The Last Samurai (2003) - 6 questions

Question: What is Bob's real movie name? Nathan names him Bob, he's listed as "The Silent Samurai" in the credits, and the director refers to him as Nathan's guardian in the commentary, but is there another name that he's known as?

Answer: No one in the movie ever calls him by name and all credits indicate him only as "The Silent Samurai."

Question: In the final battle scene, the samurai army is shown as having several dozen footmen who were not casualties. Additionally, the archers did not appear to have taken more than light casualties. Yet the final charge was made by by a small group (30-50) samurai. Why would Watanabe have used only a small portion of his army with so many support troops left?

Answer: Because they were the only ones with horses. Foot soldiers running across the field would be easilly picked off, but charging horses are more difficult.

Question: When Nathan fights the samurai on the battlefield, he cuts them down like grass with his cavalry sabre ao he appears to be quite a good swordsman. But later, when he has been captured, he's practicing with the Japanese sword and he fights like an amateur. Is there so much difference between fighting with a cavalry sabre and fighting with a samurai sword?

Answer: Several reasons. Number 1: while on foot, a katana is typically used with both hands, while a sabre is used with one. Number 2: The katana and sabre are weighted differently. Number 3: The sabre, for a cavalry officer, was a last resort weapon, rarely used. For a samurai, the katana was used quite often.

Question: Nathan told Katsumo a story about the Greeks fighting a much smaller army and ended up losing the battle. Can anyone tell me the story or where to find the details on the web?

Answer: The Battle of Thermopylae, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae for more info.

Question: Who does the voiceover for the trailer? He says: "Tom Cruise" and then "The last samurai".

Answer: I'm not 100% sure, but I think it may have been Jim Cummings. He does a lot of voiceovers for movie trailers, cartoon characters, songs and the like. He's the voice of Cat in CatDog, Winnie the Pooh, Tasmanian Devil and has had small roles in films like Shrek, Sinbad and Antz. Find out more about him at this address: http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0191906/

Question: After Algren returns to Omura's office, we see Omura standing by a window, smoking a cigar. Through the window you can see a red brick wall. Did Japan have those then?

Answer: Certainly, red bricks have been around for at least 500 years. Hampton Court Palace in the UK is an example of a very old building which used it. They are only red because of the colour of the sand used, and it is certainly possible that Japan had this to hand.