palooka whilst the latter actually reads, takes children seriously, and communicates more on a "spiritual" or emotional level than he does on a verbal level. Apart from his pigeons, Ghost Dog (played by Forest Whitaker) connects or communicates best with a young girl with whom he discusses literature - including Rashomon, Frankenstein and Wind in the Willows - an ice cream vendor who only speaks French, a silent dog of the street, and intermittently with street rappers en passant. It is these elements too which remain central to the film, rather than the comical mobsters, who fumble and bumble their way through life and for recreation spend their time watching Felix Cartoons circa 1935. It is quite refreshing to see gangsters or mobsters treated like this instead of romanticised as they usually are in such iconic works as THE GODFATHER trilogy and THE SOPRANOS. Lets face it, there are similarities between "the captains of industry" and the so called mob in Western society - the means they use may differ but their purpose and intent may remain the same.A marxist interpretation of this work is entirely plausible. Equally, Hasidic Jews of Brooklyn would relate to it and understand its themes whilst deploring its violence. Nevertheless, it seems to me one major theme is that of the Artist in a hostile and materialistic landscape attempting to survive. And surviving means self discipline, being true to one's beliefs, treating small things with great importance (his ice cream eating is undertaken with a reverence similar to a Japanese tea ceremony) and treating large things lightly (death is treated lightly).But, the film is rich enough for the viewer to bring to it his or her own experience and enjoy on many levels.Mr Whitaker holds the centre of the film with consummate skill - to me it's some of his best work. (To upstage Paul Newman as the laboratory experiment pool player in The Color of Money was pretty darn good too!)Robbie Muller manages to capture the mood with his POV photography through the eyes of a pigeon - or God -and the feel of urban life. The music is all of a piece.This is a rich film worthy of reviewing from time to time.

Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai is a fascinating flick - an odd hybrid, two parts gangster epic, one part philosophical journey of self-discovery. Forrest Whitaker (Phenomenon, Good Morning Vietnam) is Ghost Dog, a loner, who considers himself a "retainer" (servant/protector) to a mobster named Lou (John Tormey) who once saved his life.Ghost Dog is a seeker, studying the Hagakure (The Code of the Samurai). Throughout the film, he reads passages from the Hagakure that highlight his own personal code. Passages like, "Each day a samurai should contemplate his own death and consider various ways of dying, from being torn apart in the jaws of a wild beast, to falling from thousand foot cliffs, and during some part of the day, the samurai should consider himself dead."Ghost Dog's "best friend" is a Haitian ice cream vendor (Isaac DeBankole), despite the fact that Whitaker's character understands no French and the ice cream vendor doesn't understand English. His only other real human contact is with a young girl, maybe 10 years old, named Pearline (Camille Winbush).Lou contacts Ghost Dog via carrier pigeon and pays him for his contract killings once a year...Lou doesn't know anything else about his contract killer, not his given name, not even where he lives. This becomes the fulcrum for some very dark comedy.When a hit goes awry and Lou's associates look to eliminate Ghost Dog, Lou's inability to provide details makes for some darkly comedic confrontations. Veteran screen villain Henry Silva is cold and bizarre as mob boss Ray Vargo, while Cliff Gorman (Sonny Valerio) provides a comic absurdity (a mafia hit man who's also a rap aficionado) rivaled only by the communication between Ghost Dog and the ice cream vendor that transcends language.Much of the background score is provided by the Staten Island based rap group, Wu Tang Clan, which gives it a real gritty, streety feel. Much of the film moves at a crawl and you get the impression that Forrest Whitaker wanted to state something more, that just doesn't translate onto film.The story is dark and in spots absurdly ridiculous (the mobsters all seem obsessed with old cartoons), but it doesn't glorify violence the way many gangster flicks do. Still, it leaves you looking for more.I've thought about this and part of it may be that Ghost Dog seems to be a reluctant hero in much the same vein as Brandon Lee's The Crow or Sam Rami's Darkman, but seems to fall a little short, but that may be an illusion. Both Darkman and The Crow are offered up as supernatural creatures (The Crow returns from the dead for vengeance and Darkman is supposedly bestowed with an almost infinite pain threshold due to nerve damage), while Ghost Dog is a living, bleeding, loner, so he can't be compared to those kind of protagonists.The ending of this film, like that of Shyamalan's Unbreakable will probably leave many westerners cold. Here it seems almost taboo when good fails to triumph outright over evil.I liked this film, even though I felt it reached for more than it could deliver, just as I liked Unbreakable (that may give you a clue as to whether this is your kind of film), but I'd recommend it with four stars out of five. If it had delivered all that it reached for, it would've been a sure fire five!

Consequences for ones actions like: "Race With The Devil", "The Big Boss" or "Dirty Mary and Crazy Larry". This is what so sorely missing in many of the films of the eighties and most of the motion pictures of now, not so with "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai" it'as almost all about the price paid for harming other human beings, in this case mostly 1st degree murder and theft but not nearly as much as the murder. Plus Four Stars for the story, it's content, and the satisfying conclusion,minus one star for profanity

Some people criticise the film because Forest Whitaker isn’t Wesley Snipes, some sword swinging uber fit martial arts type flashing his six pack, hopping Wushu style from building to building leaving a trail of decapitated foot soldier cannon fodder in his wake. Sorry guys that’s the point he’s a lost street punk who has read a book on Bushido and become somewhat fixated on it and uses it to give himself purpose. He isn’t a trained sword master ! His skills with a Katana come from watching movies and reading books, he uses a gun because that IS the area of his expertise. Even then with his own idiosyncratic interpretation of his chosen text he has acquired a sense of self and a degree of dignity that his chosen bunch of ageing and more than a bit dim mafia Oyabuns don’t and probably never had. He gives them his loyalty, they don’t reciprocate and the car crash begins.I really like this film, it’s one of those that stands multiple viewings, but in my opinion it’s not perfect so 4 stars.

I won’t say any more about the film itself other than I love it; many other reviews have commented on it in depth.But don’t buy this Blu-ray version if you’re interested in the English soundtrack - it’s there OK, but only with subtitles in French which are impossible to turn off.Very disappointed with this, it’s a rip-off at £40+ to advertise the English soundtrack without being clear about the non-optional subtitles.

Wanted this on bluray for ages and finally bought the french version which has english language options.Forest whitaker is excellent as the humble but deadly hitman known as ghost dog.Working for the italian mob,he is soon to be whacked himself by them for whacking a family member even though he was given the contract by the same mob,i guess to cover tracks.But he ends up taking them out one by one to protect himself.Very bleak and gritty and set in jersey city the film has a certain hopelessness to it.With a great soundtrack by Rza and others this is probably one of my favourite films ever!

So maybe twice Ive seen this and thought that is a luvly film. Not very technical I know but all I can remember is it had a something, Enough that I bought a copy and after all these years it is a really luvly film, the wife who promised not to like it thought so too and asked that we watch again sometime so overall a luvly five.

Well what can I say, I have seen many Japanese samurai movies, gangster movies, asian martial arts movies over the years. So I thought I knew roughly what to expect. I was slightly wrong. Now I'm not clever enough to write an in depth review like some have before, comparing different genres and great directors such as Akira Kurosawa etc. So all I can say is that it is worth a watch and it was ok, but I was expecting a bit more from this film. It is quite slow and feels a bit cheesy in parts. If you are a big martial arts fan then I feel you must have it in your collection. Then you can judge for yourself.