Corrected entry: At the beginning of the film, during the sideshow shot, you hear the show playing the song "Bonnie Blue Flag," which was a southern war hymn. The lyrics go something like, "Hurrah! Hurrah! For Southern rights, hurrah!" Not something that a Union officer would be a part of.
Corrected entry: Algren and later Taka are shown bathing in a smoothly-finished cement bath, something you would not see in a remote village in 1877 Japan.
Correction: I can't see any evidence of cement, it may be smooth lined, but it's carved into the rock.
Corrected entry: During the last charge of the Samurai, they are riding face-first into single-shot barrel-loading howitzers. I believe there were only 6 to 8 of them. However, as they charge, there are literally dozens of explosions from the howitzers, far more then what a battery of them would be capable of firing even with a quick loading crew. Furthermore, the absolute first time the Howitzers fire, they adjust aim, a relatively slow process. In the final charge, the impact of the Howitzers is keeping pace with their advance.
Correction: Yes it is true there are not that many howitzers but if you watch the DVD closely you will see that there is a rank of cannons behind them firing on the advancing Samurai troops.
Corrected entry: The samurai's reign was already long over before 1876; it ended in 1867.
Correction: That's the whole point of the movie. Those shown in the movie are the people who will not give up their way of life, even though the law forced them to. That's why the emperor's army is trying to annihilate them.
Corrected entry: After the ninja attack, they all go into the house. When Algren is fighting the ninja, he blocks his katana using a wooden table as a shield. Katanas are far more powerful than that. You can see what I mean in the final battle when, in the field, Algren cuts through a kneeling soldier's rifle (along with his skull), who was trying to block.
Correction: Actually this all depends on the power, accuracy, skill and also the angle of which the katana is when cutting through things. Also there is a difference between ninja sword and samurai sword, ninja swords are not as sharp as samurai swords, as samurai swords are more carefully made and has the perfect curve which makes it so sharp. A ninja sword is straight, as you can see on the movie.
Corrected entry: In the scene where captured Tom Cruise it taken away on horseback he watches as the defeated samurai general commits seppuku and Katsumoto chops his head off, which rolls away from the body after the execution. Actually it has to remain attached on some skin and flesh otherwise it is a big disgrace. Katsumoto ,as an experienced samurai, would not cut it like that.
Correction: As much as the remark is true, it would hold its ground if the action in the movie were portrayed several centuries earlier. During the Tokugawa shogunate a lot of traditions, rules of conduct, etc had perished, had been abolished or plain forgotten. The seppuku ceremony had also fallen prey to the changing times and by the end of the shogunate rarely anyone performing kaishaku remembered to wait for the second belly-cut or slash so as not to slice the head off. Moreover, some kaishaku slashed down the moment a person performing seppuku reached for the knife. That Katsumoto cut the head off is therefore no mistake.
Corrected entry: Is it only me or did any one else notice that throughout the whole of the film Tom Cruise's hair doesn't seem to grow an inch. He is held hostage by the samurai for months and his hair doesn't grow one bit or so it seems.
Correction: It's true that his hair doesn't appear to grow, but surely he could have had it cut during his stay with the Samurai (or at any other time for that matter).
Corrected entry: In the scenes where the samurai are sparring in the village, see some of them wear Kendo armor in the 1870's I think it was. Yet Kendo and Kendo Armor where not produced until the early 1900's.
Correction: Actually Kendo armor is made to look like a samurai armor, so in that case they might be using a samurai armor of a kind that looks like a kendo armor we use now.
Corrected entry: Katsumoto has been ordered to go to the Emperor. In the scene where he, Algren and the Samurai are entering the city, there is a shot of them taken from the rear. Was it my imagination or were there a plethora of utility/telephone poles to be seen, on their left, in this shot?
Correction: Yes they were there, and it's historically accurate. They could have been used for Morse Code transmition and as they were leading to the Palace from the dock this is quite likely. The film is set in 1876-77 and Morse Code was invented around 1836 so it's entirely possible that's what they're there for.
Corrected entry: The scene where Katsumoto is being rescued at the bridge shows a Japanese soldier firing a bolt action rifle, something not available until some years later.
Correction: Not true. Mauser invented the bolt action rifle in 1867, and it was officially adopted as the main infantry rifle by Germany in 1871 (the Model 71 or 'M71'). The movie "The Last Samurai" is certainly taking place after 1876, as there's an important discussion in the movie about the Battle of Greasy Grass (AKA 'Custer's Last Stand'), which took place in 1876. Further, as historically the German army supplied and trained the Imperial Japanese Army, possession of bolt-action rifles by the (presumably) elite units of Imperial army guarding the capital would be quite plausible. Japan was on a modernization kick at that time, and a rapid upgrade from muzzle-loading weapons to breech-loaders is entirely plausible.
Correction: Considering Algren was a disillusioned drunk, who's to say what he would have been a part of for $25 a week.