Six-String Samurai (1998) | Sci-Fi Saturdays

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Rock ‘n Roll meets Chopsocky cinema!

If you are on the lookout for post-apocalyptic, martial art, rock and roll films then look no further. Six-String Samurai is here to entertain you. And entertain it does. It features a lot of fun takes on various genres, bending them all into a unique film that stands above its B-movie roots.

First Impressions

In 1957 the bomb was dropped creating a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Lost Vegas was the last city and Elvis became king. Now that his heir has died, a new man will fight for the throne. The trailer makes this look like a cross between Mad Max, The Buddy Holly Story and Lone Wolf and Cub. This is the Six-String Samurai.

Presented below is the trailer for the film.

The Fiction of The Film

In 1957 a nuclear war occurred and the Russians took over what was left of the United States. The last city for freedom was called Lost Vegas, led by Elvis Presley, who was crowned king. Forty years later, Elvis is dead and guitar-wielding, sword-swinging people are heading from all over to claim the throne. One of those people is Buddy (Jeffrey Falcon), a bespeckled man with a 1957 hollow body six-string, and a sword to match. He wanders the wastelands, dispatching men who would do him harm, and happens upon some men that kill a woman in front of her young boy. The Kid (Justin McGuire), who is apparently mute, follows Buddy into a local town.

Buddy stops to get a drink while listening to a four-piece band (The Red Elvises). He is confronted by three toughs dressed in bowling gear, and called the Pin-Pals. They want Buddy’s guitar to give to Death (Stephane Gauger, voice of Lex Lang) who is eager to rule Lost Vegas. Using his samurai skills, Buddy dispatches these bounty hunting bowlers and hops into a car stolen by The Kid. The car overheats and they are attacked by another group of wasteland wanderers. Buddy and The Kid run into The Cleavers, a cannibalistic 50s nuclear family, with whom Buddy leaves The Kid and continues his trek to Vegas.

As the cannibals prepare to eat The Kid, a group of “Windmill People,” wearing spacesuits attack. Buddy returns in time to save The Kid even though he continues to dissuade the boy from following him. Death, who has kinky black hair, no visible face, wears a black leather trench coat and top hat, and travels with three archers, is close behind Buddy. The lone rocker attempts to leave The Kid with some people in the town of Fallout, but after Buddy accidentally kills a guitarist that feels disrespected, he changes his mind. They wander in the hot sand dunes, and the boy decides to speak, warning him that Death is coming.

Death and his minions attack Buddy who in turn sends The Kid sliding down a sand dune on his guitar. He leaves the fight prematurely when The Kid is taken by some underground dwellers. These underground mutants put The Kid into a fight with another boy (one killed by Death in the opening scenes), planning to sacrifice the winner. Using fighting moves he saw Buddy use, The Kid holds his own, and is eventually rescued by Buddy. They resume their walk to Vegas, now only 18 miles. They come upon the Studebaker car stolen by the cannibal family in pieces on the highway. Suddenly a large faction of the Red Army confront them.

Using his sword, Buddy single-handedly takes on dozens of men in the Red Army, but becomes injured. The Kid pulls him out of the battlefield and begins dragging him down the road, inching closer to Vegas. Death and his men appear on a cliff along the way, threatening Buddy for his guitar. He tells the kid to go on without him, and thus begins a guitar battle between the rock and roll Buddy and the heavy metal Death. However, The Kid does not leave.

The archers try to shoot the boy, but Buddy steps in front of the arrows, taking them in his back. Buddy rises with his sword to fight Death as The Kid fends off the archers, but Buddy eventually falls in the battle. When The Kid spits at Death, the dark man’s hand begins to smoke. The Kid sprays water on the would-be King and he disintegrates into the ground. The archers slink away, giving The Kid their card in case he needs them. Buddy succumbs to his wounds and dies, disappearing–leaving  only his clothes. The Kid puts on Buddy’s outfit, takes his guitar and sword and walks off into Lost Vegas as the new king of rock and roll.

“Don’t touch my guitar, man.” – Buddy

History in the Making

Six-String Samurai was the feature film debut of director Lance Mungia, whose only other film work includes the fourth film in The Crow franchise, 2009s Wicked Prayer with Edward Furlong. The film was co-written by Mungia and star Jeffrey Falcon, who plays Buddy–the sword-swinging, hard-rocking, Buddy Holly look-alike. This was his final acting job after a decade of minor appearances in Chinese martial arts films, often playing characters named “Caucasian Killer” or simply “thug.” Those roles prepared him with the necessary chops to perform the martial arts action necessary as the six-string samurai.

The film borrows heavily from 1950s American pop-culture, 1970s Chinese martial arts films, and 1980s post-apocalyptic visions, making it one of the most unique films reviewed on Sci-Fi Saturdays. These elements create a very non-specific timeframe for the look and production of the film. If it weren’t for the dates being revealed in the opening crawl, it would be difficult to pinpoint exactly. Six-String Samurai also never takes itself too seriously. It’s not quite a parody of the film examples above, but a pastiche of various styles, homages to other works, and as such something wholly new.

