The Animated ‘Star Wars’ Shows Owe A Great Debt To A Classic Sonny Chiba Samurai Film
(Welcome toThe Movies That Made Star Wars, a series where we explore the films that inspired, or help us better understand, George Lucas’s iconic universe. In this edition:Shogun’s Shadow.)
Samurai films have been a strong influence on theStar Warssaga since its very earliest days. When George Lucas was sitting down to write his first drafts of what would becomeA New Hope, he even copied out the synopsis of Kurosawa’sHidden Fortressand replaced all of the Japanese names with earlyStar Warsnames. It served him well over the years and when it came time to break downThe Clone Warsanimated series, what better well to go to than back to Samurai films?
Shogun’s Shadowis an over-the-top Samurai action film from 1989. Sonny Chiba and his Japan Action Club stunt players provide all the adventurous thrills you’d want in this film about the young eldest son of the Shogun, on his way to Edo with the seemingly limitless forces of Japan trying to kill him. He’s under the protection of a motley crew of seven samurai and one has to wonder if he’ll ever make it to see his family again under such long odds. The film unfolds carefully, slowly revealing the intrigue behind who might want to kill the young heir and we’re shocked by how it all plays out.
As they fight their way through the Japanese countryside, the film gets more and more bombastic in its action. On the surface, it seems to have more in common with the ’80s action films of Jean Claude Van Damme and Bruce Willis than the work of Akira Kurosawa, but that’s not exactly a bad thing.
The Clone Wars McGuffin
In 2008, just 19 years after the release ofShogun’s Shadow,Star Warswould release its first animated film, introducing the world to Ahsoka Tano. Though it wasn’t terribly well received at the time of its release,The Clone Warsas a whole is now hailed as a masterpiece of long-form storytelling and the film fits neatly into that. The film, which consisted of a few episodes of the show scotch-taped together, told a story of political intrigue. The Republic and Separatists both need access to the hyperspace travel lanes controlled by the Hutt clans. When Jabba the Hutt’s son, Rotta, turns up missing, he promises access to those routes to whoever brings his son back to him safely.
Naturally, the Sith have kidnapped Rotta and hope to blame that kidnapping on the Jedi, but Count Dooku underestimates Anakin Skywalker and his brand new padawan, Ahsoka Tano.
Henry Gilroy, one of the co-writers of 2008’sStar Wars: The Clone Warsand longtime writer on the resulting television show (as well as the producer ofStar Wars Rebels) spoke of the inspiration for that film in a 2008 interview withNewsarama:
“Originally, the Mcguffin of Jabba’s son being kidnapped was inspired by a Sonny Chiba samurai film entitledShogun’s Shadowthat I always liked. I also wanted to touch on Anakin’s history and illustrate how he has a tendency to hang onto his past. Because we were going back to Tatooine eventually for the story, I wanted to give Anakin a physical representation of his past. Some in the audience would know that Anakin has an issue with the Hutts—besides being Mafia-like criminals, they originally sold him and his mother into slavery, so he’s bound to not like Hutts because of that. Just the idea of Anakin having to save this little huttlet, Rotta, and carry him around on his back is like a constant reminder in the back of his mind of what the Hutts did to him and his mom. A literal ‘monkey on his back’ is what we were going for.”
In fact, throughoutShogun’s Shadow, the young heir is carried along by a samurai in a basket not unlike the backpack that Rotta is carried in by Anakin and Ashoka as they fight their way back to the palace, be that in Edo, Japan or Jabba’s Palace, Tatooine. The initial protector of the young master is Lord Hotta, which can’t be too much of a coincidence either.
Classic Inspiration
Shogun’s Shadowmakes its presence known inThe Clone Wars,but that’s because it shares similar DNA withStar Wars.Both reallyareheavily influenced by Kurosawa.Shogun’s Shadowblends elements fromThe Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail, The Hidden Fortress, Seven Samurai, and evenYojimbo,creating a unique synthesis. LikeHidden FortressandThe Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail, the beleaguered and disgraced samurai, played with a strong reserve by Ken Ogata, is thrust behind enemy lines to save the life of a young heir, sometimes overtly and sometimes in disguise. The team here is the same size as the one inSeven Samurai, each of them going above and beyond the price they were paid for their job in order to finish because it’s the right thing to do. The final showdown plays out on a dusty street just likeYojimbo, with Sonny Chiba himself cast as the heavy.
The fight scenes, choreographed by Chiba and performed by his Japan Action Club, are much more dynamic and stylized than Kurosawa’s fight scenes, but that influence is definitely there. There’s one moment where two combatants are running through the grass when the wind picks up that feels very much like Kurosawa, as well as another beautiful tracking shot through a hallway, timed expertly, by Chiba during his first big action sequence. It’s breathtaking. There’s also an almost direct call out to a moment inYojimbowhere a combatant loses a hand and you see a closeup of the severed limb, a long-standing tradition inStar Warsas well.
The more frenetic pace of the action feels much more like what we see inThe Clone Wars.In fact, there’s a sequence inShogun’s Shadowwhere samurai zip down on ropes and fight in a way that reminds one of the battle of Teth inThe Clone Wars, as Anakin and Ahsoka battle up the side of a sheer cliff face on their way to rescue Rotta the Hutt.
Western Influence
Akira Kurosawa got much of his inspiration from Hollywood director John Ford and the western pictures popular from the ’30s through the ’60s. He told uniquely Japanese samurai stories through the lens of western influence that changed samurai cinema forever and that same feedback of influence can be seen inShogun’s Shadow.
There’s no denying a distinctButch Cassidy and the Sundance Kidvibe from more than a couple of sequences inShogun’s Shadow.The first comes when the samurai are forced to a cliff with a raging river beneath them and they have to jump in order to survive. In the George Roy Hill western, it’s played for adventure and laughs, in this samurai picture, it’s played for suspense and it works. As I watched the film the first time, I thought it might have been a mere coincidence, but there was no denying it when we reach the end of the film and see Roy Ogata’s character completely surrounded by an opposing army. He smiles grimly and goes for his sword, but instead of seeing the battle play out, the shot freezes and turns to a black and white photograph, much like the end ofButch Cassidy and the Sundance Kidas they make their last stand in Bolivia.
Shogun’s Shadow
Shogun’s Shadowmight not be considered great cinema, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t fun. Sonny Chiba’s mustachioed bad guy is a joy to watch, especially during the fight scenes, and Ken Ogata’s heroic samurai has the stoic presence of Kurosawa regular Toshiro Mifune. The film is no more absurd than the other action films of the ’80s, but this one has an advantage in that its a samurai film. It’s also fascinating when you watch it through the lens ofStar Warsand see how differently people take inspiration from the films that inspiredStar Warsand what they do with it. Watching it back to back withStar Wars: The Clone Warsgives you a real sense of the cyclical nature of those inspirations and casts the movie in a much different, more enhanced light.
Shogun’s Shadowis currently available on DVD.Star Wars: The Clone Wars(2008) is available on Netflix and physical home formats.
