The Last Samurai

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.

Myridon

Question: Who is the soldier who gave the order to stop shooting? Is it Yutaka Takenouchi?

Answer: No. The actor's name is Satoshi Nikaido. He is listed in the credits as "N.C.O."

LorgSkyegon

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?

Chris Moyer Grice

Chosen 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 easily picked off, but charging horses are more difficult.

David Mercier

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.

Chosen 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.

David Mercier

Revealing mistake: The road leading out of the samurai village has distinct tire tracks from vehicles.

More mistakes in The Last Samurai

Algren: Your highness... if you believe me to be your enemy, command me, and I will gladly take my life.

More quotes from The Last Samurai

Trivia: All the ninja seen in the film were played by actual modern day practitioners of the ninjitsu arts. Allegedly this led to a running joke on set where if the ninja were rehearsing with a stunt double or an extra they would spontaneously perform a kill move (obviously stopping before actually hitting their opponent) then remind everyone they were only contracted to let Tom Cruise live through the movie. Everyone else, as far as they were concerned, was fair game.

More trivia for The Last Samurai

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