Sword Feat

The phrase “Samurai Supper” tends to stir up memories of the late John Belushi, as the stolid samurai chef wielding a mean sword around the short-order kitchen on “Saturday Night Live.” But American Cinematheque’s “Samurai Supper,” scheduled for Saturday night, doesn’t include any samurai or swords in the food preparation (although skewers are a possibility).

The supper is the next offering in the film organization’s new dinner-and-a-movie program. Those who come Saturday for a taste of the “Outlaw Masters of Modern Japanese Filmmaking” series will have an opportunity to eat a meal served between three samurai films screening that night. The food is catered by Classic Cuisine and Yours for the Asking, a company that has cooked up theme meals for the first five dinner programs, the new movie-meal deal American Cinematheque introduced earlier this year.

While the dinner-and-a-movie concept sounds like a clever idea, along the lines of dinner theater, in reality it evolved because the Raleigh Studios’ cantina closes after dark and the dining options nearby are limited. To fill the void, American Cinematheque teamed up with Classic Cuisine, and so far, the response has been positive.

Moviegoers are hit with the aroma of “something cookin’ ” as they walk out of the theater, much in the same way hot buttered popcorn engulfs the unsuspecting at mainstream movie theaters.

“It’s a reasonably priced meal at $7.50, and we seem to have a lot of repeat business,” says Yvonne Dubrow, owner-chef at Classic Cuisine. “There’s a novelty to it, yes, but most people go out to dinner on a Saturday night anyway.”

On dinner-program night, filmgoers can either see the first film (on Saturday it’s “Destiny’s Son,” directed by Kenji Misumi, at 7:15 p.m.) and then check out the food; or eat first, when the grill opens at 8 p.m., and then catch the double feature (“A Certain Killer,” directed by Kazuo Mori, at 9 p.m., and “Sword Devil,” directed by Misumi).

Dubrow sometimes gets inspiration for her movie menus by watching the films ahead of time. Earlier this year, for example, the company served a Western barbecue, with tri-tips, grilled chicken, corn bread and ranch-style beans for a screening of “Man in the Saddle.” For “The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover,” Dubrow was inspired to create “a pretty graphic vegetable and fruit display,” and profiteroles (cream puffs), which “the main character always demanded at restaurants,” for dessert.

Samurai films offer a unique challenge for the cooks at Classic Cuisine. While the samurai of film fame typically uses his sword to slice, dice and chop his opponents with all the finesse and artistry of a gourmet chef, the brutality is hardly the most appetizing prelude to dinner.

For the uninitiated, the samurai films of the 1960s and ‘70s are comparable to the American western, says American Cinematheque’s Dennis Bartok, who programmed the “Outlaw Master” series.

The lead characters were “loner, violent, individualistic heroes who operate on the fringes of society,” Bartok says. “And the films represent a time period in Japanese filmmaking that is under-represented in the United States.”

Bartok sees the series as an opportunity “to attach a director’s name” to the films, as well as to show the variety of films by the directors.

“People don’t have a sense of authorship,” Bartok says. “We’re trying to bring to life not only a genre, but to introduce the filmmakers and the different kinds of films by these directors.”

Bartok believes each filmmaker represented in the series is worthy of his own retrospective, but by offering a sample from each director, viewers will get a sense of their individuality.

“Like with westerns, they all have an individual sense of style and their own take on what constitutes heroism,” Bartok says.

The films screening on “Samurai Supper” night are all from the early 1960s. “ ‘Destiny’s Son’ is a highly stylized, stylistically bold film,” Bartok says. “ ‘Sword Devil’ [about a samurai savant] is like a precursor to ‘Forrest Gump.’ ”

The three films, which all star Raizo Ichikawa, actually compose a mini-tribute to the late actor, who was considered the “Japanese James Dean,” Bartok says.

From Dubrow’s perspective, she will attempt to dissect the Japanese culture to plan the menu, while going light on the visual imagery.

Skewers, with chicken or veggies, are acceptable. Pate in the shape of a severed hand is not. Green tea ice cream is in, rice cakes with blood-red food coloring is out.

But if you have the stomach for the gore and brutality of samurai films, you’ll probably have no trouble digesting the “Samurai Supper.”

On Saturday, along with grilled chicken or vegetable kebabs, Dubrow also expects to have a noodle dish, steamed jasmine rice, a cucumber salad and other Japanese food.

Dubrow was approached by American Cinematheque to cater the dinner programs because she worked previously on the Spanish Consulate’s film festival, which she’s catered for three years. Though the film program is a low-cost venture, because it was created more as a convenience for filmgoers than a form of revenue, Dubrow was still eager to participate.

“It’s a nice group of people,” she says. “It’s a little bit of exposure and it’s something different, and it’s fun. I’m a real film buff, so doing it on the studio lot adds to it. Most of the people [who come to the dinner program] are really into movies.”

The next dinner program is scheduled--though tentatively at this point--for August.

BE THERE

“Destiny’s Son” screens at 7:15 p.m., the supper begins at 8 p.m. “A Certain Killer” begins at 9 p.m., followed by “Sword Devil” at about 10:30 p.m. Separate admission is required for the first film. For information call (213) 466-3456.