 The Criterion Collection --- Subtitled --- The incomparable Toshiro Mifune stars in Akira Kurosawa's visually stunning and darkly comic Yojimbo (Bodyguard). In order to rid a village of corruption, masterless samurai Sanjuro turns a territory war between two evil clans to his own advantage. This exhilarating gangster-Western remains one of the most influential and entertaining genre-twisters ever produced. Criterion is proud to present Yojimbo in a luminous Tohoscope transfer. Storyline: Sanjuro, a wandering samurai enters a rural town in nineteenth century Japan. After learning from the innkeeper that the town is divided between two gangsters, he plays one side off against the other. His efforts are complicated by the arrival of the wily Unosuke, the son of one of the gangsters, who owns a revolver. Unosuke has Sanjuro beaten after he reunites an abducted woman with her husband and son, then massacres his father's opponents. During the slaughter, the samurai escapes with the help of the innkeeper; but while recuperating at a nearby temple, he learns of innkeeper's abduction by Unosuke, and returns to the town to confront him. Written by Bernard Keane Editor Note: This semi-comic 1961 film by legendary director Akira Kurosawa (Rashomon, Ran) was inspired by the American Western genre. Kurosawa mainstay Toshirô Mifune (The Seven Samurai) plays a drifting samurai for hire who plays both ends against the middle with two warring factions, surviving on his wits and his ability to outrun his own bad luck. Eventually the samurai seeks to eliminate both sides for his own gain and to define his own sense of honor. Yojimbo is striking for its unorthodox treatment of violence and morality, reserving judgment on the actions of its main character and instead presenting an entertaining tale with humor and much visual excitement. One of the inspirations for the "spaghetti Westerns" of director Sergio Leone and later surfacing as a remake as Last Man Standing with Bruce Willis, this film offers insight into a director who influenced American films even as he was influenced by them. Cast Notes: Toshirô Mifune (Sanjuro Kuwabatake), Tatsuya Nakadai (Unosuke, gunfighter), Yôko Tsukasa (Nui), Isuzu Yamada (Orin), Daisuke Katô (Inokichi, Ushitora's rotund brother), Seizaburô Kawazu (Seibei, brothel operator), Takashi Shimura (Tokuemon), Hiroshi Tachikawa (Yoichiro), Yosuke Natsuki (Kohei's Son), Eijirô Tono (Gonji, tavern keeper), Kamatari Fujiwara (Tazaemon), Ikio Sawamura (Hansuke), Atsushi Watanabe (Coffin-Maker), Susumu Fujita (Homma, instructor who skips town), Kyu Sazanka (Ushitora). User Comment: This is the film on which FISTFULL OF DOLLARS and LAST MAN STANDING were based. Although I love both of the remakes, the original still kicks their collective butts! Mifune plays Sanjuro a down-on-his luck master swordsman who happens to get falling-down drunk in a town where two clans are battling for supremacy. When he comes to, he realizes that there's easy drinking money to be made by playing one side off against the other as a bodyguard (yojimbo). He starts off hustling both sides, but gets personally involved when he realizes that one of the clans has enslaved a young woman by threatening her husband and son. When he's discovered helping her, he's almost killed. ALMOST killing him is the last mistake EITHER of the clans make! This is my favorite Kurosawa movie, and contains one of my favorite dialogue exchanges: Bad Guy: You'll just have to kill me! Sanjuro: It'll hurt... [SLICE] It's multi-layered, brilliantly acted and wonderfully executed by Kurosawa. If I could only watch one movie for the rest of my life, it might be this one, because EVERY TIME I watch it I catch some nuance that I missed before. User Comment: *****SPOILER ALERT***** rosscinema (rosscinema@juno.com) Oceanside,Ca. • It's hard to tell just how many other films were inspired by this classic story of a lone warrior that happens to wander into a town plagued by troubles. Story takes place in Japan in the 1860's and a lone samurai warrior is wandering about with no place to go. Sanjuro (Toshiro Mifune) comes to a fork in the road and decides which way to go by the way a stick is pointed. He ends up in a town where a dog has a human hand in his mouth and this perks Sanjuro's interest and he decides to hang around. He goes to a local tavern and meets the owner Gonji (Eijiro Tono) who feeds him sake and rice and he tells him of the troubles that the town has. He explains that Ushitora (Kyu Sazanka) and Seibei (Seizaburo Kawazu) once were business partners but had a terrible falling out and now both head gangs and want to take over the town. Sanjuro is amused by this and he heads into the street where he encounters some thugs from Ushitora's side and he kills most of them. The word spreads quickly that a strong samurai is in the area and both want to pay him to be their bodyguard. Sanjuro uses his wits to get paid by both of them and set up events where members of each gang get killed and blame each other. *****SPOILER BELOW***** Ushitora has a brother Unosuke (Tatsuya Nakadai) that owns a gun and he figures out that Sanjuro has been playing everyone for fools so he manages to get his sword away from him and they take him back to their lair where Sanjuro is badly beaten. He manages to escape and with the help of Gonji he hides out near a cemetery until he gets strong enough to seek revenge. Yojimbo is a classic all by itself and it has inspired many other films most notably "A Fistful of Dollars" with Clint Eastwood. So many things make this a unique film and how can you forget the shot of the dog with the hand in his mouth? Sanjuro was looking for a place where maybe he could find trouble brewing and one look at what that dog was carrying was a clear signal that he was in the right spot. The cinematographer is Kazuo Miyagawa who has worked with Akira Kurosawa many times and this is a terrific film to look at. There are many scenes where characters are standing in the street and the wind is blowing dirt and sand and these shots add so much life to the screen even when the characters are silent. Mifune once again is magnificent and one of the great things about his character are the human flaws that ultimately almost get him killed. At first Sanjuro is brash and confident but after helping a couple and their child he leaves himself vulnerable. Sanjuro is horribly beaten and Mifune shows every ounce of pain that his character is experiencing and its in stark contrast from earlier in the film where Sanjuro's movements seemed lackadaisical from confidence. Mifune had an incredible screen presence and watching him in certain scenes late in the film I was reminded of Robert DeNiro in "Raging Bull" where these characters were alone and had to ponder how they ever got into their situation. This part of the story gives the film a zone of realism that the audience can identify with and this makes Sanjuro more human. Kurosawa always had great set designs and the town that this story is suppose to take place in resembles something from a western and its probably not a coincidence since Kurosawa loved American films. This is easily a must see for everyone and I believe its one of Mifune's greatest performances. Summary: Classic Kurosawa IMDb Rating (07/25/14): 8.4/10 from 55,891 users Top 250: #105 IMDb Rating (10/15/07): 8.1/10 from 17,332 users Top 250: #125 IMDb Rating (06/23/04): 8.3/10 from 6,810 users Top 250: #106
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