A crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town.A crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town.A crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 5 wins & 2 nominations total
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAkira Kurosawa told Toshirô Mifune that his character was like a wolf or a dog and told Tatsuya Nakadai that his character was like a snake. Inspired by this direction, Mifune came up with Sanjuro's trademark shoulder twitch, similar to the way a dog or wolf tries to get off fleas.
- GoofsIn the initial fight scene, The Samurai cuts the first two adversaries in the mid-section, then slices the last man's arm off. That last man is first seen from behind holding the sword in his right arm above his head, but the arm holding the sword shown moments later is a left arm.
- Alternate versionsThe initial US release ran only 75 minutes, 35 minutes shorter than the original version at 110 minutes.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The 62nd Annual Academy Awards (1990)
Featured review
YOJIMBO is an action drama about a rōnin who finds himself at the center of a conflict between the two crime lords.
A hungry and tired rōnin wanders through a desolate Japanese countryside. Soon, he arrives in a small town. A local caterer advises him to leave because, two local clans fight every day on the streets. However, a stranger decides to stay. The situation in a town is very good for one rōnin. This is a good chance that he earns some money. However, he does not need a bloody money. He wants to destroy local crime lords...
This tense story is full of lies, doubt, turning, pranks, blackmails and excellent fights. A careless and seemingly insensitive samurai is actually a peaceful and good man. Mr. Kurosawa has, under the influence of a western and noir, made a very exciting and visually impressive film. Of course, he has not neglected the significant situations that are related to the Japanese culture and tradition.
Close-ups, almost perfectly, reflect an evil, arrogance, fear, invincibility and contempt on faces of some of the protagonists. There is a large number of villains, which are quite different in character.
Toshiro Mifune (Kuwabatake Sanjuro) is a resourceful, interesting and determined as a wandering rōnin and master swordsman. He, apparently, enjoys in his machinations, however, his goal is extremely benevolent. He's kind of a lone hero, regardless of a tactical evil and theatrical swagger in his character.
His support are Tatsuya Nakadai as Unosuke a wild and insolent gunslinger and the biggest threat to a samurai. He is interesting because he is a completely different character from Sanjuro. Kyū Sazanka (Ushitora) and Seizaburo Kawazu (Seibei) are fairly inconclusive as crime lords. However their primary relationship "of a teacher and his student", could be interesting. Isuzu Yamada as Orin is the the wife of Seibei. She is perhaps an initiator of conflicts. Daisuke Katō as Inokichi is a visually the most memorable character. A character, who is capable to commit a vicious murder, but also make the greatest stupidity.
Simply, Mr. Kurosawa has managed to combine several styles in a small masterpiece.
A hungry and tired rōnin wanders through a desolate Japanese countryside. Soon, he arrives in a small town. A local caterer advises him to leave because, two local clans fight every day on the streets. However, a stranger decides to stay. The situation in a town is very good for one rōnin. This is a good chance that he earns some money. However, he does not need a bloody money. He wants to destroy local crime lords...
This tense story is full of lies, doubt, turning, pranks, blackmails and excellent fights. A careless and seemingly insensitive samurai is actually a peaceful and good man. Mr. Kurosawa has, under the influence of a western and noir, made a very exciting and visually impressive film. Of course, he has not neglected the significant situations that are related to the Japanese culture and tradition.
Close-ups, almost perfectly, reflect an evil, arrogance, fear, invincibility and contempt on faces of some of the protagonists. There is a large number of villains, which are quite different in character.
Toshiro Mifune (Kuwabatake Sanjuro) is a resourceful, interesting and determined as a wandering rōnin and master swordsman. He, apparently, enjoys in his machinations, however, his goal is extremely benevolent. He's kind of a lone hero, regardless of a tactical evil and theatrical swagger in his character.
His support are Tatsuya Nakadai as Unosuke a wild and insolent gunslinger and the biggest threat to a samurai. He is interesting because he is a completely different character from Sanjuro. Kyū Sazanka (Ushitora) and Seizaburo Kawazu (Seibei) are fairly inconclusive as crime lords. However their primary relationship "of a teacher and his student", could be interesting. Isuzu Yamada as Orin is the the wife of Seibei. She is perhaps an initiator of conflicts. Daisuke Katō as Inokichi is a visually the most memorable character. A character, who is capable to commit a vicious murder, but also make the greatest stupidity.
Simply, Mr. Kurosawa has managed to combine several styles in a small masterpiece.
- elvircorhodzic
- Apr 12, 2017
- Permalink
Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $46,808
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $15,942
- Jul 28, 2002
- Gross worldwide
- $66,494
- Runtime1 hour 50 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content