Product Details

• Actors: Toshirô Mifune, Shima Iwashita, Etsushi Takahashi, Minori Terada, Nobuko Otowa
• Format: Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: Japanese
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Animeigo
• DVD Release Date: September 6, 2005
• Run Time: 115 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0009ZBVO0
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #107,619 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Red Lion" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

RED LION - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A powerful and surprising film that requires some effort to understand, September 6, 2010

By 

McTeague (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Lion (DVD)

I admit that through most of the film I simply could not understand what the film was trying to do. It wasn't until I got near the end, and then read the notes in the extras, that I realized this was really a film with a strong populist message and was based on a true historical event. Mifune shows a gift for comedy that at first surprised me and made me wonder what on earth he was doing, but finally won me over and made me look forward to repeat viewings. Also, this type of Japanese humor is new to me and obviously I wasn't prepared for it. I think it is also helpful to keep in mind that this film was made in 1969, a time when people all over the world, like the people in the movie, had hopes for social, political and economic change that would improve their lives, and therefore its message was powerful then, and is still powerful today, for me at least. And Mifune really is a great actor. I mean, that scene where he is drunk and goes to meet the samurai in the street. How does he manage to look drunk just by the expression in his eyes? What other actor can do that?

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quirky interesting flick at the dawn of the Meiji Era, January 3, 2010

By 

Samurai Dave "Far be it for Logic to Stand in... (Tokyo, japan) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Red Lion (DVD)

Set around the time of the end of the Shogun era and the end of the samurai, Red Lion shows a turbulent world in the midst of change. But instead of Yojimbo style with gritty violence and grim amorality, Red Lion is farcical and Mifune Toshiro is a comical character not the brooding cold calculating character he was in Yojimbo.

Mifune plays a soldier in the new imperial army. He asks permission from his commander to ride ahead to his hometown to announce their arrival. He also begs to borrow the red mane headdress from which the title comes from. Red mane headdress is symbol of an officer in the Imperial Army and Mifune wants this so he can look like a big shot when he comes riding in. His arrival sets off a chain of reaction as various factions in the town are scheming against each other in the wake of the changes going on in the country. The old order are afraid of Mifune and some want him dead while progressives hope he will lead them in vanquishing the old order in the town who are officials and supporters of the ailing Shogun government.

If you are interested in Japanese history, Red Lion won't exactly give you an historical account of the end of samurai period of Japan but it will give you the essence of chaos of that time period. Overall it's a quirky movie with some funny moments that's worth a watch.

1 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DVD review, September 3, 2007

By 

Charles Moser "Chas E. Moser" (Ukiah, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Red Lion (DVD)

This is a bit different for T. Mifune but he always does what the diredctor expects of him. Good story line.