NationStates Jolt Archive

So, I was at Best Buy, browsing the DVD selections and grabbing a little of this and a little of that (Yesterday I got a copy of Once Upon a Time in the West for seven bucks, can you believe that? Sergio Lione to keep for less than seeing it once in theatres) when I found myself in the martial arts section. Actually, to be technical it was the western/martial arts/anime section, which doesn't make sense to me since not all anime is martial and a hell of a lot of martial arts isn't animated and neither take place in the "Old West," when I saw Samurai-7, the recent anime-adaption of Akira Kurosawa's classic film, Shichinin no samurai ("Seven Samura"). I considered buying it, I had heard good things, but I have a policy to not purchase something without at least some kind of first-hand experience, and since I hadn't even seen a commercial I decided to move on. Still, it got me thinking, and I realized that for all my classic films I didn't have a copy of Shichinin no samurai, and what kind of Japanese film buff would I be if I didn't have a copy of Toshiro Mifune buck-naked and swinging a sword in the rain? So, I decided to grab myself a copy and began to browse for it, and I couldn't find it. What I did find was The Magnificent Seven, the western remake featuring Eli Wallach and Yul Brynner. Also a good film, which I also didn't have, but I was on a mission to find the original, so I kept looking.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find it. I went up and down that abomination of a section at least twenty times, and saw many other films which I did end up buying (Two box sets: The Sergio Lione Anthology and two other Akira Kurosawa films), but I could not find the original film I was looking for. I eventually broke down and asked for assistance (I know, I know what kind of man asks for directions, but I was desperate) and they told me that they don't carry Shichinin no samurai! They have the western remake, the anime remake, but not the original! Can you believe that?

So, I was at Best Buy, browsing the DVD selections and grabbing a little of this and a little of that (Yesterday I got a copy of Once Upon a Time in the West for seven bucks, can you believe that? Sergio Lione to keep for less than seeing it once in theatres) when I found myself in the martial arts section. Actually, to be technical it was the western/martial arts/anime section, which doesn't make sense to me since not all anime is martial and a hell of a lot of martial arts isn't animated and neither take place in the "Old West," when I saw Samurai-7, the recent anime-adaption of Akira Kurosawa's classic film, Shichinin no samurai ("Seven Samura"). I considered buying it, I had heard good things, but I have a policy to not purchase something without at least some kind of first-hand experience, and since I hadn't even seen a commercial I decided to move on. Still, it got me thinking, and I realized that for all my classic films I didn't have a copy of Shichinin no samurai, and what kind of Japanese film buff would I be if I didn't have a copy of Toshiro Mifune buck-naked and swinging a sword in the rain? So, I decided to grab myself a copy and began to browse for it, and I couldn't find it. What I did find was The Magnificent Seven, the western remake featuring Eli Wallach and Yul Brynner. Also a good film, which I also didn't have, but I was on a mission to find the original, so I kept looking.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find it. I went up and down that abomination of a section at least twenty times, and saw many other films which I did end up buying (Two box sets: The Sergio Lione Anthology and two other Akira Kurosawa films), but I could not find the original film I was looking for. I eventually broke down and asked for assistance (I know, I know what kind of man asks for directions, but I was desperate) and they told me that they don't carry Shichinin no samurai! They have the western remake, the anime remake, but not the original! Can you believe that?

Yes, I do believe you. And it's Best Buy after all. That's a very specific film, and not to the liking of the masses, which is to whom Best Buy caters to;). I commend you on your film taste, though. Kurosawa was a genius.:) Try buying it online at Amazon.com or anyother online store like it. Perhaps that way, you'll have Shichinin no Samurai.

<snip>Can you believe that? Well, yes, unfortunately :) Here, if you need to (or just want to) find something "old" (a "classic" even "can't-do-without" for you) you need to check online stores or really crappy, back alley kinda little soon-to-be-out-of-business shops. No big retailer will carry those.

Pop culture unceasingly consumes everything that is or has to be classic around here (and I'm not sure if it's any different in the States or big cities in Europe) while generating worthless crap and selling them under the title "classic" in just a few years after their blatant harassment of our music tastes (for instance) for a year or two through all radio stations on the payroll - I even read an article in a (supposedly) prominent music magazine about the Fugees and "their classic" Killing Me Softly a few years back. I wrote a rather long e-mail to them and asked if they ever heard of a woman by the name Roberta Flack - to which they responded (rather arrogantly) by asking me what my musical credentials are...

I'm not saying this is the same thing (I think "Magnificent 7" is a good film, for instance) but condemning anything made before color movies or CD's is a big, big crime in my humble opinion. Here there are quite educated and intellectual people (who have a developed taste of cinema, no less) I personally know who despise black and white movies just because they are black and white :) I can't make a very close friend of mine watch Casablanca for instance - just like I can't make her play any adventure game with under 5 mil color and a UI that's more complicated than the new standard point-and-click bs.

I really feel sad for her since she'll never play the Pawn or Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards :)

Ah, good old days :P

I'm not saying anything sold exclusively on CD's or DVD's is inherently crappy or evil by the way, don't get me wrong, I like some good visuals as much as the next bloke and I'm sure there were equally crappy music/films/games made in the olden times - but they are (the enemy :P) killing the classics and that's irking me big time...

Cheerio!

I recorded it off of TCM when they had a Kurosawa film fest. And just so you know, even on Amazon, the price is kinda high (or it was last time I checked). As for Samurai 7, if you're a purist, you probably won't like it. But if you can accept the change in the story a bit, especially the sci-fi elements and a major change in the story arc of Katsushiro and the village girl (in the anime her name is Kirara and she's a priestess, I don't recall if she had a name in the movie).

Unfortunately, I couldn't find it. I went up and down that abomination of a section at least twenty times, and saw many other films which I did end up buying (Two box sets: The Sergio Lione Anthology and two other Akira Kurosawa films), but I could not find the original film I was looking for. I eventually broke down and asked for assistance (I know, I know what kind of man asks for directions, but I was desperate) and they told me that they don't carry Shichinin no samurai! They have the western remake, the anime remake, but not the original! Can you believe that?
It's a 50 year old foreign movie, why would Best Buy carry a copy?

EDIT:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7949161&st=seven+samurai&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=59125

Did you tell him the English name for it? :rolleyes:

Also, Best Buy is usually the best place for movies here. Cheaper and better selection than stores dedicated to movies.

Ah, but you see, that store did carry other such aged and foreign movies, that's what really confuses me.

Like I said, on the day that I couldn't find Seven Samurai I did buy Yojimbo and Sanjuro, also black & white Japanese films from the '50's, and four Sergio Lione films which, despite their iconic American cast and western themses, were technically Italian productions from the '60's (Also, in an unrelated but still interesting event, one of those Sergio Lione films was A Fistful of Dollars which was based upon Yojimbo, and I didn't know that until I got home). I'm well aware that Best Buy isn't a home of classic cinema, if it was it wouldn't lump The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in the same catagorey as Sanjuro, even if they are both absolutely fabulous, but it does have a relatively respectable selection (Better than Wal-Mart at any rate), including others belonging this same genre and sharing a common origin.

When I spoke to the employee who I asked for help, she did find the film on the Best Buy database, but it was no longer carried at Best Buy stores. It's not just that it was sold out or something like that, but they didn't even bother to keep it in stock anymore. With their other selection, it still doesn't add up to me.