Director Akira Kurosawa's influential 1961 effort, an action-packed, sometimes humorous reconception of the individualistic loner from the American Western, stars Mifune, the director's leading man of choice, as a samurai-for-hire who becomes involved in a dispute between two warring factions in a small village.
In director Akira Kurosawa's comedic YOJIMBO, a masterless samurai, Sanjuro (Toshirô Mifune), wanders into a town divided by two warring clans. After displaying his formidable swordsmanship before both clans in a brawl with street thugs, Sanjuro offers his services to the highest bidder. When one clan conspires against him, the clever warrior switches his allegiance to the other side, with the ultimate goal of tricking the two equally despicable and foolish clans into exterminating each other. Sanjuro's authority is challenged, however, when Unosuke (Tatsuya Nakadai), a brother of one of the leaders, comes to town wielding a modern contraption: a gun. In the classic final showdown, the old world samurai is pitted against new world progress, and must use both his wits and physical prowess to survive.
Perhaps Kurosawa's most overtly comic film, YOJIMBO easily ranks with the director's finest work. In this reconception of the Western, Mifune plays Sanjuro, the tough mercenary of few words, to perfection, often allowing his subtle movements and swift actions speak for him. Throughout the entire film, Sanjuro is vigilant yet stoic, conceding that he finds the scenario entertaining and absurd, and essentially has nothing to lose. Mifune's outstanding performance, combined with Kurosawa's expert direction and Kazuo Miyagawa's beautifully balanced photography, makes for one of the finest, and funniest, films in Japanese cinema.
Theatrical release: April 25, 1961.
In discussing YOJIMBO, director Akira Kurosawa was once quoted by film scholar Donald Richie as stating, "For a long time, I'd wanted to make a really interesting film. It finally turned into this picture. The story is so ideally interesting that it's surprising no one else ever thought of it."
YOJIMBO was later remade in 1964 as A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood), and again in 1996, as LAST MAN STANDING (directed by Walter Hill and starring Bruce Willis).
Toshirô Mifune usually adopted distinct mannerisms for each character he portrayed. As Sanjuro in YOJIMBO, Mifune has a distinct walk, often chews on a toothpick, and repeatedly scratches his unshaven chin. He received the award for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival for his performance.
Decades after YOJIMBO, Tatsuya Nakadai (who plays the gun-toting Unosuke) went on to portray lead characters in two other acclaimed Kurosawa films, KAGEMUSHA and RAN.
Master cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa also worked on Kurosawa's RASHOMON and KAGEMUSHA, as well as many other classic Japanese films, including Yasujiro Ozu's UKIGUSA and Kenji Mizoguchi's UGETSU.
Yojimbo Quotes/Excerpts:
"When you're angry you look even nicer."--Sanjuro (Toshirô Mifune) to a street thug
"You just try and kill me!"--A street thug to Sanjuro
"It'll hurt a little."--Sanjuro
Yojimbo Reviews:
"...Probably the most influential action movie made....[The film] cemented Akira Kurosawa's rep as one of cinema's all-time greats..."-- Ceri Thomas, Total Film
Customer Yojimbo Reviews Customer Yojimbo DVD Reviews
Average Rating: (5 out of 5 stars)
A Bad DVD Transfer for a Good Film Yojimbo is one of Toshiro Mifune’s Samurai Classics. Mifune stars as the "Samurai Without a Name" in four pictures, Yojimbo was the first.
Its a very good picture if you enjoy the genre. However this DVD transfer is ruined by a flaw in the DVD.
The movie is fine until the final climatic end sequence (last chapter). The picture distorts when Yojimbo faces the remaining gangsters and continues until the end of the film.
I have seen three Yojimbo DVDs with this same problem. The DVD players used are
Pioneer DV-260
Toshiba SD-1700
Sampo DVE-612
Sony (model unknown)
Samsung (model unknown)
Now three DVDs exhibiting the same flaw on five players seems to indicate a manufacturing problem. Criterion has not responded to my inquiry on the matter.
My advice is if you want to see the film, buy the VHS version and don’t waste your money on the Criterion DVD version.
Submitted by a reviewer (Washington, PA) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo 4 of 8 found this helpful.
Cropped aspect ratio I have no idea what the previous reviewer is talking about with respect to distortion in the transfer at the end of the film. I am surprised however that such a purist missed the fact that the entire film has been cropped down from its original much wider aspect ratio to a stubby 16:9 format. The credits are cut off at the edge of the screen. The part at the very beginning that explains "The time is 1860..." is cut off. I have this film on VHS in it's original aspect ratio and there is a lot of space between the edge of the credits and the edge of the screen. I own a region-free DVD player and have always meant to get this direct from Japan where the aspect ratio isn't usually (GitS2 was) cropped. This disc was released just around the time the DVD format was gaining popularity so there really aren't any extras. Hopefully when the 10 year anniversary of Kurosawa's death comes up in a few years they will reissue this film along with Sanjuro and High & Low with the type of extras the more recent criterion releases have enjoyed. Might be on Blu-Ray disc format by then. I personally am looking forward to a good commentary track by Donald Richie, Stephen Prince, Michael Jeck, or even Roger Ebert.
As for the film itself... When people ask me what my favorite movie of all time is I always reply Yojimbo. Which is funny since this is not my favorite Kurosawa film. That honor goes to Drunken Angel. This is my favorite movie because it opened my eyes to the world. I first saw it my freshman year in high school. Before seeing this I had no interest in anything that wasn't shinny and new. I didn't like any film, book, or music that wasn't modern and new. See it for yourelf. Submitted by Discommunication (Cambridge, MA) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo 4 of 8 found this helpful.
Classic Toshiro Mifune in his best. Way better than "Last men standing" ( American remake).End of existence of samurai class - sorrow and tragic humor. You will like it. Submitted by ronmar (Calgary AB, Canada) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo 3 of 7 found this helpful.
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Yojimbo DVD
Yojimbo DVD Features
Region 1 Keep Case Letterbox - 2.35 Widescreen - 2.35 Audio: Mono - Japanese Additional Release Material: Trailers: Original Theatrical Trailer
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