Great movie! Akira Kurosawa is just a master movie maker.
Akira Kurosawa's 1961 film YOJIMBO is a Japanese period drama where wily strategy is worth just as much as prowess with a sword. In the late Edo era (some decades before its end in 1868) a community is plagued by two opposing gangs who have built up a criminal empire of prostitution and gambling. Even the local officials are on the take. Into this town steps a nameless samurai (Toshiro Mifune). Once they get a taste of his swordsmanship, both sides want to hire him, but he decides to play them off against each other and free the innocent citizens from this evil. In past films Kurosawa had taken advantage of Mifune's ability to produce exaggerated facial expressions of laughter and fear. Here, however, the nameless samurai is completely unflappable, while it is the criminal bosses and corrupt officials who play the clowns. Ikio Sawamura is a town constable constantly toadying to the gangsters, for example, while Isuzu Yamada gives a memorably sassy performance as the madame of a brothel. In what would become a convention of the Japanese period drama, the numerous henchmen in the gangs were apparently chosen from the most grotesque men that Kurosawa could find (each furthermore has distinctively ratty attire), and one thug is played by an actor suffering from gigantism. That darkly comedic drama between the characters coexists with brutal violence. Yet, while audiences may have been shocked in 1961 by the samurai dispatching his opponents with realistic slashing sound effects and a hacked off limb, there are only a handful of fights here, and they are all over in a flash. (Indeed, one of the most striking aspects of Mifune's acting is his speed in executing the sword moves.) While Kurosawa delights in gangsters getting their comeuppance, he doesn't revel in gore. Much has been said about how this Japanese film would inspire Westerns made in America and Europe (Sergio Leone's A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS was a straight-up remake). However, the film is also interesting for how it draws so much on influences from the West. Kurosawa's inspiration was an American crime caper by Dashiell Hammett, the samurai’s walk down the main street is drawn from the Westerns of John Ford and others, the soundtrack mixes Japanese music with Western instruments such as harpsichord, and Tatsuya Nakadai's pretty-boy looks are clearly modeled on Hollywood. All in all, I was very impressed by this film. Everything here – from the script and aspect to little things like the wind and dust and the little decorations on the set – seems the result of great effort and talent, all coming together to impress the viewer. And like Kurosawa's RASHOMON, it stays fresh even as its elements have been repeatedly reused by other film and television productions for half a century now.
I was surprised when I saw this, how late it was set - 19th Century - as I'd always imagined it to be of a more historical nature. That doesn't remotely detract from the story though - as again Kurosawa casts Yoshirô Mifune ("Sanjûrô") in the leading role. Here he is a wandering samurai who arrives in a village torn by strife. His skills are sought by the two opposing headmen and he quite successfully manages to play them off against each other - and keep the peace - until one the their sons arrives, armed with a pistol, and completely alters the balance of power. Mifune is superb as the maverick, thoroughly honourable and at times quite amusing ronin - I was reminded a little of the characterisation by Clint Eastwood in the Sergio Leone films - with a ruthless, violent streak: but somehow only towards those meritorious of their fate. It takes it's time, this - there is a fair degree of character development and as such, I felt quite invested in both Mifune and in his friend the innkeeper (Eijirô Tôno) as their peril gradually increases. The remainder of the cast adds to the tension well as does the frequent use of the weather in helping create the gripping atmosphere making this a corker of a film, very much worth watching.
In the 1820s, a taciturn loner and skilled cook travels west to Oregon Territory, where he meets a Chinese immigrant also seeking his fortune. Soon the two team up on a dangerous scheme to steal milk from the wealthy landowner’s prized Jersey cow – the first, and only, in the territory.
Movie Star Rating : 7.1 Read More
An aspiring hair dresser becomes the infatuation of a tricophilic man who sells hair extensions to nearby hair salons. The source of the hair is the corpse of a girl whose dead body continues to grow beautiful, voluminous, black hair that comes alive, driving those who use the extensions insane or killing them.
Movie Star Rating : 5.9 Read More
The rise of a raucous hayseed named Lonesome Rhodes from itinerant Ozark guitar picker to local media rabble-rouser to TV superstar and political king-maker. Marcia Jeffries is the innocent Sarah Lawrence girl who discovers the great man in a back-country jail and is the first to fall under his spell.
