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IMDb > Yojimbo (1961)
Yojimbo
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Overview

User Rating:
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 2% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Akira Kurosawa
Writers:
Akira Kurosawa (story)
Akira Kurosawa (screenplay) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for Yojimbo the Bodyguard on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
13 September 1961 (USA) more
Plot:
A crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 wins & 1 nomination more
NewsDesk:
(12 articles)
Poster Alert! Godfather and Yojimbo
 (From Twitch. 9 June 2009, 10:00 AM, PDT)

Kurosawa's 'Kagemusha' Destined for Criterion Blu-ray
 (From Rope Of Silicon. 17 May 2009, 12:37 PM, PDT)

User Comments:
Kurosawa's most entertaining film more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Toshirô Mifune ... Sanjuro Kuwabatake / The Samurai
Tatsuya Nakadai ... Unosuke, gunfighter
Yôko Tsukasa ... Nui
Isuzu Yamada ... Orin
Daisuke Katô ... Inokichi, Ushitora's rotund brother
Seizaburô Kawazu ... Seibei, brothel operator
Takashi Shimura ... Tokuemon, sake brewer
Hiroshi Tachikawa ... Yoichiro
Yosuke Natsuki ... Kohei's Son
Eijirô Tôno ... Gonji, tavern keeper
Kamatari Fujiwara ... Tazaemon
Ikio Sawamura ... Hansuke
Atsushi Watanabe ... The Cooper (Coffin-Maker)
Susumu Fujita ... Homma, instructor who skips town
Kyu Sazanka ... Ushitora
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
The Bodyguard (International: English title) (literal title)
Yojimbo the Bodyguard (USA)
Yojinbo (Japan) (modified Hepburn romanization)
more
Runtime:
110 min | USA:75 min
Country:
Japan
Language:
Japanese
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Perspecta Stereo (Westrex Recording System)
Certification:
Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | USA:TV-MA (cable rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | USA:Unrated | UK:PG (video rating) (1993) | UK:A (original rating)
Filming Locations:
Toho Studios, Tokyo, Japan

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Akira Kurosawa challenged his assistant directors to come up with an image for the film to let Sanjuro know he was entering a bad town. He shot down all of their ideas, since all of them had already been done. Kurosawa himself then came up with the idea of the dog carrying the human hand. more
Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: When Sanjuro practices throwing the knife at a leaf, the wire on the knife is clearly visible (the scene was filmed backwards; the knife was actually pulled off the leaf by the wire). more
Quotes:
Sanjuro: Go hang yourself. more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in EuroTrip (2004) more

FAQ

Who did the man with the prayer drums kill?
Any recommendations for movies similar to "Yojimbo"?
A Note Regarding Spoilers
more
20 out of 21 people found the following comment useful:-
Kurosawa's most entertaining film, 17 October 2006
10/10
Author: faraaj-1 (faraajqureshi2401@gmail.com) from Sydney, Australia

Yojimbo, based on noir writer Dashiel Hammett's Red Harvest is a magnificently entertaining film. Toshiro Mifune stars as the nobody who calls himself Sanjuro (thirty but closer to forty). He enters a town destroyed by warring factions and plays a double-game to pit one faction against the other thus destroying the criminal element.

Yojimbo (aka The Bodyguard) is one of the coolest and most stylish films ever made. Starring Toshiro Mifune, Kurosawa's favorite actor, as the scruffy looking Samurai, Yojimbo has all of Kurosawa's qualities and none of the flaws. The music score is an essential element of the plot and strikingly good, but admittedly bettered by the Ennio Morricone version in the Spaghetti Western remake Fistful of Dollars. The visuals are great, from the samurai swordplay, to the desolate streets, the town crier announcing its 3 a.m. to the brutal torture scene.

One of the unique things about Yojimbo is the central character. He is an anti-hero. We see him initially as a killer and a man greedy for money. But then, he saves a family by re-uniting mother and child and giving them all the money he was advanced. Mifune has never been cooler than in this film and Eastwood could only aspire to equal such a performance.

Of the two remakes, I liked Fistful of Dollars for starting the Spaghetti Western genre, although Yojimbo is a far more superior and stylish film. The gangster version, Last Man Standing, was not very good and Bruce Willis made for a poor substitute to Yojimbo. This film looks fresh and undated even today - watch it!

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Yojimbo (1961)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
List of films that use this plotline? YnEoS
Kurosawa vs Leone..yes, again.... MudFlapp
Other good films liket his one? casnq
Compared to other Kurosawa theconman9
Criterion for only $1.99 RolandtheSilver
Continuation of 'Yojimbo/Sanjuro' in a CGI internet show justinguiles6
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