''Samurai Cowboy'' is a film shot in conjunction with the Alberta Motion Picture Development Corporation, and

Monarch Home video Ingram Entertainment Inc. is an American distributor of home entertainment products, like DVDs, audiobooks, video game software and hardware. Ingram Entertainment Inc, is the nation's largest distributor of DVD software. History The company has ...

. The film was shot in 1993 at

Waterton Lakes National Park Waterton Lakes National Park is a national park located in the southwest corner of Alberta, Canada. It borders Glacier National Park in Montana, United States. Waterton was the fourth Canadian national park, formed in 1895 and named after Waterto ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. The film was directed by Canadian director Michael Keusch. For the director Michael Keusch, a graduate of the film program at the

Southern Alberta Institute of Technology The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) is a polytechnic institute in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. SAIT offers more than 110 career programs in technology, trades and business. Established in 1916, it is Calgary's second oldest post-se ...

, the film was a chance to revisit the province he grew up in. The

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...

was written by Dave Hunsaker and Rick Pont, and was created with a budget of 2 million Canadian. The film stars main character

Hiromi Go , is a Japanese singer, part of Sony Music Entertainment Japan. His real name is . In the 1970s, he was called the with Goro Noguchi and Hideki Saijo. He belonged to Johnny & Associates, but later left the agency. He also effectively became ...

as the Japanese business man turned cowboy. Also starring in the film was Robert Conrad, Matt McCoy,

Catherine Mary Stewart Catherine Mary Stewart (; born 22 April 1959) is a Canadian actress. Her film roles include '' The Apple'', ''The Last Starfighter'' and ''Weekend at Bernie's''. She was also the original Kayla Brady in ''Days of our Lives''. Early life Stewar ...

and

Conchata Ferrell Conchata Galen Ferrell (March 28, 1943October 12, 2020) was an American actress. Although she was a regular cast member of five TV sitcoms, she was best known for playing Berta the housekeeper for all 12 seasons of ''Two and a Half Men''. For he ...

Plot

The film follows a Japanese businessman named Yutaka Sato (

), a workaholic who lives in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. After the death of his best friend from a heart attack due to permanent stress at work, Sato becomes disillusioned with the busy Tokyo lifestyle that he leads. Sato then decides to fulfill his lifelong dream of living in the Wild West in America, and moves to

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

to follow a childhood dream of becoming a cattle rancher. In Montana, Sato meets a group of five cowboys that end up becoming his friend group. One is an old cowboy named Gabe McBride ( Robert Conrad); one is a cowgirl/veterinarian named Jessie Collins (

); one is an Aboriginal (Native Canadian) cowboy who faces discrimination (

Byron Chief-Moon Byron Chief-Moon is an Aboriginal Canadian actor, choreographer, dancer, playwright, and founder of the Coyote Arts Percussive Performance Association, a dance theatre company. Early life and education Chief-Moon was born in Carlsbad, California, ...

); and a country singer cowboy (Bradley M. Rapier). Along the way these cowboys become his friends and help him fight against the evil Colt Wingate. Meanwhile, Jessie Collins becomes Sato's love interest in the film. However, once he arrives at the ranch he finds out it is due for demolition and the welcome he receives from the town is less than friendly. Cattle rancher Colt Wingate, played by Matt McCoy, is pitted against newcomer Sato as Wingate wants to buy Sato's land in order to flood the valley and build a dam. In the end, Sato wins against Colt Wingate and is able to fulfill his lifetime-long dream of living on a ranch in the Wild Wild West.

Cast

as Yutaka Sato. *

as Jessie Collins. * Robert Conrad as Gabe McBride. * Matt McCoy as Colt Wingate. *

as Bobbi Bob Pickette. *

Ian Tyson Ian Dawson Tyson (September 25, 1933 – December 29, 2022) was a Canadian singer-songwriter who wrote several folk songs, including " Four Strong Winds" and " Someday Soon", and performed with partner Sylvia Tyson as the duo Ian & Sylvia. Ea ...

as T.J. Welsh *

as Jack Eagle Eye * Bradley M. Rapier as C.C. Ryder *

Mark Acheson Mark Acheson (born September 19, 1957) is a Canadian voice, film and television actor. Career Acheson began studying acting at Langara College’s Studio 58 at the age of 15. He is a founding member of Janus Theatre and appeared on stage for eigh ...

as Flint Clayton * Tom Glass as Ben * Rick Harvey as Gil * Owen Smith as Mudslinger #1 * Ehud Ellman as Mudslinger #2 * Tom Bonny as Mudslinger #3 * Harold Ludwig as American Businessman * Duncan Callander as Bus Driver * J. Max Kirishima as Goro Date (credited as Max Kirishima) * Don Browne as Unfriendly Man #1 * Kendall MacDonnell as Unfriendly Man #2

Reception

Review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

gives the film a rating of 0%, based on 0 reviews. Audiences give the film a 50% rating, based on 672 reviews, with an average rating of 3.1/5.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0108035, title=Samurai Cowboy 1993 drama films 1993 films 1993 Western (genre) films Canadian drama films English-language Canadian films Saban Entertainment films Canadian Western (genre) films Films shot in Alberta Japanese-Canadian films 1990s English-language films 1990s Canadian films