Okay, first off, let me say that i know that this movie is Japanese and its about samurai and not traditional martial artists, but it is a great movie in its own right.
Has anyone else seen it out there; it just was released digitally re-mastered on DVD.
Fear…Fear attracts the fearful…The strong…the weak…the innocent…
Fear is my ally
The guy who pretended to be a samurai (who happened to only be 13) was Kikucho. Kikucho’s a riot to watch if you understand Japanese, a little like Chris Tucker.
One of my alltime fav’s.
.
I think it’s Kurasawa’s best movie ever. It was the pattern for the later Hollywoodized version called “The Magnificent Seven”, which itself isn’t bad.
I have “Seven Samurai” in my video collection and watch it several times a year at least.
That was the same actor from “Yojimbo”- “Kagemusha” too if I’m not incorrect. I’m pretty sure his name was Mifune. Excellent actor cuz he’s so different in each role- I had to be told it was him in each movie.
.
I was never much into samurai, except for some budo theory like in the Hagakure, but I dig every Kurosawa flick I’ve ever seen.
Almost anyone could stand up to American classics like Bridge of the River Kwai, Cleopatra, Ben Hur, Lawrence of Arabia, et al; and yet probably done on a fraction of the budget of any of those.
The Bruce Willis movie “Last Man Standing” is based on Yojimbo. Almost every single scene is the same, just with prohibition- or 40s- era mafia stuff going on instead of feudal japan. It’s almost like they just re-texture-mapped the movie (for you computer graphics people out there).
I recommend getting anyone you can; although “Rashomon” (not sure if that was actually done by him) is a bit freaky.
Also, you may want to check out the new DVD of The Hidden Fortress, by Kurosawa. It’s a cool Samurai adventure/comedy, and George Lucas cites it as a main influence for Star Wars. Very nice movie.
Quite honestly, this scares me more than the NSA stuff…
And to add to Ky-Fi’s thoughts - any Kurosawa is worth seeing, in my experience. Even the non-Samurai stuff, like “High and Low” “Sanshiro Sugata” and “Lost Dogs.” Heck, “High and Low” is probably my favorite of any of 'em.
You’ve just toched upon some of my favorite movies!
Toshiro Mifune is the actor’s name. There was a lovely Finish movie named after him that had nothing realy to do with him at all.
I loved Yojimbo. If you’re interested in renting adaptations of the story you should check out “A Fist Full of Dollars”. It’s much better. It was Sergio Leone’s first western, was what made Clint Eastwood a star and is where the term spagheti western came from. Leone went on to make two awsome sequels: “For a Few dollars More” and “The Good the Bad and the Ugly.” He did other great movies as well, not all westerns.
Chang
Let’s just say that I’ve been collecting a while (8 years now I guess) and that at one time, I used to have some $$.
I’m in San Antonio BTW, but my parents are trying to control my life at the moment, so I don’t know when I’ll make it up to Austin.
edziak
I totally forgot that “the Good, the bad, and the ugly” was based off of Yojimbo. Thanks for the reminder. I’ve seen all three, and while I’d probably say the Clint Eastwood one is the better movie, the Bruce Willis flick is awfully close in spirit- as well as adapting many of the exact same scenes. All good in my book, but I know many who don’t like the Willis movie.
.