Kakushi-toride no san-akunin (1958)

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

Shinobu Hashimoto (writer)
Ryuzo Kikushima (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

6 October 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy

Plot:

Lured by gold, two greedy peasants escort a man and woman across enemy lines. However, they do not realize that their companions are actually a princess and her general.

Plot Keywords:

Katana Sword | 1500s | Feud | Samurai | Gold

Awards:

4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Toshirô Mifune	...	General Rokurota Makabe
Misa Uehara	...	Princess Yuki
Minoru Chiaki	...	Tahei
Kamatari Fujiwara	...	Matakishi
Takashi Shimura	...	The Old General, Izumi Nagakura
Susumu Fujita	...	General Hyoe Tadokoro
Eiko Miyoshi	...	Old Lady-in-Waiting
Toshiko Higuchi	...	Farmer's Daughter bought from slave trader
Koji Mitsui	...	Guard
Shiten Ohashi	...	Samurai
Kichijiro Ueda	...	Slave Trader
Ikio Sawamura	...	Gambler
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tadao Nakamaru	...	Young Man
Rinsaku Ogata	...	Second Young Man
Ichirô Chiba	...	Yamana foot soldier (uncredited)
Yu Fujiki	...	Barrier guard (uncredited)
Shoichi Hirose	...	Yamana soldier (uncredited)
Minoru Ito	...	Samurai on horseback (uncredited)
Shigemasa Kanazawa	...	Samurai on horseback (uncredited)
Takeshi Katô	...	Fleeing, bloody samurai (uncredited)
Kokuten Kodo	...	Old man in front of sign (uncredited)
Yoshio Kosugi	...	Akisuki soldier (uncredited)
Niyoshi Kumaya	...	Yamana foot soldier (uncredited)
Ryu Kuze	...	Akitsuki soldier (uncredited)
Masayoshi Nagashima	...	Yamana samurai (uncredited)
Haruo Nakajima	...	Akisuki soldier (uncredited)
Etsuro Nishijo	...	Yamana samurai (uncredited)
Takeo Obugawa	...	Guard at pass barrier (uncredited)
Toranosuke Ogawa	...	Magistrate of the bridge barrier (uncredited)
Senkichi Omura	...	Soldier (uncredited)
Shin Otomo	...	Samurai on horseback (uncredited)
Yutaka Sada	...	Guard at bridge barrier (uncredited)
Sachio Sakai	...	Captured foot soldier (uncredited)
Haruya Sakamoto	...	Samurai on horseback (uncredited)
Makoto Satô	...	Yamada foot soldier (uncredited)
Haruo Suzuki	...	Samurai on horseback (uncredited)
Yoshifumi Tajima	...	Potential slave buyer (uncredited)
Akira Tani	...	Captured foot soldier (uncredited)
Nakajiro Tomita	...	Potential slave buyer (uncredited)
Yoshio Tsuchiya	...	Samurai on horse (uncredited)
Hiroyoshi Yamaguchi	...	Samurai on horseback (uncredited)

Directed by
Akira Kurosawa

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Shinobu Hashimoto		writer
Ryuzo Kikushima		writer
Akira Kurosawa		writer
Hideo Oguni		writer

Produced by
Sanezumi Fujimoto	....	producer (as Masumi Fujimoto)
Akira Kurosawa	....	producer

Original Music by
Masaru Satô

Cinematography by
Kazuo Yamasaki		(as Ichio Yamazeki)

Film Editing by
Akira Kurosawa

Production Design by
Yoshirô Muraki

Costume Design by
Masahiro Katô

Makeup Department
Yoshiko Matsumoto	....	hair stylist
Junjiro Yamada	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Hiroshi Nezu	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Yoshimitsu Banno	....	assistant director (as Yoshimitsu Sakano)
Yoichi Matsue	....	assistant director
Samaji Nonagase	....	chief assistant director
Ken Sano	....	assistant director
Yasuyoshi Tajitsu	....	assistant director
Masahiro Takase	....	assistant director

