Click to see Sanjuro on IMDB |
7/26/2000
Sanjuro
This is a movie starring Toshiro Mifune, voted by AFI the best actor of the 50's, and directed by Akira Kurasawa, widely considered the greatest director of all time.
The story is a simple one of political corruption in a small Japanese town. A group of young samurai are concerned about possible corruption in the clan. They decide to convince high-ranking officials of the irregularities.
As the men discuss their inability to get anyone to listen to their story, Toshiro Mifune happens to overhear. The gruff Sanjuro, played with a cool ease by Mifune, already realizes these young punks don't have it figured out at all.
Sanjuro lets the group know how wrong they've been all along, and how they have been set-up. Sure enough, they went to the wrong person to complain about the corruption. Sanjuro lets them know they've gone to the real bad guy and they're about to lose their heads. Just then, dozens of men surround the cabin to eliminate the young samurai.
Only quick thinking by Sanjuro keeps the men alive. Sanjuro decides to help the men free their honest leader and take down the rebels. The young samurai are alternately awestruck and dumbfounded by the non-traditional samurai's methods.
The movie builds around Sanjuro's attempts to plan the rescue of the kidnapped leader. Sanjuro's methods are definitely not traditional for a samurai, but he is helping out the young samurai, a very noble task. That's the paradox of Sanjuro, he's gruff and moody yet honorable.
Mifune is classic as the imperfect good-guy. His character completely influenced future characters of Clint Eastwood and Bruce Willis, ill-tempered heroes. In fact, this movie and some of Kurosawa's movies at this same time provided inspiration for Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns.
This is a very exceptional movie, sometimes lost among Mifune and Kurosawa's other movies. This movie has action, swordplay, even comedy to go with a killer samurai showdown ending. Please don't think a black and white subtitled Japanese movie is more than you can handle, this movie is truly excellent.
CDWH |