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Yojimbo (1961) More at IMDbPro »Yôjinbô (original title)
2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008
8 items from 2013
10 Movie Characters That Were Blatant Rip-Offs
15 April 2013 4:00 AM, PDT | Obsessed with Film | See recent Obsessed with Film news »
We all know of films that were total rip-offs from start to finish, but what about when filmmakers get a little more creative and try to hide their plagiarism a little more cleverly? These films, though widely regarded as cinematic classics, are less-known for their blatant pilfering from other works. Though some of the filmmakers have admitted their “influence”, what’s clear in each instance is that the character (and often more than that) has been shamelessly ripped off, while the majority of the film-going audience are none the wiser.
Granted, in most instances the stolen character was put to far better use in the latter project, but it’s still a pretty cheeky way to operate.
Here are 10 movie characters that were blatant rip-offs…
10. The Man With No Name (The Dollars Trilogy)
The Man with No Name is the unforgettably enigmatic protagonist of Sergio Leone’s superb Dollars Trilogy, »
- Shaun Munro
Seven Films To Watch and Celebrate Akira Kurosawa's Birthday On Hulu
22 March 2013 12:17 PM, PDT | Rope of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news »
Tomorrow, March 23, is Akira Kurosawa's birthday. The iconic and influential director would have been 103-years-old had he lived long enough to see it, but that isn't to say he hasn't left a lasting legacy keeping him alive in the hearts of cinephiles. To celebrate the occasion, Criterion and Hulu have made available 24 of Kurosawa's films on Hulu free of charge to nonsubscribers (with commercial interruptions, and only in the U.S.) through midnight Sunday, March 24 and it includes all the hits and then some. Now I haven't seen all of Kurosawa's films, but I would like to at least offer up some suggestions for those of you looking for a starting point, or just a diversion from all this Ncaa Basketball. 1.) Seven Samurai - The obvious starting point is Seven Samurai. It's the film most everyone immediately associates with Kurosawa even if it isn't necessarily one they consider his best or their favorite. »
- Brad Brevet
Akira Kurosawa Criterion Films Free to Watch on Hulu Until Sunday
22 March 2013 11:05 AM, PDT | firstshowing.net | See recent FirstShowing.net news »
Last month, Hulu made the entire Criterion Collection available for a few days, and now they're giving cinephiles another treat from the esteemed feature film collection. In case you didn't know, legendary director Akira Kurosawa's birthday is on March 23rd, and to celebrate the occasion, Hulu and Criterion have made all 24 of his films in the line-up available to watch for free from now until Sunday at midnight. This includes classics like Rashomon, Seven Samurai and Yojimbo along with his final film Madadayo. Sounds like the perfect opportunity for people to get acquainted with Kurosawa's filmography. Here's George Lucas talking about the influence Akira Kurosawa had on him from Hulu: All of the films total about 44 hours, so you can watch all of them if you're dedicated enough. Here's a list of the other Kurosawa films available for viewing: Drunken Angel, The Bad Sleep Well, The Hidden Fortress (which »
- Ethan Anderton
‘The Magnificent Swordsman’ collects from other classics to create its own special identity
9 February 2013 4:05 PM, PST | SoundOnSight | See recent SoundOnSight news »
The Magnificent Swordsman
Written by Ko Jui-Fen
Directed by Griffin Yueh Feng and Ching Gong
Hong Kong, 1968
At what point should movie watchers applaud a film which borrows heavily from other familiar sources for the quality of the filmmaking and when is it too apparent that said film is incapable of overcoming the fatal flaw that can be the lack of originality? It is a tricky question to say the least, one interested in the very slippery slope of homages, remakes, nods and the like in the realm of cinema. If one is being honest, there exists no singular answer encompassing all variations of circumstances under which directors, writers and producers are either playfully playing tribute to other material or rather unashamedly ripping off of it. Even in the latter category, provided the new film is of quality and possesses just enough of its own identity, does there still exist »
- Edgar Chaput
Akira Kurosawa to Receive Writers Guild Award
29 January 2013 9:03 PM, PST | Filmofilia | See recent Filmofilia news »
The Writers Guild of America West (Wgaw) announced on Thursday that it is honoring Japanese filmmakers Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Ryuzo Kikushima, and Hideo Oguni with its Jean Renoir Award for Screenwriting Achievement.
