Six-String Samurai (1998) on Netflix
PG-1319981h 31mActionAdventureComedy
In a nuked America, Lost Vegas survives under King Elvis. When Elvis dies, Buddy, a guitarist and swordsman, crosses the desert toward the empty throne, a boy called Kid in tow.
- Netflix3.1/5
- IMDb6.4/108,582 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes57%
Featurette
Plot summary
In 1957 the Soviet Union launches a nuclear attack on the United States, and most of the country becomes uninhabitable. A single haven remains, Lost Vegas, ruled for forty years by King Elvis. When Elvis dies, disc jockey Keith Mortimer calls on musicians everywhere to come to the city and try for the throne of rock 'n' roll. Buddy, a lone guitarist who fights with a sword, crosses the desert wasteland. He rescues an unnamed boy he calls Kid from bandits, and the Kid, whose mother the bandits killed, follows him despite Buddy's annoyance. A heavy metal guitarist called Death wants the throne for himself and lays traps for the musicians on the road. A bounty-hunting bowling team also bars their way.
Cast
- Kim De Angeloas Mother
- Clifford Hugoas Psycho
- Oleg Bernovas Red Elvis
- Igor Yuzovas Red Elvis
- Zhenya Kolykhanovas Red Elvis
- Avi Sillsas Red Elvis
- George L. Casillasas Mariachi / Campfire Cast: Archer (#64)
- Monti Ellisonas Head Pin Pal
- Paul Szopaas Bowler #3 / Campfire Cast: Other Actor (#77)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Six-String Samurai (1998)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Six-String Samurai began at a restaurant, where star Jeffrey Falcon asked director Lance Mungia how he could see through his thick glasses and tried them on; Mungia thought he looked like Buddy Holly. The pair then decided to make a rock 'n' roll samurai martial-arts film.
- Six-String Samurai cost $2,000,000 but made only $124,494 at the box office, despite running for several months in a few theaters and gaining a reputation as a minor cult film.
- The opening sequence's distorted, de-anamorphic look was deliberate: it pays tribute to Chinese martial arts films such as the Shaw Brothers', whose widescreen openings were compressed to the 1.33:1 format of TV screens for VHS.
- Buddy, the hero modeled on Buddy Holly, duels a ukulele-playing musician resembling Ritchie Valens, who died in the same 1959 plane crash as the real Buddy Holly.
- The RPG Fallout: New Vegas carries an achievement called "New Vegas Samurai", illustrated with an image based on the film's poster; players earn it by dealing more than 10,000 points of damage with melee weapons.
