Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai is a 1999 American crime action film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. Forest Whitaker stars as the title character, the mysterious "Ghost Dog", a hitman in the employ of the Mafia, who follows the ancient code of the samurai as outlined in the book of Yamamoto Tsunetomo's recorded sayings, Hagakure. Critics have noted similarities between the movie and Jean-Pierre Melville's 1967 film Le Samouraï.
Plot
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai trailer - Fan made trailer for Ghost Dog. Starring Forrest Whitaker. Soundtrack by the RZA. Directed by Jim Jarmusch.
Ghost Dog sees himself as a retainer of Louie, a local mobster, who saved Ghost Dog's life years earlier. While living as a hitman for the American Mafia, he adheres to the code of the samurai, and interprets and applies the wisdom of the Hagakure.
Louie tells Ghost Dog to kill a gangster, Handsome Frank, who is sleeping with the daughter of local mafia boss Vargo. Ghost Dog arrives and kills the gangster, before seeing that the girl is also in the room; he leaves her alive. To avoid being implicated in the murder of a made man, Vargo and his associate Sonny Valerio decide to get rid of Ghost Dog. Louie knows practically nothing about Ghost Dog, the hitman communicates only by homing pigeon. The mobsters start by tracing all the pigeon coops in town. They find Ghost Dog's cabin atop a building and kill his pigeons. Ghost Dog realizes he must kill the mafia or they will kill him and his master.
During the day, Ghost Dog frequently visits the park to see his best friend, an ice cream man named Raymond. Ghost Dog does not understand French and Raymond does not understand English but the two seem to understand each other. Ghost Dog also makes friends with a little girl named Pearline, to whom he lends the book Rashomon.
Eventually, Ghost Dog attacks Vargo's mansion and kills almost everyone he encounters single-handed, sparing only Louie and Vargo's daughter. At night, Ghost Dog kills Sonny Valerio in his house. Ghost Dog expects that Louie will attack him (as he feels that Louie must avenge the murder of his boss Vargo). He goes to the park and gives Raymond all his money, helping him to stay in the country. Pearline appears and gives back RashÅmon to Ghost Dog, saying that she liked it. Ghost Dog gives Pearline his copy of Hagakure and encourages her to read it.
Though Louie feels some loyalty to Ghost Dog, he finally confronts him at Raymond's ice cream stand with Raymond and Pearline watching. Ghost Dog is unwilling to attack his master and allows Louie to kill him. His last act is to give Louie the copy of RashÅmon and encourage him to read it. Pearline takes Ghost Dog's gun and shoots at Louie but the gun is empty. Ghost Dog dies peacefully with Raymond and Pearline at his side. Later, Pearline reads the Hagakure.
Cast
Production
The film was shot mostly in Jersey City, New Jersey, but the movie never mentions where the story is set. License plates reveal it is in "The Industrial State" and a vehicle from another state has on its license plate "The Highway State", both of which are fictional state nicknames.
Reception
Critical response to the film was largely positive. On the Rotten Tomatoes review site, the film received an 82% "Certified Fresh" rating. The critical consensus was that the movie is "An innovative blend of samurai and gangster lifestyles." The film was nominated for a few awards but did not win any of them. Among the nominations were the Grand Prix of the Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics, the César Award for Best Foreign Film of 2000 and the Palme d'Or award at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. The film grossed a worldwide total of $9,380,473, of which $3,308,029 was in the United States.
Soundtrack
The film's score and soundtrack is the first produced by the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA.
US and Japanese versions of the soundtrack album have been released, each with a different set of tracks. The Japanese release also has some songs not in the film. Songs in the film that don't appear on either soundtrack album include From Then Till Now performed by Killah Priest, Armagideon Time performed by Willi Williams, Nuba One performed by Andrew Cyrille and Jimmy Lyons and Cold Lampin With Flavor performed by Public Enemy.
Cultural references
The film has been interpreted by critics as an homage to Le Samouraï, a 1967 crime-drama by Jean-Pierre Melville starring Alain Delon. That movie opens with a quote from an invented Book of Bushido and features a meditative, loner hero, Jef Costello. In the same manner that Ghost Dog has an electronic "key" to break into luxury cars, Costello has a huge ring of keys that enable him to steal any Citroën DS. The endings share a key similarity. Moreover, the peculiar relationship between the heroes of both movies and birds, as companions and danger advisers, is another common theme.
The film contains a number of references to Seijun Suzuki's Branded to Kill, such as when a bird lands in front of Ghost Dog's rifle scope, referencing the incident with a butterfly in Suzuki's film. Ghost Dog shooting Sonny Valerio up the drain pipe is taken directly from Branded to Kill.
References
External links
- Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai on IMDb
- Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai at AllMovie
- Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai at Rotten Tomatoes
- Interview with Ian Johnston at louderthanwar.com
