Seven Samurai (1954)
"Shichinin no samurai" (original title)

A poor village under attack by bandits recruits seven unemployed samurai to help them defend themselves.

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

Akira Kurosawa (screenplay), Shinobu Hashimoto (screenplay),

Stars:

Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima

Top 250 #17 | Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Toshirô Mifune	...	Kikuchiyo (as Toshiro Mifune)
Takashi Shimura	...	Kambei Shimada
Keiko Tsushima	...	Shino
Yukiko Shimazaki	...	Wife (as Yukio Shimazaki)
Kamatari Fujiwara	...	Farmer Manzo
Daisuke Katô	...	Shichiroji (as Daisake Kato)
Isao Kimura	...	Katsushiro (as Ko Kimura)
Minoru Chiaki	...	Heihachi
Seiji Miyaguchi	...	Kyuzo
Yoshio Kosugi	...	Farmer Mosuke
Bokuzen Hidari	...	Farmer Yohei
Yoshio Inaba	...	Gorobei Katayama
Yoshio Tsuchiya	...	Farmer Rikichi
Kokuten Kôdô	...	Old Man Gisaku (as Kuninori Todo)
Eijirô Tôno	...	Thief (as Eijiro Tono)

Storyline

A veteran samurai, who has fallen on hard times, answers a village's request for protection from bandits. He gathers 6 other samurai to help him, and they teach the townspeople how to defend themselves, and they supply the samurai with three small meals a day. The film culminates in a giant battle when 40 bandits attack the village.

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Plot Keywords:

samurai | bandit | farmer | japan | rice | 

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Taglines:

Will Take Its Place With the Seven Greatest Films of All Time!

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Genres:

Action | Drama

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

19 November 1956 (USA)

Also Known As:

Seven Samurai

Filming Locations:

Japan

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$21,830 (USA) (30 August 2002)

Gross:

$269,061 (USA) (29 August 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

207 min 160 min (international) 202 min (2002 re-release) 150 min (original) 190 min (1991 re-release) 203 min (re-release) 207 min (restored) 202 min (DVD edition)

Sound Mix:

Mono Stereo (re-release prints)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Akira Kurosawa's original idea for the film was to make it about a day in the life of a samurai, beginning with him rising from bed and ending with him making some mistake that required him to kill himself to save face. Despite a good deal of research, he did not feel he had enough solid factual information to make the movie, but came across an anecdote about a village hiring samurai to protect them and decided to use that idea. Kurosawa wrote a complete dossier for each character with a speaking role. In it were details about what they wore, their favorite foods, their past history, their speaking habits and every other detail he could think of about them. No other Japanese director had ever done this before.

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Goofs

In the closing moments of the final battle, the bandits fire two musket shots only seconds apart. It is clear from the plot that at that point they possess only one musket. The black powder muskets of the age required much more time to reload. This error was pointed out in the commentary of the deluxe DVD edition.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Bandit second-in-command: We'll take this place next.
Bandit Chief: We took it last autumn. They haven't got anything worth taking yet. Let's wait.

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Connections

Referenced in Heroes Unmasked: Japanese Idol (2008)

User Reviews

Story-Telling At Its Finest

Story-telling at its finest, "Seven Samurai" is a terrific film not because of a handful of memorable scenes or lines, but rather because scene-by-scene, frame-by-frame, it tells an interesting story as well as it is possible to tell it. The story and characters are developed carefully, and everything about the movie, from the settings and props to the musical score, is done carefully and expertly.

Mifune grabs the attention in most of his scenes, and Shimura's more restrained character is a nice balance. Those two have the best parts, but all seven of the samurai are memorable characters. The sequence of events that collects the seven together occupies the first part of the movie, and forms a perfect foundation for the rest. A few of the villagers are also portrayed nicely, although they are naturally overshadowed when the samurai are around.

The story always moves along nicely, with many ups and downs. It has enough unpredictability to keep you interested the whole time, without ever losing its credibility. There is plenty of action, but there is also substance behind the action to give it more significance. The only possible drawback is the long running time (you can always split it up into two installments, but it's more satisfying if you can watch the whole story through at once), but there is little that you could cut out, even if you wanted to. It holds your attention the entire time with a good story and great technique, not by resorting to sensational or sordid details.

This movie well deserves its reputation for excellence, and is one that everyone who appreciates classic cinema will want to see and enjoy.