Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai is a 1999 crime drama film produced, written and directed by Jim Jarmusch.

It stars Forest Whitaker as the title character, a hitman for the mafia who adheres to the ancient warrior code of the samurai, as outlined in the book of Yamamoto Tsunetomo's recorded sayings, Hagakure.

The cast also features Cliff Gorman, Henry Silva, Isaach de Bankolé, Victor Argo and Camille Winbush.

An international co-production between the United States, France, Germany and Japan,[4] Ghost Dog premiered at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d'Or.

Louie tells Ghost Dog to kill a gangster, Handsome Frank, who is sleeping with the daughter of local mafia boss Vargo.

To avoid being implicated in the murder of a made man, Vargo and his associate Sonny Valerio decide to get rid of Ghost Dog.

During the day, Ghost Dog frequently visits the park to see his best friend, a French-speaking ice cream man named Raymond.

Ghost Dog dies peacefully with Raymond and Pearline at his side; Louie gets into a car with Vargo's daughter (who now has replaced her father as his boss).

In a 2000 interview with Peter Bowen of Filmmaker, Jarmusch referred to the violence in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai as "simply a reflection of the history of human beings.

"[7] Bowen noted that the film features clips from The Itchy & Scratchy Show, a fictional television series in The Simpsons known for its gratuitous violence.

"[7] Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai has been interpreted by critics as a homage to Le Samouraï, a 1967 crime-drama by Jean-Pierre Melville starring Alain Delon.

That movie opens with a quote from an invented Book of Bushido and features a meditative, loner hero, Jef Costello.

His profound sadness, which permeates the touching Whitaker performance, comes from his alienation from human society, his loneliness, his attempt to justify inhuman behavior (murder) with a belief system (the samurai code) that has no connection with his life or his world.

"[16] J. Hoberman of The Village Voice described it as "an impeccably shot and sensationally scored deadpan parody of two current popular modes", namely hitman and mafia films.