Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.
While Akira Kurosawa is famously known for putting the ideas of American westerns into his films, notably his samurai movies. One of his biggest influences from that genre was John Ford who also praised the Japanese director. When the 1960s approached, the influence of Akira Kurosawa was becoming evident with John Sturges' The Magnificent Seven which was the first of many remakes of Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai. In 1961, Kurosawa returned to his love for the westerns by making another western-inspired samurai film about a man who becomes a double in the middle of a gang war that would become another masterpiece entitled Yojimbo.
Written by Kurosawa and Ryuzo Kikushima, Yojimbo is the story of a samurai who comes to town in the middle of a gang war from competing crime lords as he becomes a double where he hopes to have both gangs kill each other off. Taking elements from the Westerns, Kurosawa takes his stories of 19th Century Japan and takes the Western to that place where instead of guns, it samurai swords. With a cast that includes longtime Kurosawa regular Toshiro Mifune in the title role plus Tatsuya Nakadai, and Isuzu Yamada. Yojimbo is one of Akira Kurosawa's finest and often, imitated classic films.
It's 1860 as the days of the samurai warrior has ended. No longer in service for the emperor, the samurai is forced to fend only for himself. Walking to a village, a samurai named Kuwabatake Sanjuro (Toshiro Mifune) who arrives in town noticing about a farmer and his son arguing about the means to survival as the son decides to join one of the gangs in this gang war in town. Sanjuro meets the officer Hansuke (Ikio Sawamura) who suggests to join either gang as he ends up going inside a tavern. Meeting the tavern keeper Gonjin (Eijiro Tono), he learns of the feuding factions between the two bosses. It all started with control of power as the leading boss Seibei (Seizaburo Kawazu) who had a falling out with right-hand man Ushi-tora (Kyu Sazanka). With Seibei getting sponsored by a silk shop and Ushi-tora sponsored by the sake brewer Tokuemon (Takashi Shimura), war has broken out.
Realizing that there won't be anything resolved with this war, Sanjuro suggests to Gonjin that he will play double in order for both gangs to kill each other off. Going to Ushi-tora's gang, Sanjuro was taunted only to kill a few of the men as he catches the attention of Seibei who offered him gold pieces to join his gang. Seibei's wife Orin (Isuzu Yamada) is surprised at what her husband is offering as she and her son Yoichiro (Hiroshi Tachikawa) suggests to pay him an advance and later kill him. Yet, Sanjuro was able to overhear them as a battle is set to happen the next day. On the day of the battle which Sanjuro was to lead Seibei's army, he changes his mind to see the two feuding factions attempt to kill each other off. Instead, an official investigator is set to arrive as the feud is stopped until his investigation ends.
When the investigator leaves after a few days to investigate a murder at a town 24 miles away, Sanjuro is suspicious of this murder as he overhears to drunken men talking about the murder. Realizing they belong to the Ushi-tora, he decides to use it for his gain by giving them to Seibei while blackmailing Ushi-tora about what they know. Arriving to the feud is Ushi-tora's brother Unosuke (Tatsuya Nakadai) who manages to capture Yoichiro in exchange for the two men of Ushi-tora. The deal becomes bad when Unosuke, who holds a pistol, kills the two men but Seibei had another hostage in the form of Tokuemon's mistress. Finally making an exchange, Sanjuro makes the decision to join Ushi-tora learning that the woman's husband and son haven't seen her. Tricking Ushi-tora's brother Inokichi (Daisuke Kato), he frees the mistress while telling her, her husband, and child to leave town with the money he was given in advance. There, Sanjuro makes way for a huge feud as both the Seibei and Ushi-tora factions fought violently.
With Sanjuro in the middle, he revels in the two factions killing each other but a note of gratitude gets him in trouble as Unosuke realized what he was doing. Beaten and taken hostage, Sanjuro barely escapes with help from Gonjin as the war is starting to end. Taking shelter at a nearby temple to recover, Sanjuro learns that Gonjin's role to help him has gotten him in trouble as he goes out for a huge showdown.
While the film visually and stylistically is inspired by American westerns, notably the films of John Ford. The film is also inspired by the novel Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett about a gangster who plays both ways in the middle of a gang war. The script by Kurosawa and co-writer Ryuzo Kikushima is really about a study of a man with no moral justification or motivation rather than just kill for money and food. While the character of Sanjuro does have a few moments of morality including helping out a family in one important scene. He remains a loner and an observer who tries to figure out how to find peace in a little town ravaged by war. While Sanjuro may seem to be a very skilled, tough samurai, he's really a man who has to use his wits to play a game. The result is a great study of character who is trying to find his role for any kind of gain.
Kurosawa's direction is more stylish than any of his previous films, notably in the way he pays homage to the American western and John Ford. Particularly the way he sets up his shots in a way that is very stylized. With the use of the widescreen presentation that he started to use since The Hidden Fortress, Kurosawa manages to get more of what he wants in his presentation. Not only does he go for close-ups to observe the behavior of the characters but also the atmosphere they're surrounded by. With Kurosawa also serving as editor, he brings a nice, stylized pacing to the film that builds up on its momentum while it doesn't move too slow or too fast. Yet, the direction and editing also captures the intensity of battle with notable uses of the side-wipe transitions to shift scenes. The result overall is Kurosawa delving into style while bringing excitement and tension to the film as the direction is extremely masterful.
Cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa, who also shot Rashomon, does some amazing work in the black-and-white photography to capture the tension and intimacy of some of the interior locations while a lot of the nighttime sequences are done with amazing style of shading lights and texture to convey the eerie tone of those scenes. Miyagawa's work is brilliant for its emphasis on the wide-scope that is true to the American western genre. Production/costume designer Yoshiro Muraki does great work in creating the look of the costumes that is true to 19th Century Japan while the look of the homes is great to show the differing worlds of the bosses where Seibei's place is a brothel and Ushi-tora's is more about sake. Sound recordist Choshichiro Mikami does excellent work in capturing the film's tense atmosphere of wind and rain to emphasize the tone of the western. Music composer Masaru Sato brings an amazing film score that is intense and unconventional with its mix of traditional, percussive Japanese music with a mix of dense saxophones and instruments to add the element of the western throughout the entire film.
The film's cast is truly superb with small performances from the likes of Namigoro Rashomon as Ushi-tora's giant, Ikio Sawamura as the cowardice officer Hansuke, Atsushi Watanabe as the cooper who reluctantly helps Sanjuro in the film's final moments, Kamatari Fujiwara as the silk-making owner Tazaemon, Yoko Tsukasa as Tokuemon's mistress Nui, Yoshio Tsuchiya as Nui's husband Kohei, Yosuke Natsuki as Kohei's son, Susumu Fujita as Seibei's samurai instructor Homma, and Kurosawa regular Takashi Shimura in a small role as the sake brewer Tokuemon. Throne of Blood star Isuzu Yamada is great as the greedy wife of Seibei who demands control while Hiroshi Tachikawa is good as Seibei's cowardice son. Seizaburo Kawazu is great as the experienced Seibei, a boss who is trying to vy for control while Kyu Sazanka is also great as Ushi-tora, the rival boss who has a gift for strategy.
Kurosawa regular Daisuke Kato is great as the dim-witted Inokichi, who is memorable for his round, ugly face while often being fooled by all as he brings some great comic relief for the entire film. Tatsuya Nakadai is brilliant as the pistol-wielding Unosuke who is in some ways, Sanjuro's intellectual equal as he tries to figure out his plans while being a cold-blooded killer who cheats with his pistol. Eijiro Tono is amazing as Gonjin, the tavern keeper who, like Sanjuro, is an observer who tries to figure out what Sanjuro is planning. Unlike Sanjuro, he's a man of morals and in some ways, is the film's conscience as he doesn't try to get involved yet is amazed at his brilliance in playing double.
Toshiro Mifune, a longtime regular of Kurosawa, is equally as powerful and brilliant in his performance as Sanjuro. In previous performances, Mifune often has to play some kind of maniacal character in films like Rashomon, The Seven Samurai, and Throne of Blood. In this film, Mifune is more stoic and subtle in his performance as he doesn’t do any kind of over-power drama. Instead, he is restrained as he tries to figure out what to do while in the more action-like sequences, his intensity is just unstoppable. Mifune's performance is just amazing to watch as he takes his own spin on the western protagonist by being the anti-hero. One with no moral justification and yet, he isn't the traditional hero as well.
When it was released in 1961 in Japan, the film was another hit in what was definitely Kurosawa's most productive period from 1950 to 1962. The film was followed-up by a sequel called Sanjuro a year later yet the legacy of Yojimbo became far more influential. In 1963, an Italian director named Sergio Leone saw the film and ended up watching it countless times with various colleagues as he was inspired to make his own version of the film into a new kind of western. The eventual film entitled A Fistful of Dollars not only introduced the world to Leone as a major figure in cinema but also introduced the film world to a new icon named Clint Eastwood. Despite the success of Leone's remake, the film took three more years to be released in the U.S. due to international copyright infringement from Kurosawa that was eventually settled with Kurosawa often saying he got more money of Leone's remake than any of his own films.
While the character of Sanjuro would be part of countless films including Yojimbo vs. Zaitochi that pitted Sanjuro against the blind samurai, more remakes of Yojimbo emerged including Walter Hill's 1996 version Last Man Standing starring Bruce Willis and Christopher Walken. In 2006, Willis starred in another update of the film for Paul McGuigan's Lucky Number Slevin that also starred Josh Hartnett, Morgan Freeman, Ben Kinglsey, and Lucy Liu.
Yojimbo is a brilliant, intelligent, witty masterpiece from Akira Kurosawa and company featuring a superb, leading performance from Toshiro Mifune. Fans of westerns will no doubt enjoy the film for its stylized approach while anyone who's a fan of both Kurosawa and Sergio Leone no doubt will have a great double feature in Yojimbo and Leone's A Fistful of Dollars. In the end, Yojimbo is an amazing, sprawling masterpiece from the legendary Akira Kurosawa.
In director Akira Kurosawa's comedic YOJIMBO a masterless samurai Sanjuro Toshir Mifune wanders into a town divided by two warring clans. After displa...More at Family Video
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.