James B
classic samurai film well shot great acting great swordfights i loved it
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
03/14/24
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Eric M
As good as films get: dramatic, touching, funny. Japanese and American tough coincide here. If you haven't seen it, you are overdue.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/15/24
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Dane W
not my thing but it was good
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
12/17/23
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Jed B
The perfect movie!!!!
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
11/18/23
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Christopher S
The influence this has on westerns is plain. Immediately you see stories such as Shane in the plot. A solitary warrior, looking for the next place to stay, finds a town in turmoil, torn by two warring factions. The samurai, superior in combat to everyone else, plays the two sides against each other, recognizing that there are no good guys here in the factions. He manages to mostly get them to kill each other, but then he gets ambushed, tortured, and left for dead. Then the battle really begins.
My only criticism is that it suffers from the sin that Game of Thrones committed-- building up a foe only to have them dispatched far too easily.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
11/01/23
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Matthew B
For reasons unknown, some foreign language movies are widely known by their original titles, and not by an English translation. Yojimbo is the Japanese word for ‘Bodyguard'.
Perhaps since the titular character is employed to protect a gang rather than an individual, the translated title seemed too confusing. Indeed this bodyguard does not even live up to his name within the movie's definition of the word. A samurai is supposed to live up to his word and be loyal to his employer, but this samurai merrily betrays the trust that is bestowed upon him, and changes sides when it suits him.
Sanjuro (Toshiro Mifune) is not a typical samurai in many respects. A samurai should be well-kept, but Sanjuro's appearance is scruffy and unkempt, showing a carelessness towards his caste. He is a ronin (a masterless samurai) who lacks employment. He drifts from place to place with no purpose beyond finding work and food. His arrival in the nameless town is arbitrary. He throws a stick in the air, and sets off in the direction in which the stick points.
It is not only the town that is nameless, but our hero too. He shows no pride in his name or heritage. When he is asked what he is called, he looks outside at a mulberry field, and gives himself the name Kuwabatake Sanjuro, which translates as "30-year-old mulberry field", although that might not be his real age either.
The town in which he arrives is ideal for a hungry samurai, which means that it is a hellhole for ordinary citizens. The streets are empty, and a perpetual wind blows dust all around the town, creating an atmosphere of waste, desolation and chaos. The townsfolk are mostly to be found indoors peering through shutters, as the streets are not safe for honest people to walk through. Only criminals can walk fearlessly through the town.
As Sanjuro passes through the streets, he sees a dog scamper past carrying a human hand in its mouth. Indeed many of the characters in the film are no better than wild dogs, and the word is frequently used about them. The town is divided between two rival gangs, and they hire thugs to protect their interest. Many of their hired swords are on the run for a murder they committed, or have spent time in prison for a past offence.
ojimbo subverts the situation that the viewer often saw in the old westerns that influenced Kurosawa. Usually the hero is a hired gun who chooses to defend the good side in their fight against the bad side. Here there is no good side, only a choice of two bad sides, and it hardly matters which side Sanjuro chooses. His only interest is in picking the side that pays him the most.
This plot summary might suggest a depressingly nihilistic film, but Yojimbo is hardly that. The tone of the movie is set by its percussive and rhythmic music score that is both belligerent and jaunty. Kurosawa had intentions of showing the damaging effects of violence, hence the emphasis on dismemberment, but this is undermined by the cheerful cynicism of the plot and hero.
Our hero certainly seems like a ruthless figure who blithely manipulates both sides for his own ends. During the scene where he bows out of the street battle, he sits perched on high watching the cowardly mercenaries approaching and retreating without a blow being struck. The camera angles are carefully shot so that we constantly see Sanjuro towering over the other men as they pretend to fight, emphasising his superior position, while the other characters move like figures in a game of chess. Only Sanjuro is refusing to be a knight or a pawn. He is playing a game of his own in which he does not care how many chess pieces are removed from the board.
To view Sanjuro as amoral would be a profound misreading of his character. In fact, Sanjuro has loftier aims from the very beginning. The disapproving tavern owner Gonji (Eijirō Tōno) tries to persuade Sanjuro to leave this blighted town. Sanjuro confides his ideas to the honest publican:
Listen, old man. I'll get paid for killing. And this town is full of men who deserve to die. Think about it. Seibei, Ushitora, the gamblers and drifters – with them gone, the town could have a fresh start.
In short, Sanjuro sees himself as a scourge who can cleanse the town by removing the criminal elements that are stifling the lives of honest people. While Sanjuro betrays and deceives those who deserve it, he is notably loyal and fair in his dealings with trustworthy men such as Gonji and the cooper (Atsushi Watanabe).
While Sanjuro is very much a human being – he is motivated by money, and he can be captured and beaten – there is also something transcendental about him. He is like an embodiment of higher justice, removing all that is corrupt and evil in the town. His powers as a samurai seem superhuman, and he can kill any number of adversaries without trouble.
For all its alien elements, Yojimbo is a movie that helped to set the tone for many films that followed. It offered a tougher and more cynical approach in which villainy was not glorified and heroism was tarnished.
I wrote a longer appreciation of Yojimbo on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2018/05/06/yojimbo-1961/
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
09/28/23
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