Line #66 Film/SixStringSamurai


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6	[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sss.gif]]
7	[[caption-width-right:200:[[PreAssKickingOneLiner If you were me, you'd be good-lookin'.]] [[BadassFingersnap snap]]]]
8	->''"Only one man could kill this many Russians. Bring his Guitar to me!"''
9	-->-- '''Death''', observing the results of [[CurbStompBattle our Hero's confrontation with the Red Army.]]
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11	In an alternate world, Russia and the U.S. nearly destroyed each other in nuclear war in 1957, with only a couple of remaining outposts of civilization left. The most prominent is [[UsefulNotes/LasVegas Lost Vegas,]] ruled by Music/ElvisPresley. However, "after 40 rockin' years, the King is dead."
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13	The position of King is now open, and a katana-wielding guitarist named Buddy is out to take the throne. Along the way, though, he has to fight off the other pretenders, Communist bowlers, the entire Russian Army, and Death in the form of... [[Music/GunsNRoses Slash]].
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15	Also along the way, he has to deal with a TagalongKid that ends up teaching him that being the King is about more than rocking and fighting.
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17	The whole film can be watched for free on PALM's official channel [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaPP00uNkNI here.]]
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19	----
20	!!This movie has examples of:
21	* TheFifties: What's left of society still looks like it, since the nuclear war took place then -- and most everywhere is far from recovered even four decades later.
22	* AfterTheEnd: Complete with ''Film/MadMax''-style neo-barbarians.
23	* AlternateHistory, the intro text:
24	-->In 1957, [[ApocalypseHow the bomb dropped]], and the Russians took over what was America.\
25	The last bastion of freedom became a place called [[UsefulNotes/LasVegas Lost Vegas]] and [[Music/ElvisPresley Elvis]] was crowned King.\
26	After forty rockin' years, The King is dead.\
27	Every guitar picking, sword swinging opportunist, including [[TheGrimReaper Death himself]], hears the call echoing across the wastelands.
28	* ArrowCatch: When Death's minions (who all use bows with [[BottomlessMagazines unlimited arrows]]) chances upon Buddy when he's separated from his sword, he appears to just be dodging their ATeamFiring. When he gets up from one of his rolls, however, he throws away a bundle of arrows in each hand.
29	* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Buddy Holly was born in 1936 so he would have been over sixty by the time of the movie. [[spoiler: Of course, the ending could well mean the Buddy of the film is a LegacyCharacter.]]
30	* AsHimself: The communist surf rockabilly gang The Red Elvises are played by [[https://www.redelvises.com/ Igor & the Red Elvises]].
31	* BadassAndChildDuo: Buddy and The Kid hit the major notes - stoic AntiHero type who first meets the orphaned child when he saves him from death, cynicism slowly melts away as the child becomes closer, the kid helps out with some support roles, and [[spoiler: the Badass has a HeroicSacrifice to save the child at the end.]]
32	* CannibalClan: Who look and (try to) act like a stereotypical ''Series/FatherKnowsBest''-style [[TheFifties '50's]] nuclear family.
33	* CaptainErsatz: Buddy and Death are Captain Ersatzes of, respectively, Music/BuddyHolly and [[Music/GunsNRoses Slash]]. Although judging from what we see, Buddy might actually ''be'' the real Buddy Holly. [[spoiler:Or he may have taken over the mantle, the same way the Kid does for him at the end.]]
34	* CelebritySurvivor: Music/ElvisPresley survived the apocalypse and became an actual "King".
35	* ChevalierVsRogue: The film pits the SamuraiCowboy protagonist Buddy against Death (who looks like Slash). The former doesn't have much of a code of honour per se, but he does get upset over killing a fairly young challenger, reluctantly adopts a young orphan and fights head on. Meanwhile, Death mainly relies on letting his three minions shoot his targets (and isn't above taking a Kid Sidekick hostage to force the hero to surrender).
36	* DanceBattler: Buddy uses dance during his swordfights to, well, swordfight.
37	* EnemiesWithDeath: Fighting a rock-n'-roll sword duel against him? Can't get much more literal.
38	* FunWithSubtitles: Some of the [[ForeignCussWord profanities uttered by the Russians]] are translated as perfectly polite lines in the subtitles.
39	* GangOfHats: The Pin Pals, a gang of murderous bowlers with bowling ball flails and knives hidden in pins. And the Red Elvises, a communist rock'n'roll band who work for Death.
40	* TheGrimReaper: Happens to look like [[Music/GunsNRoses Slash]]. His minions even refer to him as "Top Hat".
41	* HeroicBSOD: After Buddy has a rematch with the guy he had earlier taken out with an OffhandBackhand, he realizes that AsskickingLeadsToLeadership isn't the way to become a good person or a good ruler, throwing aside his guitar and sword and saying, "I've got to get a new gig."
