Akira Kurosawa - 4 Samurai Classics (Seven Samurai / The Hidden Fortress / Yojimbo / Sanjuro) - Criterion Collection (1956)
Product Details
Actors: Toshiro Mifune, Akira Kurosawa
Format: Box set, Black & White, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Region: Region 1 (Boxset available in U.S. and Canada only. Each DVDs sold separately in other regions.)
Rating
Studio: Criterion
DVD Release Date: October 8, 2002
Average Customer Review: 4.5/5 stars -- based on 17 reviews.
ASIN: B00006IUI5
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,444 in DVD (See Top Sellers in DVD)
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Leading off the set of four Akira Kurosawa classics is Seven Samurai (1954), unanimously hailed as one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of the motion picture. It was the inspiration for countless films modeled after its basic premise, but has never been surpassed in terms of sheer power of emotion, kinetic energy, and dynamic character development. The story is set in the 1600s, when the residents of a small Japanese village seek protection against repeated attacks by a band of marauding thieves and hire seven unemployed "ronin" (masterless samurai), including a boastful swordsman (Toshiro Mifune), who is actually a farmer's son desperately seeking glory and acceptance. The climactic battle remains one of the most breathtaking sequences ever filmed and one of Kurosawa's crowning cinematic achievements.
In another of the many Kurosawa-Mifune collaborations, The Hidden Fortress (1958) tells the story of a warrior and a princess trying against all odds to return to their homeland with their fortune. Along the way, they are simultaneously assisted and thwarted by two itinerant and not-too-bright farmers with their own designs on the treasure. Frequently cited for its thematic influences on Star Wars, The Hidden Fortress combines an epic tale of struggle and honor with modern comic sensibilities.
The partly comic Yojimbo (1961) was inspired by the American Western genre. Mifune plays a drifting samurai for hire who plays both ends against the middle with two warring factions, surviving on his wits and his ability to outrun his own bad luck. Yojimbo is striking for its unorthodox treatment of violence and morality, reserving judgment on the actions of its main character and instead presenting an entertaining tale with humor and much visual excitement. One of the inspirations for the spaghetti Westerns of director Sergio Leone and the 1996 Bruce Willis vehicle Last Man Standing, this film offers insight into a director who influenced American films even as he was influenced by them. The 1963 sequel, Sanjuro, is more lighthearted and less cynical, a rousing adventure with Mifune becoming an unlikely big brother to a troupe of nine naive samurai. It isn't the subtlest of Kurosawa's films, but it's one of his most entertaining.
Reviewer: E. A. Solinas (Amazon)
Action movies like Akira Kurosawa's are a rarity. They have stories, and the action revolves around that; there's nothing used for shock, but they manage to hit you in the gut anyway. Each film in this collection of "Samurai Classics" is vivid, compelling, often humorous and stars the fantastic Toshiro Mifune.
"Seven Samurai" is the now-classic tale of an impoverished country village, which is regularly pillaged by bandits. Desperate to protect themselves, the villagers send out some young men to hire samurai to help them. What they get is a ragtag but willing band, led by a weary veteran and including an eager-puppy teen, a seeming nutcase (the predecessor of Captain Jack Sparrow?), and basically anyone who will fight for a square meal.
"Hidden Fortress" was one of the shaping influences on George Lucas's "Star Wars." In it, a general (Toshiro Mifune) and a princess are attempting to sneak across a border. The problem is, they are being helped by a pair of greedy, not-too-bright farmers (Kamatari Fujiawara and Minoru Chiaki), who bumble as often as they assist.
"Yojimbo" was an adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's "Red Harvest," the story of a detective who cleans up a city. This darkly humorous film introduces a wandering samurai-for-hire (Toshiro Mifune again), who stumbles onto a war between two clans. He's smarter than just about everyone else in the film, and so he begins playing both sides, deftly avoiding disaster as he deals with the clan war in his own way.
"Sanjuro" is probably the lightest of all Kurosawa's movies. The scruffy, wily hero of "Yojimbo" (Toshiro Mifune yet again) returns, this time taking nine naive, inept young noblemen under his wing. They have to somehow rescue the Chamberlain, his wife and young daughter from the Superintendent -- assuming that "Sanjuro's" army of nine doesn't botch it all up.
Kurosawa's filmmaking is not flawless. For example, when people are cut down in battle they have a tendency not to bleed (or they bleed too much). However, for form it can't be beaten. Battle scenes have a flash-bang intensity, or the slow, building pressure of duels. There's also early slow-motion effects, as demonstrated in "Seven Samurai" during a one-on-one fight.
Kurosawa was a lover of American cowboy flicks, and at times this shows, especially in the rugged hero of "Yojimbo" and "Sanjuro," who acts like a medieval Japanese gunslinger (he even has the piercing eyes for it). But first and foremost, these are stories -- no more and no less. Kurosawa's storytelling ability is laced with drama, humor, and all this without meandering or preaching.
For any rabid cinephile, Kurosawa's films are a must. Epic action movies with plenty of swords, mayhem and grizzled heroes don't come any better than these.