Art Department
Kôhei Ezaki	....	art supervisor
Koichi Hamamura	....	property master
Shinko Kato	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Ichirô Minawa	....	sound effects editor
Yoshiro Miyamoto	....	sound assistant
Hisashi Shimonaga	....	sound mixer
Fumio Yanoguchi	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Sei Arai	....	assistant lighting technician
Masao Fukuda	....	still photographer
Ichirô Inohara	....	lighting technician
Takao Saitô	....	assistant camera
Daisaku Kimura	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Chozo Kobata	....	negative cutter

Other crew
Shigeru Endo	....	horseback riding instructor
Takuyuki Inoue	....	production assistant
Ienori Kaneko	....	horseback riding instructor
Yoji Ken	....	choreographer
Teruyo Nogami	....	script supervisor
Koichi Noguchi	....	accountant
Yoshio Sugino	....	swordplay instructor
Yuichi Yoshitake	....	acting office

Production Companies

• Toho Company

Distributors

• Toho Company (1958) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Albex (1960) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Bright Angel Distribution (2004) (Netherlands) (theatrical) (reissue)
• Cowboy Pictures (2002) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Media Home Entertainment (1986) (USA) (VHS)
• Meridian-Films (1961) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Nihon Eiga Satellite Broadcasting (2007) (Japan) (TV)
• Sandrew Metronome International (2003) (Finland) (DVD)
• Total Film Home Entertainment (2004) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Toho Special Effects Group

Other Companies

• Kyoto Costumes  costumes
• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

The Hidden Fortress (USA)
The Three Villains of the Hidden Fortress (informal English title)
Three Bad Men in a Hidden Fortress (International: English title) (literal title)
Three Rascals in the Hidden Fortress (International: English title)

Runtime:

139 min | Finland:114 min (1959) | USA:126 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System) | Perspecta Stereo (optical prints)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-11 (re-rating) | Finland:K-16 (original rating) | Spain:13 | UK:PG (video rating) (1994) | UK:A (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Mount Fuji, Shizuoka, Japan

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

Akira Kurosawa made this commercial and accessible film as a way to repay Toho Studios for allowing him to make riskier, more artistic fair such as Rashômon (1950). It was later one of the greatest inspirations for George Lucas' first Star Wars (1977) film.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Tahei: Get away from me! You stink of dead bodies!

Movie Connections:

References Johnny Guitar (1954)

"Hide stones among stones, men among men" -- General Rokurota Makabe

The hidden fortress starts with it's two main characters Tahei and Matakashi (played by Minoru Chiaki and Kamatari Fujiwara) walking through a war torn country side. They have just escaped from an internment camp after a recent great battle. The two had been forced to dig graves as prisoners and they are already, at the start of the movie, at wit's end. They soon become frustrated with each other and their situation that they set out in opposite directions, only to be both recaptured shortly thereafter. After a prisoner mass uprising and subsequent exodus, the two find themselves completely unscathed but monumentally stunned amongst the dozens of dead.. and piles of pillaged gold.

Unable to carry much in their escape, their sense of scheming is palpable and a testament to the quality of direction. While walking through the woods they come upon a camping warlord, General Makabe (played by Kurosawa mainstay, Toshiro Mifune), who they enlist to help them steal the gold. Makabe has other ideas. They later meet up with the fiercely sexy Princess Yukihime (Misa Uehara) who playfully defends herself from the two anti-heroes, smacking all insolent fools with a reed and secretly running the show. The two rogues suffer through constant harassment with wide eyed fear and cowardice that Kurosawa somehow makes endearing.

It was said that Kurosawa would spend the mornings of the writing process thinking up impossible situations for the two rogue protagonists and the production crew would have the afternoon to plot out how the two would escape from certain death; The pair survive numerous captures, a prison riot, multiple rock slides (!) and more often than not each other during a sometimes cathartic, sometimes hilarious series of events. The Hidden Fortress is an archetypal dark comedy and could be well adapted in the future because of it's intelligent dynamics and carefree yet succinct episodes (the first Star Wars employs much of the same wide open sense of adventure).

While being one of the lightest of Kurosawa's films, it still has the underlying fatalism and rebelliousness that is inherent of much of interesting Japanese cinema. For examples, see much of mainstream (and probably most non mainstream) anime, as well as the nihilistic cult films of today like the recently Americanized Ringu (The Ring) and Kyua (Cure) by Kiyoshi Kurosawa (no relation). The Hidden Fortress is worth a viewing by any patient film buff.