42	* ImAHumanitarian: Buddy tries to drop the kid off with a family like this.
43	* InvadedStatesOfAmerica: Remnants of the Russian Army are in what is left of the United States. They're not in much better shape than anyone else, though.
44	* KatanasAreJustBetter: The two best swordsmen in the film are Buddy and Death, and both use katanas to cut down everyone in their path, particularly anyone foolish enough to use something that isn't a katana (like the entire Russian army).
45	* LawyerFriendlyCameo: Many of the prominent characters are evocative of various musicians. Most obvious is Buddy for Music/BuddyHolly and Death for [[Music/GunsNRoses Slash]].
46	* TheLoad: That damn kid. Yeah, yeah, he occasionally does something useful, and ThePowerOfFriendship and all that. Still, notice that ''every single time'' Buddy gets hurt, it's directly or indirectly the kid's fault. This is lampshaded by Death's minions, who jeer, "The boy! The boy makes [Buddy] ''very'' uncool!"
47	* MissingMom: Justified; The Kid's mother is killed before his eyes at the beginning. He latches onto Buddy in part because Buddy killed his mother's killer.
48	* OffhandBackhand: One challenger (who might be Music/RitchieValens) tries to challenge Buddy at one point when Buddy is more focused on helping the Kid. Buddy does a OneHitKO with this to show how serious he is.
49	* OneManArmy: Buddy versus the remnants of the Russian Army. By the time Death arrives, [[CurbStompBattle the Russian Army had lost]].
50	* ThePowerOfFriendship: [[spoiler:When Death finally catches up to Buddy, Buddy willingly throws away his guitar pick, to concede in his quest to become King. But Death refuses, saying that he's really after what Buddy values most. Realizing that means The Kid, Buddy yells, "You can't have him!"]] This leads to [[spoiler:an epic guitar-playing duel between Death and Buddy.]]
51	* ThePowerOfRock: [[spoiler:After Buddy realizes he values The Kid and refuses to hand him over to Death, an epic guitar-playing duel ensues where Death and Buddy try to show who's more worthy of becoming King with sweet guitar solos.]]
52	* RockMeAmadeus: An electric-guitar version of Brahms' ''Hungarian Dance No. 5'' shows up in the soundtrack about halfway through.
53	* SamuraiCowboy: It's a post-apocalypse Western with a samurai Buddy Holly as the protagonist.
54	* SimpleSolutionWontWork: PlayedForLaughs. Buddy encounters [[TheRemnant a group of remnant Soviet soldiers]] in one scene, and all of the Soviet soldiers get ready to fight Buddy with blades and using their rifles as bludgeons. One of the soldiers asks another that if they have rifles, why not just shoot Buddy? The other soldier calls the first an idiot and reminds him that they've been out of bullets for ten years.
55	* TagalongKid: The unnamed Kid, who follows Buddy throughout the film even when Buddy threatens him. He latches onto Buddy when Buddy kills the men who killed The Kid's mother.
56	* TakeUpMySword: [[spoiler:At the end of the movie, the Kid literally takes up Buddy's sword, along with his guitar, suit, and glasses. The final scene of the movie is him literally ''turning into'' Buddy as he walks towards Lost Vegas. Straightforward symbolism? Or [[WildMassGuessing has Buddy's spirit done this before]]? Perhaps a {{Justified}} trope since the actual Buddy Holly would have been much older by that point.]]
57	* VivaLasVegas: Lost Vegas is the last great bastion of civilization in the US. It was ruled by Elvis Presley, who was crowned as its "King"; his death by the start of the story is what spurs many characters -- including Buddy and Death -- to try take Elvis's now-vacant throne.
58	* TheVoiceless: The Kid [[spoiler:until about halfway through the movie; [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Buddy immediately and later on.]]
59	* WeaksauceWeakness: [[spoiler:In a {{Homage}} to ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', Death is killed by getting wet.]]
60	* WhyDontYaJustShootHim: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] and [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]]; one Russian soldier asks why they can't just shoot Buddy since they have rifles, to which another soldier reminds him the Russian Army ran out of bullets decades ago.
61	* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: How the Kid breaks Buddy out of his HeroicBSOD -- as a reminder of the good Buddy can do (since Buddy saved his life), he brings back the guitar and sword to Buddy and says, "You can still be a good King."
62	* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: [[spoiler:After the Kid kills Death, Death's minions hand him their card and tell him to call them if he needs a band.]]
63	* YouHaveFailedMe: Done by Death to some of his minions (local "[[GenreMashup Soviet Rockabilly Surf Band]]" The Red Elvises). The StockPhrase is interrupted when he sees their (nice) shoes, which he takes with him.

Context Film / SixStringSamurai