In 1957 the Russians dropped the bomb. America is a wasteland ruled with by the Commies. Mutants and warriors roam the wasteland, the last vestage of America lies in Lost Vegas, where Elvis is King. But now the King is dead. Vegas needs a new King

This movie is an odd piece of film that will probably never make cult classic status. It's artsy and wierd, probably worth the rental. Soundtrack by some Elvis wannabes fittingly named the Red Elvises, who hammer out some unique 50s surfrock. Makes a couple of statements about music today, and you have to love a guitar toting Death character.

An amazing spectacle of a Movie. Filmed on a budget of about a hundred-thousand dollars, Six String Samurai is a fiercely original rock 'n roll post-apocalyptic kung-fu nineteen fifties Wizard of Oz sort of thing. The main character of Buddy is a too-cool-for-words guitar-slinging, sword-swinging loner, played very well by Jeffrey Falcon, an American staple of Hong Kong action films. Falcon, along with the film's director Lance Munigia, wrote the script, bought the equipment, made the costumes, and basically did everything in this film.

During the film Buddy goes up against a plethora of interesting characters including bounty-hunting bowlers, fifties suburbanite cannibals, windmill people, the entire Russian army, and even Death himself (who happens to be a heavy metal fan). The film is notable for incredible cinematography and location filming, great improvised action scenes, and a score of great lines:

"You ever try a pink golf ball, Larry? Why, the wind shear alone on a pink golf ball can take the head clean off a ninety pound midget from over three-hundred yards."

"They were my best bowlers. The one with the four eyes will be hard to defeat"

Bad guy: "If I were you, I would run!"
Buddy: "If you were me, you'd be good looking."

I highly recommend this film to anyone.


Six String Samurai also has the best soundtrack of any film I've seen, save for Danny Elfman's Batman. Written and performed by Brian Tyler, and featuring songs by the Red Elvises (a surf-rock band originally from the USSR), it meshes with the film better than any other soundtrack I’ve heard,
If you watch Six String Samurai, watch for the Red Elvises in a hilarious cameo appearance.

*sigh*

I had such high hopes for this movie. The box always called me in the movie store, but I always found something different. Then, I signed up for Netflix, and this popped up in my "reccomended" list. I put it in my queue, and waited patiently.

What a waste of postage.

I mean, this has an amazingly cool premise -- commies take over the US, Nevada is ruled by the King, anarchy with a surf rock mentality...it's all very cool. But that's as far as the writers went. It's like, they thought up this amazing idea, pitched it to an indie studio, were given a chunk of money, and then just sorta filmed the first thing that came into their head. From the very first scene, it's obvious that the movie is going to be both utterly predictable and pretty crappy.

It opens with the samurai defending a family from...uh..."bad guys." The scene is filled with images of him screaming, blades flashing, stunts being done, but leaves you wondering what just happened. Throughout the movie the action all happens like this -- all frustrating close ups and yelling until there's finally a wide shot of the samurai's opponents on the ground and him panting or grabbing his guitar or something. It's an action movie where the action all happens off camera.

Or maybe it's a buddy movie. The family he defended in the first scene dies, leaving a child following him around. For a reason known only to the writer, the child only moans at the samurai in the first half of the movie, while the samurai (of course) grouses about the kid following him. Inevitably, it's discovered the samurai has a heart of gold and really loves the kid, and the kid starts talking (again, for reasons only known to the writers of the movie).

The music is good. That's about all you can say about this incredibly disappointing movie. Bad writing. Bad acting. Bad action. If only we could take the premise, transplant some talented writer to give it some substance, and film it again...

This movie is excellent, in my humble opinion, on multiple levels.


If one evaluates the movie for it's sheer face value, it's an entertaining, energetic flick. Lots of action, done in that independent film style, where nothing's quite Hollywood quality, but the effects are top notch for something low budget. This movie is also full of many memorable one-liners. This could be attributed to the extreme lack of dialouge, but this fact only enhances the lines that are said. Many were quoted earlier, but one of my favorites was missed:

"Only one man could kill this many Russian's..."

Six String Samurai can hold a person's attention for the entire film. From the beginning sword fight in a field, to the ending guitar duel with Death (which everyone knows is coming) it's a fun, entertaining movie.


Six String Samurai can also be interpreted on a completely different level. If one examines the symbolism throughout the film, it becomes more engrossing and thought-provoking. (Somewhat like Final Fantasy VIII, but I'm not going there right now.) The little kid that's found to be extremely annoying during the film, most likely due to his nerve-wracking whine and his complete inability to use the English language throughout most of the film, can be seen as Buddy's innocence. In the beginning of the movie, when Buddy first encounters the kid he is a ruthless, bloodthirsty killer, with no concern toward the world around him. Buddy refuses to acknowledge his innocence, or conscience as you may want to call it, so he repeatedly tries to rid himself of the kid. Buddy even goes so far as to leave the kid with a 1950's television family gone bad. (Think Leave it to Beaver, but with a taste for human flesh.) Yet Buddy always finds himself coming back to rescue the kid, who, in turn, assists Buddy on his journey to Lost Vegas. This cycle continues throughout the film, with Buddy continually returning to rescue his "friend" until Buddy is willing to sacrifice everything in return for the safety of 'the kid'. This shows that Buddy has found his innocence, due to his acceptance of having the kid tag along, but Buddy's feral nature rubs off on the kid, and the little tyke becomes less innocent and more ruthless as the film progresses. Not to the extent of what Buddy was at the beginning. Instead, the two find a happy medium at which they compromise. This transformation is revealed in the last scene of the film, but you'll have to watch it yourself to see that.


Indy films should never be taken for face value.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.