Movie Star Rating : 7.6 Read More
Clifford Peach, an easygoing teenager, is finding less than easy to fit in at his new high school, where a tough-talking bully terrorizes his classmates and extorts their lunch money. Refusing to pay up, Clifford enlist the aid of an overgrown misfit whose mere presence intimidates students and teachers alike. But their "business relationship" soon turns personal as Clifford and the troubled loner forge a winning alliance against their intimidators - and a very special friendship with each other.
Movie Star Rating : 6.3 Read More
It seems that masked men are knocking over the floating crap games of Chalky and Pete. Chalky and Pete hire the cool, loose, elegant Mr. T to fix things. Then, the masked manipulators set up the death of a collector for a rival gang lord. It looks like it's up to T to hold a gang war from breaking out, keep the police off his back, and earn his fee from Chalky and Pete.
Movie Star Rating : 6.2 Read More
Mushi are beings in touch with the essence of life, far more basic and pure than normal living things. Most humans are incapable of perceiving Mushi and are oblivious to their existence, but there are a few who possess the ability to see and interact with Mushi. One such person is Ginko who travels from place to place to research Mushi and aid people suffering from problems caused by them.
Movie Star Rating : 6 Read More
Akiko, a young woman, comes to Vladivostok to meet Matsunaga, a young businessman she has met in Tokyo only once. Akiko finally finds Matsunaga. However, he leaves her again, warning her not to trust strangers in a foreign country. She tries to follow him, but she is attacked by thugs and dumped on the outskirts of town.
Movie Star Rating : 5.8 Read More
Zatoichi comes upon a dying man who asks him to give a bag of money to "Taichi". Zatoichi has no idea who this is but when he comes upon a small town harassed by gangsters, he finds that "Taichi" was the man's young son. Along his travels he also met a blind monk who makes Zatoichi question his murderous lifestyle. In trying to help the town, Zatoichi kills some gangsters and becomes a hero to the boy. He must make a choice of whether to use non-violence and set a good example, or violence and set the boy on the wrong path in life.
Movie Star Rating : 6.8 Read More
Through a film letter, Lara communicates with her great-grandfather Paco, whom she barely knew. She explains to him what has happened since he died.
Movie Star Rating : 6.5 Read More
In the depression, Chaney, a strong silent streetfighter, joins with Speed, a promoter of no-holds-barred street boxing bouts. They go to New Orleans where Speed borrows money to set up fights for Chaney, but Speed gambles away any winnings.
Movie Star Rating : 6.7 Read More
Golden Kamuy 2024 - Movies (May 19th)
Silent impulses 2023 - Movies (May 19th)
Everything Puppies 2024 - Movies (May 19th)
Silence of the Prey 2024 - Movies (May 19th)
The Guardian of the Monarchs 2024 - Movies (May 18th)
Imaginary 2024 - Movies (May 18th)
One Life 2023 - Movies (May 18th)
Dont Tell Mom the Babysitters Dead 2024 - Movies (May 18th)
The Strangers Chapter 1 2024 - Movies (May 17th)
IF 2024 - Movies (May 17th)
Pandemonium 2023 - Movies (May 17th)
Nightwatch Demons Are Forever 2023 - Movies (May 17th)
Bad Romance The Vicky White Story 2023 - Movies (May 17th)
Faceless After Dark 2023 - Movies (May 17th)
The American Friend 2023 - Movies (May 17th)
You Cant Run Forever 2024 - Movies (May 17th)
End of the Rope 2023 - Movies (May 17th)
Thelma the Unicorn 2024 - Movies (May 17th)
Power 2024 - Movies (May 17th)
Mothers Instinct 2024 - Movies (May 17th)
Challengers 2024 - Movies (May 17th)
Canadas Ultimate Challenge - (May 19th)
Be My Guest with Ina Garten - (May 19th)
Girl Meets Farm - (May 19th)
90 Day Fiance- Pillow Talk - (May 19th)
Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh - (May 19th)
Adam Richman Eats Britain - (May 19th)
Tucker on X - (May 19th)
I Kissed a Girl - (May 19th)
The Last American Vagabond - (May 19th)
Sunday Brunch - (May 19th)
The Farmer Wants a Wife - (May 19th)
Selling Houses Australia - (May 19th)
Accident, Suicide or Murder - (May 19th)
The SmackDown LowDown - (May 19th)
All Elite Wrestling- Collision - (May 19th)
All Elite Wrestling- Rampage - (May 19th)
Road to UFC - (May 19th)
The Only Way Is Essex - (May 19th)
Tiger - (May 19th)
On Patrol- Live - (May 19th)