"Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai Movie Review (2000) - Roger Ebert".
That night, Ghost Dog kills Sonny Valerio at his home by shooting him through a pipe. Ghost Dog also befriends a little girl named Pearline, to whom he lends the book Rashōmon.Įventually, Ghost Dog invades Vargo's mansion and kills almost everyone single-handedly, sparing only Louie and Vargo's daughter. Ghost Dog does not understand French and Raymond does not understand English but the two nonetheless seem to connect with each other. Ghost Dog realizes he must kill Vargo and his men or they will kill him and his master.ĭuring the day, Ghost Dog frequently visits the park to see his best friend, a French-speaking ice cream man named Raymond. They find Ghost Dog's cabin atop a building and kill his pigeons. The mobsters start by tracing all the pigeon coops in town. Louie knows practically nothing about Ghost Dog, as the hitman communicates only by homing pigeon. To avoid being implicated in the murder of a made man, Vargo and his associate Sonny Valerio decide to get rid of Ghost Dog. Ghost Dog arrives and kills the gangster, before seeing that the girl is also in the room he leaves her alive. Louie tells Ghost Dog to kill a gangster, Handsome Frank, who is sleeping with the daughter of local mafia boss Vargo.
While living as a hitman for the American Mafia, he adheres to the code of the samurai, and interprets and applies the wisdom of the Hagakure.
Ghost Dog sees himself as a retainer of Louie, a local mobster, who saved Ghost Dog's life years earlier.