Genre-fication

Constant readers of these articles will understand that Six-String Samurai is very much a sci-fi film. The post-apocalyptic film genre is more speculative fiction than standard science-fiction (with its robots, spaceships, and advanced technology), having a very pessimistic outlook on the future when compared to some of the more upbeat ideals from prominent sci-fi films. The film creates an alternate world where the Red scare of the 50s resulted in nuclear devastation of the United States and a takeover by the Red Army. Normal people devolved to live in squalor and became cannibals, mutants, or individuals seeking an existence in a violent and unforgiving world.

However the primary elements of the Six-String Samurai come from, and are inspired by, 1970s Hong Kong cinema. Films like those of the Shaw Brothers lend the sometimes goofy aspect to the action scenes here. The best example is the footage behind the opening credits. The film is distorted making the characters appear tall and thin, as the image is compressed from a wider screen image to fit the proportions of the screen. This is a tribute to many of those 70s martial arts films that had their titles compressed when transferred to videotape or broadcast on television. Another throwback appears to be the dialogue. It appears that all the dialogue is overdubbed by the actors later, providing a brighter and slightly out-of-sync audio track. This pays tribute to all the dubbed foreign language films where English speech replaces the original dialogue.

Societal Commentary

What’s the best type of music? This perennial question attempts to be answered here, but of course in a very biased way. Buddy obviously represents Buddy Holly and the spirit of American rock and roll. Death, by nature of his wardrobe, looks very much like the guitarist Slash from Guns N’ Roses–representing heavy metal or hard rock. These are the two genres that are vying for control of Lost Vegas, ruled until recently by the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley. Throughout the film there are other characters that seem to depict other types of music: the bar band (The Red Elvises) playing surf rock, a man dressed in cowboy gear–as in country and western, a mariachi with a very small guitar, and the midget from Fallout dressed in the hip-hop style. In the end it comes down to Death versus Buddy, and unfortunately rock and roll is dead. Long live rock and roll, as The Kid assumes the clothes, and the guise, of Buddy to continue his journey to the legendary Sin City to claim the throne.

The Science in The Fiction

Unlike the post-apocalyptic future presented in Mad Max or The Road Warrior, Six-String Samurai’s world is a bit more tongue-in-cheek. It supposes that the last 40 years, people have survived in the wasteland after the destruction of American civilization, while the culture of the 50s continues to thrive. The demented cannibal family, The Cleavers, looks like a post-apocalyptic Ozzie and Harriet, while bounty hunters, like the Pin-Pals, dress in period clothing except with punk rock hairdos. It’s certainly not an accurate picture of what life might be like, but then this story is nothing more than a parable made up from parts of other tales.

The Final Frontier

Besides the obvious allusions to Mad Max, the film also channels The Wizard of Oz, Lone Wolf and Cub, as well as elements of various Western films, El Topo and Star Wars. Buddy is on a trip to the fabulous city of Lost Vegas, which is a blatant stand-in for the Emerald City of Oz. Several characters, including the midget (munchkin-like as he is), tell Buddy to follow the yellow brick road. The various vignettes of people that Buddy and The Kid meet represent many of Dorothy’s adventures on her quest. But instead of a pair of ruby slippers that the witch wants so badly, Buddy possesses a 1957 hollow body six-string coveted by Death. However, Buddy does not represent Dorothy in this case. The Kid himself is the hero of the film, as it is ultimately his journey and growth that the film highlights. He transforms from a scared little boy, via the various perils and adventures, into a kung-fu rocker that becomes the new hope for keeping the spirit of rock and roll alive. Especially after he dispatches death with a bottleful of water, much like Dorothy kills the Wicked Witch of the West.

But those are only some of the most overt imagery in Six-String Samurai. The pairing of a martial arts master with a young child is very reminiscent of the early 70s manga Lone Wolf and Cub, about a disgraced warrior and his young boy traveling the countryside. Director Mungia also takes advantage of the various natural wonders of the American West to show sweeping vistas and other interesting architecture that defines classic American Westerns, specifically from the 50s and 60s. Finally, after Buddy succumbs to his wounds in the battle with Death, his body disappears from his clothes, just like Obi-Wan Kenobi does during his battle with Darth Vader. With The Kid putting on his clothes, the student now becomes the master, in yet another homage to a classic story.

Six-String Samurai is a lower-budget film that elevates itself from its roots through its sheer tenacity to tell a grander tale stitched together from other, more popular stories. Mungia makes great use of the production value of various desert locations, and the strong martial arts training (and Buddy Holly-like appearance) of Jeffrey Falcon. It remains a fun film full of interesting, and humorous, characters that proves science-fiction stories have come a long way in the past fifty years.

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