Movies like Gonza the Spearman (1986)
The best movies like Gonza the Spearman (1986) are Samurai Rebellion (1967), Killing (2018) and Taboo (1999). If Gonza the Spearman hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHarakiri (1962)8.5/10 from 1,324 votes
- NewestSamurai Marathon (2019)Released 2019
- In JapaneseSamurai Rebellion (1967)Also in Japanese
Samurai Rebellion (1967)
The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped by the lord. Her husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to rescue her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisKilling (2018)
In mid-19th century Edo period, a masterless rōnin named Mokunoshin Tsuzuki resides in a peaceful village among those he helps. However, as the prevalent peace and tranquility are sure to be replaced by war and conflict across the land, the swordsman feels restlessness creeping upon him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTaboo (1999)
Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering on a handsome young samurai named Sozaburo Kano. The school's stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChûshingura (1962)
After their lord is tricked into committing ritual suicide, forty-seven samurai warriors await the chance to avenge their master and reclaim their honor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSamurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (1954)
Struggling to elevate himself from his low caste in 17th century Japan, Miyamoto trains to become a mighty samurai warrior.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this13 Assassins (2010)
A bravado period action film set at the end of Japan's feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a war-torn future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSamurai Marathon (2019)
When feudal lord Itakura Katsuakira decides to prepare his samurai troops for the onslaught of modernization by having them compete in a marathon, his independent-minded daughter Yuki secretly joins the race.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (1972)
Official Shogunate executioner Ogami Itto has been framed for disloyalty to the Shogunate by the Yagyu clan, against whom he now is waging a one-man war, along with his infant son, Daigoro.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRurouni Kenshin Part II: Kyoto Inferno (2014)
Kenshin has settled into his new life with Kaoru and his other friends when he is approached with a request from the Meiji government. Makoto Shishio, a former assassin like Kenshin, was betrayed, set on fire and left for dead. He survived, and is now in Kyoto, plotting with his gathered warriors to overthrow the new government. Against Kaoru's wishes, Kenshin reluctantly agrees to go to Kyoto and help keep his country from falling back into civil war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSamurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple (1955)
After years on the road establishing his reputation as Japan's greatest fencer, Takezo returns to Kyoto. Otsu waits for him, yet he has come not for her but to challenge the leader of the region's finest school of fencing. To prove his valor and skill, he walks deliberately into ambushes set up by the school's followers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Tale of Zatoichi (1962)
The adventures of a blind, gambling masseur and master swordsman. Zatoichi targets a yakuza-controlled village, because war with a neighbouring town's smaller gang is brewing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Sword of Doom (1966)
Ryunosuke, a gifted swordsman plying his trade during the turbulent final days of Shogunate rule, has no moral code and kills without remorse. It’s a way of life that leads to madness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNew Tale of Zatoichi (1963)
Wishing to find peace, Zatoichi travels to his old village but only finds trouble when he ends up in a love triangle and finds old scores have followed him home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSamurai Assassin (1965)
Japan, 1860. The men of the Mito clan, victims of the Ansei purge, anxiously prowl around the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle with the intention of assassinating Naosuke Ii of Hikone, tairō of the Tokugawa shogunate and responsible for their misfortune.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisZatoichi's Cane Sword (1967)
Zatoichi comes upon the town of Tonda, overrun by gangsters. Using one of his favorite techniques, Zatoichi proceeds to win 8 ryo in a rigged gambling game. Of course, the local gangsters attempt to kill him, and the adventure begins. It turns out a blacksmith named Senzo examines Zatoichi's cane sword, and discovers it to be forged by his old mentor. Senzo discovers the sword is at the end of its usefulness and will break when it is used next.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisZatoichi: Darkness Is His Ally (1989)
Older, wiser but still a wandering loner, the blind, peace-loving masseur Ichi seeks a peaceful life in a rural village. When he's caught in the middle of a power struggle between two rival Yakuza clans, his reputation as a deadly defender of the innocent is put to the ultimate test in a series of sword-slashing showdowns.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhen the Last Sword Is Drawn (2003)
