Yojimbo - Remastered Edition (Criterion Collection Spine #52)

Yojimbo - Remastered Edition (Criterion Collection Spine #52) | Toshirô Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai | "The Town Will Be Quiet Now"

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Yojimbo - Remaster...

	Yojimbo - Remastered Edition (Criterion Collection Spine #52) Toshirô Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai Criterion, 2007 average customer review:based on 126 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

I am in love with Toshiro Mifune....great film, too, by the way.....

YOJIMBO was my introduction to the great body of work from the incomparable Japanese actor, Toshiro Mifune, who stars as the title character, Yojimbo (English translation: Bodyguard). This man can be bought off with sake or rice, to basically do what he does best--be physically imposing, and do away with the bad guys. Yet, he keeps his cool, even when he discovers that the couple who hired him is out to stab in the back (I mean this as a figure of speech, of course....or do I? haha....you'll just have to see the film to find out, right?).

The great Japanese director, Akira Kurosawa, does a fantastic job of telling a compelling, quirky, darkly comedic and very engaging story. The jazzy, Japanese soundtrack and greatly reflects the themes and tensions in the storyline, the incidental camera work is spontaneous and teases the audience, while the actors grimace, growl and go after each other with vicious and (at times) reckless abandon. Fantastic......By the way, this was the inspiration for the Spaghetti western, FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, starring Clint Eastwood. Not to be missed........

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"The Town Will Be Quiet Now"

Sure, because everyone is dead! This movie was way ahead of its time with its amoral, cynical worldview. It's amazing to see this after The Seven Samurai. For one thing, I now realize why Tishuro Mifune is considered such an amazing actor. This character is absolutely nothing like his Seven Samurai character, but he plays both brilliantly.

I also love how Kurosawa suggests samurai are only as good or bad as the times they live in. In fuedal society, they were loyal policeman who served and protected village farmers even when there was no material reward. In the collapsed society of 1860 Japan, they serve and protect no one but themselves. And rather than prevent massacres like the seven samurai, they cause them. Kurosawa wants us to see that if Mofune hadn't ignited them, they would have been too cowardly to ever kill each other. The aborted battle with Mofune gleefully watching over the bell tower is the perfect example: each side is terrified of the other's swords!

Of course, he isn't completely amoral. He does rescue the woman being held captive and only gets himself into trouble as a result. Earlier he said he is greedy because being a samurai is dangerous and dirty work. But up until that point in the movie, it's neither. He's more self-aware than he lets on: he knows that his samurai's life is dangerous because he is bent on protecting the innocent even when he tells himself he's only bent on auctioning himself to the highest bidder.

But for the guilty? He happily keeps the coffin maker in business and gets paid to kill "men who are better off dead".

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Great Samurai movie with roots in American detective fiction

Yojimbo (The Bodyguard) is a samurai movie based in the detective novels of Dashiell Hammett - particularly Red Harvest. Akira Kurosawa wanted to bring the best of literature and interpret it into Japanese cinema. Its interesting that the two main influences in this process were Hammett's hard-boiled detective fiction and William Shakespeare (Ran, Throne of Blood). The always-excellent Toshiro Mifune plays the nameless title character who schemes and plots of take down an entire town of gamblers and gansters. I won't recap the story, suffice to say that his plans lead into several battles and some beautifully choreographed sword fights. Yojimbo was later made (nearly scene-for-scene) into A Fistfull of Dollars by Sergio Leone with Clint Eastwood as "The Man with No Name." Bruce Willis brought the character back to it's ganster/detective roots with the not-so-good "Last Man Standing." Yojimbo is awash with cinematic violence, but the charm infused into the movie by the cynical, yet obstinately principled, hero surprised me when I first saw it. The performances of the supporting cast, as usual with Kurosawa's films, add depth and wit to each scene. For what its worth, Yojimbo has gradually become one of my favorite movies.

If you end up enjoying Yojimbo, check out The Seven Samurai, Sword of Doom, Miller's Crossing, The Maltese Falcon, and The Thin Man.

Criterion did an excellent job with their recent re-release of Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai, and they gave the same treatment to both Yojimbo & Sanjuro. A new (and improved) translation, commentary from Steven Price, as well as documentary film focusing on Kurosawa during the time he was making these great movies. This review is modified from my review of the Yojimbo/Sanjuro double DVD pack, each movie is great, but I'd recommend picking up both.

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Funnest Mifune and/or Kurasawa Movie

Easily "Yojimbo" is the most accessible and one of the most enjoyable Kurasawa films out there. Watch this and it will take about 5 minutes before you're hooked in.

Samurai with no name

A nameless ronin arrives at a village where two criminal factions are battling for supremacy while the peasants cower in fright. "In this town I'll make a lot of money for killing," he muses, "and there are a lot of people who need to be killed." Establishing a reputation as an expert fighter early on, he soon has both factions bidding for his services and takes advantage of the chaotic situation to inflict damage on both of them while surreptitiously aiding the peasants. Toshiro Mifune excels as a rogue who seems amoral on the surface, and director Akira Kurosawa demonstrates the filmmaking skill that made him a legend.

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