Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) – Filmsack Show Notes

LINKS

IMDB – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165798/

WIKIPEDIA – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Dog:_The_Way_of_the_Samurai

Rotten Tomatoes – https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ghost_dog_the_way_of_the_samurai

TVTropes – https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/GhostDogTheWayOfTheSamurai

WHERE TO WATCH

HBO Max Max – https://play.max.com/movie/376da9d5-e28e-4aa4-96a1-09e8feb9dc05

MORE WAYS TO WATCH – https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/ghost-dog-the-way-of-the-samurai

TRAILER/CLIPS

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Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) – I don’t mean you any disrespect but your movie is covered in bird shit. Also, Fancy Samurai Gun Flip and Shooting people with my good eye… almost made it without mentioning it.

SHOW NOTES

• What’s up Ghost
• Funky…funky intro
• White bird…black sky.
• Can’t see the Forest for the bird
• Night Bird flying over the city…birds eye view.
• Quothe the rat bird… Nevermore! Coo Coo
• oh… we got an Introducing credit…that means… no experience!
• Hagakure… the Book of the Samurai.
• “The Way of the Samurai is found in death. Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Every day when one’s body and mind are at peace, one should meditate upon being ripped apart by arrows, rifles, spears, and swords. Being carried away by surging waves. Being thrown into the midst of a great fire. Being struck by lightning, being shaken to death by a great earthquake. Falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease, or committing seppuku at the death of one’s master. And every day, without fail, one should consider himself as dead. This is the substance of the Way of the Samurai.”
• I am dead… croak. Who me? Just reading my Samurai book on the roof and waving hello to the graveyard as I walk by…. oh and walking the streets at night with my briefcase of death and carjack… and being ignored…NINJA! ooh… and using my zoom vision… oh yeah… ZED… COP
• RZA music.
• Double Din Kenwood.
• I was walking the streets…and now I am cruising the streets…yeeeeeah. am I in a music video… hell yeah!
• A Serious Whitaker.
• “It is bad when one thing becomes two. One should not look for anything else in the Way of the Samurai. It is the same for anything that is called a Way. Therefore, it is inconsistent to hear something of the Way of Confucius or the Way of the Buddha, and say that this is the Way of the Samurai. If one understands things in this manner, he should be able to hear about all Ways and be more and more in accord with his own.”
• Rule number 1… don’t mess around with the bosses daughter.
• Are you finished yet … Uncle Joe. Convenient… he overheard just the right parts for us to understand his motivation.
• Thanks guy Named Angie.
• We got the Asian Kitchen guys eating rice in the alley.
• I’m using my special guy.
• Handsome Frank fucked up… yeah… he is handsome frank…
• She reads… he watches cartoons…. they are all obsessed with birds.
• I don’t want anymore wine
• Rashōmon Book.
• The mafia is living everyday like they are dying… it is their way… 
• If one were to say in a word what the condition of being a samurai is, its basis lies first in seriously devoting one’s body and soul to his master. Not to forget one’s master is the most fundamental thing for a retainer.
• Courier Pigeon… this guy… can we get this guy a fax machine. Writing Homing Pigeon letter’s is hard on the eyes.
• Covered in bird shit… The way of the Samurai
• The Mafia saved him once… he been dead since.
• Hey Ghost! I brought you a letter… please don’t eat it. Shiiiiit. He ate it. I’ll get on this urgent message…right after my rooftop bird shit nap.
• “It is a good viewpoint to see the world as a dream. When you have something like a nightmare, you will wake up and tell yourself that it was only a dream. It is said that the world we live in is not a bit different from this.”
• Who are the Red Suit twins…. oh we get more.
• Among the maxims on Lord Naoshige’s wall there was this one: “Matters of great concern should be treated lightly.” Master lttei commented, “Matters of small concern should be treated seriously.”
• Paid on the first day of Autumn. He contacts me only through a bird. The bird comes every single day. Did I just hear you say he contacted you through a bird… it’s a passenger pigeon. 
• ohh man. N word
• Big Black guy with a pigeon on his shoulder.
• Did you follow this bird?
• This guy is a professional..
• ghost dog… Ghost Dog… he said… GHOST DOG!
• He means like the rappers… I was thinking like the Indians. Same thing. Irony, calls the mobbers in.. Big Angie… so forth.
• Tony Too Deaf over here… 
•  Is he praying to a a bucket of oranges?
• Forest Whitaker… doing his own brand of rooftop training.
• Ice cream! In your language.
• They are rapping the Ghost Dog in the park with 40s
• I like pigeons…but F this dog if he thinks he is getting my cone. woof.
• I thought maybe it was your dog.
• You live in the shack on the top of the building. Mom says you ain’t got no friends.
• I got my books.. The Wind in the Willows. the Souls of Black Folk and Night Nurse… I didn’t read that. Frankenstein!
• The Monster…Frankenstein.
• She keeps collecting books.
• Is it true you got no friends then?
• Come over to the Ice Cream palace!
• Pearlene…
• Let’s talk Chocolate vs Vanilla… he only speaks French.
• What’s he talking about… Bears I guess…. 
• French speaking ice cream guy.
• Wrong Bird man… how many roof top bird men in this city are there.
• got my home made boom box.
• Old Dirty Bastard. 