Kanichiro Yoshimura is a samurai and family man who can no longer support his wife and children on the low pay he receives from his small-town clan. He is forced by his love for his family to leave for the city in search of higher pay to support them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUgetsu (1953)
In 16th century Japan, peasants Genjuro and Tobei sell their earthenware pots to a group of soldiers in a nearby village, in defiance of a local sage's warning against seeking to profit from warfare. Genjuro's pursuit of both riches and the mysterious Lady Wakasa, as well as Tobei's desire to become a samurai, run the risk of destroying both themselves and their wives, Miyagi and Ohama.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHarakiri (1962)
Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce in his suicide ritual. The senior counselor for the Iyi clan questions the ronin’s resolve and integrity, suspecting Hanshirō of seeking charity rather than an honorable end. What follows is a pair of interlocking stories which lay bare the difference between honor and respect, and promises to examine the legendary foundations of the Samurai code.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisYojimbo (1961)
A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisPandora's Box (1929)
The rise and inevitable fall of an amoral but naive young woman whose insouciant eroticism inspires lust and violence in those around her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Few Good Men (1992)
When cocky military lawyer Lt. Daniel Kaffee and his co-counsel, Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway, are assigned to a murder case, they uncover a hazing ritual that could implicate high-ranking officials such as shady Col. Nathan Jessep.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMiss Hokusai (2015)
A daughter is constantly overshadowed by her famous father, but she is determined to make her own mark in the world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCurse of the Golden Flower (2006)
During China's Tang dynasty the emperor has taken the princess of a neighboring province as his wife. She has borne him two sons and raised his eldest. Now his control over his dominion is complete, including the royal family itself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCloser (2004)
The relationships of two couples become complicated and deceitful when the man from one couple meets the woman of the other.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVojnarka (1936)
Antonín Havel was unhappily in love with Madlena. She married the rich Sedlák Vojnar, and Havel went to war. But Madlena soon became a widow. Madlena is forced by her brother-in-law Jakub into a second marriage. She refuses this not only because of her son Jeník, but also because of her memories of Antonín.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Ghosts (2014)
Helene Alving leads an outwardly contented life. On the eve of the 10th anniversary of her husband's death, she is about to open an orphanage as a memorial to him. To mark this occasion, her bohemian painter son Oswald has returned from Paris. Helene plans to take the opportunity to tell Oswald the truth about his father. But ghosts of the past erupt during an eventful evening, bringing the facade of civilised family life crashing down.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Izo (2004)
Izo is an assassin in the service of a Tosa lord and Imperial supporter. After killing dozens of the Shogun's men, Izo is captured and crucified. Instead of being extinguished, his rage propels him through the space-time continuum to present-day Tokyo. Here Izo transforms himself into a new, improved killing machine.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisExiled in America (1992)
A Central American revolutionary is captured and tortured by government forces. He escapes and flees to the US, hiding out in a rural area where he is sheltered by a Christian sanctuary movement. His wife gets a job at a local diner run by one of the town's shadier women, and soon a CIA assassination team shows up, looking for him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Yegor Bulychyov and Others (1953)
Major timber merchant Yegor Bulychyov is terminally ill. In his house, he is surrounded by insignificant and greedy people, impatiently waiting for his death. Clever and insightful Yegor understands that he lived his whole life with strangers. He protests in his own way against the dissimulation and hypocrisy of the "masters" - the clergy, liberals, against the foundations of the bourgeois society that is going to collapse. Bulychyov's dying curse drowns his class in the powerful sounds of a revolutionary song.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Gonza the Spearman?
The closest matches to Gonza the Spearman are Samurai Rebellion (1967), Killing (2018) and Taboo (1999). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Gonza the Spearman?
Start with Samurai Rebellion (1967), the closest match to Gonza the Spearman.
What is the highest-rated movie like Gonza the Spearman?
Harakiri (1962), rated 8.5/10 by 1,324 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Gonza the Spearman?
Samurai Marathon (2019) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Gonza the Spearman?
Yes: Samurai Rebellion (1967), Killing (2018) and Taboo (1999).
How are movies similar to Gonza the Spearman chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Gonza the Spearman, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.