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1954 – NR – 207 min.
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Primary Cast: Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, Yukiko Shimazaki, Kamatari Fujiwara, Daisuke Kato, Isao Kimura, Minoru Chiaki, Seiji Miyaguchi, Yoshio Kosugi, Kokuzen Kidari, Yoshio Inaba
Stars ***** (of 5)
Popcorn **** (of 5)
Film Type(s): Drama, Action, Hired Gun, Samurai, Farmers

Synopsis: Villagers threatened by marauders in Sixteenth Century Japan decide to hire samurai for protection. They can offer no pay or possessions for the job; so what is there to motivate a Samurai to join their cause? Some do it for honor (Shimura), some for experience (Kimura), and some for fame and bragging rights (Mifune, in one of his most famous roles). But do the farmers have an agenda besides protection? Kurosawa shows us what could possibly motivate such men in what many consider his film masterpiece. The touch of this breathtaking, fast paced film can be seen in any number of films and filmmakers, both in the same film genre (Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch; Sergio Leone’s The Good, The Bad and The Ugly) and in films in general (George Lucas’ Star Wars, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull, Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather). It was remade in America in 1960 as The Magnificent Seven, with Yul Brynner in Shimura’s role and Steve McQueen in Inaba’s.

Review: When film legend Akira Kurosawa conceived of this movie, he specifically thought of it as a Japanese “Western”; he even reportedly saw John Ford’s Stagecoach multiple times while writing it. Kurosawa teamed with his regular film star Toshiro Mifune to create the boisterous Kikuchiyo character that proves key to not only making the story more interesting and absorbing, but allows Kurosawa to put in his morbid, self-deprecating humor. (For an example, you need not look any further than Kikuchiyo’s sword to see how inadequate the character feels.) Also worthy of note while viewing the movie is to keep in mind Sixteenth Century Japanese society’s use of hair as a status symbol. Seeing Shimura’s Samurai cut off his top knot and shave his head to pretend to be a monk and save a child would be seen as blasphemy in that society, making that character all the more honorable to a modern audience, particularly in Japan. Though those that haven’t seen this movie before may find the running time intimidating, it is in fact very trim with very little shots or editing done that do not contribute to the film’s story. A shorter, 141 minute version showed for years in circulation and art houses until a restoration by the original film distributor, Janus Films, in the 1990’s brought it back to its original length and made all the more impressive for it.

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