• According to what one of the elders said, taking an enemy on the battlefield, is like a hawk taking a bird…even though it enters into the midst of a thousand of them, it gives no attention to any bird other than the one it has first marked.
• Why you staring me down dog?
• Well I don’t think he is getting any older.
• Well now you really better shoot me. Fucking Murini
• I’m your retainer… I don’t mean you any disrespect.
• Everything seems to be changing around us.
• Samurai with a sweet tooth.
• The whole city is full of crazy people
• They understand each other…even if they don’t speak the same language.
• Come sail away… come sail away with me.
• Oh shit…they done kilt all my birds…that is going to be a problem.
• That would have been a lot of shots popped off to kill all of those birds.
• and they tore up his book…awww hell nah.
• Floor slide…to the bigger brief case… awww shit.
• In the words of the ancients, one should make his decision within the space of seven breaths. It is a matter of being determined and having the spirit to break through to the other side.
• My most precious has returned.
• Mobsters love them old cartoons. It is where they get all their best ideas. I ain’t reading.
• The landlord is here… 3 months rent… behind on your rent.
• Who should I take it out on.
• Passenger Pigeon! They been extinct.
• it’s poetry.. the  ‘Even if a samurai’s head were to be suddenly cut off, he should still be able to perform one more action with certainty. If one becomes like a revengeful ghost and shows great determination, though his head is cut off, he should not die.’
• I need me a magic car box.
• Step into the Alley please… now get neked… now come out looking for me.
• White driving gloves…nothing 
• “It is good to carry some powdered rouge in one’s sleeve. It may happen that when one is sobering up or waking from sleep, his complexion may be poor. At such a time it is good to take out and apply some powdered rouge.”
• Looks like you are driving a stolen car family of 5 at the rest stop.
• Damn woodpecker.
• Woody.. Wood… pecker. He only likes the maniacal cartoons.
• Bird watching with my gun scope. Oh hello bird…you really screwed me over.
• I have magic box.
• “When one has made a decision to kill a person, even if it will be very difficult to succeed by advancing straight ahead, it will not do to think about going at it in a long roundabout way. One’s heart may slacken, he may miss his chance, and by and large there will be no success. The Way of the Samurai is one of immediacy, and it is best to dash in headlong.”
• Shooting people with my good eye.
• Jesus… it’s the fucking birdman. Heart attack.
• This girl has seen him kill twice. Its you again. You borrowed my book…can I have it back now?
• Shot me in the same spot. I’m your retainer…I don’t mean you no disrespect.
• Fancy gun flip and in the holster it goes.
• Vinny still alive.
• Wow…you killed a bear.
• I didn’t even know it was bear hunting season.
• This ain’t no ancient culture here mister.
• Our bodies are given life from the midst of nothingness. Existing where there is nothing is the meaning of the phrase, “Form is emptiness.” That all things are provided for by nothingness is the meaning of the phrase, “Emptiness is form.” One should not think that these are two seperate things.
• This ghost dog is sending us out like real gangsters.
• They want to be equal. I made her equal.
• Hey, Vin. You with me over there?
• Does his ice cream truck actually go?
• Pearline.
• “There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment. A man’s whole life is a succession of moment after moment. There will be nothing else to do, and nothing else to pursue. Live being true to the single purpose of the moment.”
• Wassup dog. You know the deal.
• This lady deserved to have her car stolen. Samurai Car Thief. Jaguar.
• I think somebody is killing your saxophonist.
• “There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road. But doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still get wet. When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be perplexed, though you will still get the same soaking. This understanding extends to everything.”
• Public Enemy Number 1.. Flava Flave.. Mobster.
• Getting shot from the sink.
• “It is said that what is called “the spirit of an age” is something to which one cannot return. That this spirit gradually dissipates is due to the world’s coming to an end. For this reason, although one would like to change today’s world back to the spirit of one hundred years or more ago, it cannot be done.
• There is more than one! Warriors
• Back of the ice cream truck.
• They said ice cream is good for you. Now they say it is bad.
• You are my one true friend and now they know you.
• A Samurai must always stay loyal to his retainer. 
• Almost extinct. We are from 2 tribes. Sometimes you got to stick with the ancient ways.
• I really wanted to know what she thought about the book.
• I’m not really hungry right now.
• One story…but everybody sees a completely different story.
• Take this book and you read it sometime.
• yeah well…I liked it a lot.
• What is this Louie? High noon? Final shoot out scene.
• I understand.. You have to avenge the death of your bosses.
• now…that one…that one hurt. Ain’t nobody else left.
• It’s like you said. “Better you than me. right.” 
• It’s alright, I’ve seen everything I needed to see.
• You take this book…and read it sometime… then later on you can tell me what you think.
• I’m here Ghost Dog Bird.
• This is my book. You should read it. It takes place in ancient japan. She is watching the modern violent cartoons…and so the cycle continues.
• Little ghost dog.
• “In the Kamigata area, they have a sort of tiered lunchbox they use for a single day when flower viewing. Upon returning, they throw them away, trampling them underfoot. The end is important in all things.”

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