Yojimbo

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Yojimbo

Released Oct 15, 1961

1h 50m

Adventure

Comedy

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

96%

Tomatometer

51 Reviews

96%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master (Toshirô Mifune), enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon (Kamatari Fujiwara) and sake merchant Tokuemon (Takashi Shimura) to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.

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Critics Consensus

As effortlessly engaging as it is widely influential, Yojimbo represents Kurosawa at the peak of his powers -- and lays the groundwork for the modern American western.

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Chuck Bowen

Slant Magazine

Yojimbo’s premise, concerning fisticuffs between samurai and ruffians that distract the populace from the seizure of power by white-collar thugs, has only grown more pertinent to our present day.

Jan 9, 2025

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David Parkinson

Empire Magazine

Yojimbo is intimate to the point of claustrophobia. Its wit is wry, its characters flawed and its world-view uncompromisingly cynical.

Rated: 5/5

Jun 14, 2020

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TIME Magazine

A movie that is both a wow of a show and a masterpiece of misanthropy.

Mar 4, 2013

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Josh Larsen

LarsenOnFilm

Although swords strike and blood flows, Yojimbo mostly registers as a comedy.

Rated: 3.5/4

May 6, 2025

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James Kendrick

Q Network Film Desk

While it might not be one of Kurosawa’s most thematically accomplished or narratively complex samurai films, it is certainly one of his most visually ravishing, and that alone justifies its place in the pantheon of great action films

Rated: 3.5/4

Apr 1, 2025

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

A staple of any serious cinephile’s education, as well as a worthy entry point for foreign-film novices wanting to get their feet wet before plunging into the deeper waters of Bergman or Fellini.

Rated: 4/4

Feb 5, 2025

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Julian Rex M

A slickly framed classic of the samurai genre, Yojimbo may not reach the emotional and narrative heights of Kurosawa's greater masterpieces, but its slickly choreographed action scenes and lively approach cement make it fully worthy of the seat of influence that it has long since held.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

08/31/25

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Stephen C

Funny in 1 hour and 50 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In Japanese and English versions with English subtitles!!!!!!!!!!!! Based on a Japanese legend about a samurai warrior fighting for his country and clan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/09/25

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Petros T

Influenced by preceding Westerns but also highly influential in its own right for the movies that followed, "Yôjinbô" executes the genre's now familiar tropes with conviction and style while also infusing them with a subtle but potent sense of humour. Some sequences are really captivating and overall it's quite an engaging film, though it doesn't eschew certain convenient conventions and some OTT acting, and it rarely hints at something more layered or subversive than what the premise indicates.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

04/22/25

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Leprechaun K

One of my favorite Kurosawa films.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/28/25

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Omar G

Yojimbo (1961). I like A Fistful of Dollars (1964) better, both based on Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest. For example Sergio Leone improved the scene where the protagonist kills the first thugs. I also like Sanjuro (1962) better. Toshiro Mifune Kuwabatake/Tsubaki Sanjuro one of the synonyms of cunning next to Philip Marlowe, The Man With no Name, Batman his weapon is cunning above all. I liked how Mifune refused to be Obi Wan Kenobi, he have said "I am Toshiro Mifune, why would I make that movie?" I like the quote "Kill one or a hundred you will only be hanged once." Sanjuro's plan to make them exterminate each other and he profit it like balkanization. The worst would be that crying child, hateful, loud and complaining, along with his father who is a bit of a man, a good-for-nothing idiot. Seibe's wife is one of the most memorable characters.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

12/25/24

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Hao Ian L

Kurosawa's display of a classic modernist in <i>Yojimbo</i>, as plain and simple as it is, goes a long way to paving the road for the later American westerns to come.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/10/24

Full Review

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Akira Kurosawa

Director

Toshiro Mifune

Sanjuro Kuwabatake

Tatsuya Nakadai

Unosuke

Eijiro Tono

Gonji, tavern keeper

Takashi Shimura

Tokuemon

Seizaburô Kawazu

Seibei

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Synopsis

A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master (Toshirô Mifune), enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon (Kamatari Fujiwara) and sake merchant Tokuemon (Takashi Shimura) to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.

Director: Akira Kurosawa
Producer: Akira Kurosawa
Screenwriter: Ryûzô Kikushima, Akira Kurosawa
Production Co: Toho Company Ltd.
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: Japanese
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 15, 1961, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 23, 2017
Runtime: 1h 50m
Sound Mix: Perspecta Stereo
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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