Rent Yojimbo (1961)
4.0 of 5 from 213 ratings
1h 46min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- The enigmatic samurai in Yojimbo is played by the great Toshiro Mifune as a scruffy, scratching, itinerant warrior who wanders into a strange town and right into the middle of two warring clans. Showing his skills with the samurai sword within minutes of his arrival, he soon has the town's rival factions competing for his services.Kurosawa's genius for storytelling combines with thrilling swordplay, a healthy dose of black humour, a soundtrack every bit as atmospheric and amusing as Ennio Morricone's, and a towering performance from Mifune, to make Yojimbo an irresistible widescreen action movie.
- Actors:
- Toshirô Mifune, Eijirô Tôno, Tatsuya Nakadai, Toshiro Mifune, Yôko Tsukasa, Isuzu Yamada, Daisuke Katô, Seizaburô Kawazu, Takashi Shimura, Hiroshi Tachikawa, Yôsuke Natsuki, Kamatari Fujiwara, Ikio Sawamura, Atsushi Watanabe, Susumu Fujita, Kyû Sazanka, Kô Nishimura, Takeshi Katô, Ichirô Nakatani, Sachio Sakai
- Directors:
- Akira Kurosawa
- Producers:
- Akira Kurosawa
- Writers:
- Akira Kurosawa
- Others:
- Yoshiro Muraki
- Aka:
- Yôjinbô / Bodyguard
- Studio:
- BFI Video
- Genres:
- Action & Adventure, Classics, Drama
- Collections:
- Award Winners, Getting to Know..., Getting to Know: Clint Eastwood, Lions on the Lido, A Brief History of Film..., The Instant Expert's Guide, The Instant Expert's Guide to: Akira Kurosawa, Top 10 World Cinema Remakes, Top Films
- Countries:
- Japan
- Awards:
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Reviews (4) of Yojimbo
Masterpiece of Action Cinema - Yojimbo review by GI
Immensely influential and setting new standards in screen violence director Akira Kurosawa was influenced by the films of John Ford and Howard Hawks and in turn he became a major influence on other directors. His epic film Seven Samurai (1954) was remade as The Magnificent Seven (1960) and Sergio Leone took Yojimbo and remade it as A Fistful Of Dollars (1964). Yojimbo is an exciting action film set in feudal Japan. A 'Ronin' (or masterless samurai) (Toshirô Mifune) arrives in a dirty town and discovers it's run by two rival gangs. He manipulates both sides in a plan to rid the town of all of them. Shot in widescreen , which was not liked by Hollywood directors at the time, Kurosawa created a rundown world of corruption and effectively demystified the samurai code which had been so damaging to his country in the Second World War. This is a violent and exciting film although the Japanese theatrical style of screen acting may seem unusual today it is a masterpiece of cinema and much praised in studies of cinema. There's plenty of swordplay, and a clever use of imagery to represent the collapse of the society and morals (images of dogs appear regularly). Much of Kurosawa's style and images heavily influenced cinematic action to this day and consequently this is a I urge every film fan to see. Great stuff.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Glorious, repays re-watching - Yojimbo review by MR
The film grows on you. Story is good, framing of shots is fantastic, and so is Mifune. It is worth watching once, then watching again with the commentary which is included in the extras, as there is interesting information about Kurosawa's liking of the wide screen format.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Probably a great film, but a terrible DVD transfer - Yojimbo review by IF
The image quality on this DVD is terrible. I was tempted to rent it after watching a clip in HD on Youtube. It looked visually stunning. This DVD is dark and blurred, to the point of being unwatchable.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.