The Jean Renoir Award, which is the Wgaw’s lifetime achievement international screenwriting award, is given to international writers who have “advanced the literature of motion pictures through the years and who [have] made outstanding contributions to the profession of screenwriter.”
Kurosawa (1910-1998) directed more than 30 films and wrote or contributed to more than 70 titles, including many classic films such as Seven Samurai, Rashomon, Ikiru, Yojimbo, Kagemusha, Ran, Red Beard, and High and Low.
Kikushima (1914-1989) contributed to more than 60 films and collaborated with Kurosawa on Stray Dog, Scandal, The Last Fortress, High and Low, Yojimbo, The Bad Sleep Well, and Red Beard. He also worked on Tora! Tora! Tora! with Oguni, and Willful Murder, the latter of »
- Vesna Sunrider
A Fistful of Ronin
24 January 2013 9:05 AM, PST | SoundOnSight | See recent SoundOnSight news »
A lone warrior comes across a town held hostage by two competing gang leaders. He meets the keeper of a local inn who explains the situation and warns him to leave as soon as he can. Our rogue, a man with no name, decides instead to play the two sides against each other and make a quick buck. This description applies to two films released in the early sixties, the latter directly influenced (some would say stolen) by the former.
Written by: Ryozu Kikushima and Akira Kurosawa
Directed by: Akira Kurosawa
Japan, 1961
Written by Victor Andrés Catena, Jamie Comas Gil, Sergio Leone
Directed by: Sergio Leone
Italy 1964
Aside from the similarities of plot between these two films, the productions themselves bear a similarity with an iconic actor/director team. Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood and Akira Kurosawa/Toshiro Mifune are names that are inescapably linked in the history of film. »
- Jonathan Marsellus
A Fistful of Ronin
24 January 2013 1:09 AM, PST | SoundOnSight | See recent SoundOnSight news »
A lone warrior, a rogue, comes across a town held hostage by two competing gang leaders. He meets the keeper of a local inn who explains the situation and warns him to leave as soon as he can. Our rogue, a man with no name decides instead to play the two sides against each other to make a quick buck. This description applies to two films released in the early sixties, the latter directly influenced (some would say stolen) by the former.
Written by: Ryozu Kikushima and Akira Kurosawa
Directed by: Akira Kurosawa
Japan, 1961
Written by Victor Andrés Catena, Jamie Comas Gil, Sergio Leone
Directed by: Sergio Leone
Italy 1964
Aside from the similarities of plot between these two films, the productions themselves bear a similarity with an iconic actor/director team. Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood and Akira Kurosawa/Toshiro Mifune are names that are inescapably »
- Jonathan Marsellus
Looking back at Sergio Leone’s Dollars trilogy
17 January 2013 3:12 AM, PST | Den of Geek | See recent Den of Geek news »
Feature Paul Martinovic Jan 18, 2013
With Django Unchained out now in the UK, Paul looks back at Sergio Leone's classic Dollars trilogy that helped inspire it...
Howard Hawks, one of the most successful Western directors of all time and a key influence on Sergio Leone, once said a great movie can be defined as one with "three great scenes, and no bad ones." There can be few directors who understood the power of great scenes quite as strongly as Leone, the director of the Dollars trilogy and de facto godfather of the spaghetti western.
Some might argue his emphasis on great individual moments was to his detriment, as the MacGuffin-laden plots of his films seem to exist mainly as devices on which he can hang his elaborate setpieces, and were subsequently labeled as exercises in pure style. While the artistic and intellectual merits of the three films are up for debate, »
- ryanlambie
2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008
8 items from 2013
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