Film 51/52: Yojimbo (1961)


One of the greatest things about this series has been the opportunity to make time for classic films that we've had in the library for years, and have never gotten around to watching. Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo is one such film. I've long been a fan of Toshiro Mifune (who we saw most recently in our screening of Steven Spielberg's 1941), and A Fistful of Dollars — Sergio Leone's take on the film with Clint Eastwood in the lead role. Earlier in this series, we watched Walter Hill's lesser adaptation, Last Man Standing, starring Bruce Willis. While the Eastwood film will always hold a special place in my heart as the first version of the story I experienced, Akira Kurosawa's original film is a close second. 

The basic story is of a lone samurai, Sanjuro, who arrives in a small town and sets out to play two warring factions off one another as a bodyguard (the translation of the title — yojimbo). Now, there's something about Eastwood gunning down bad guys that plays better than a samurai single-handedly taking out a large crew with his sword. Let's face it, Kill Bill this is not. But if you accept the fact that one swing of a sword can vanquish the bad guys when the story needs it, it's still a lot of fun. As Joe Bob Briggs would say, "limbs roll." I will also admit a certain fondness for black and white scope films, of which this is a great one. 

I do think we'll be screening the follow-up soon (Sanjuro, also with Mifune in the title role), and then I think it's time to revisit Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress and (even though it's not a scope film) Seven Samurai. Yojimbo was a lot of fun to experience on the big screen, and definitely worth the wait. 



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