Shichinin no samurai (1954)

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

Akira Kurosawa (written by) &
Shinobu Hashimoto (written by) ...

Release Date:

19 November 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure

Tagline:

The Mighty Warriors Who Became the Seven National Heroes of a Small Town

Plot:

A poor village under attack by bandits recruits seven unemployed samurai to help them defend themselves.

Plot Keywords:

Samurai | Bandit | Farmer | Japan | Rice

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Toshirô Mifune	...	Kikuchiyo
Takashi Shimura	...	Kanbê Shimada
Keiko Tsushima	...	Shino
Yukiko Shimazaki	...	Rikichi's Wife
Kamatari Fujiwara	...	Manzô - Father of Shino
Daisuke Katô	...	Shichirôji
Isao Kimura	...	Katsushirô Okamoto
Minoru Chiaki	...	Heihachi Hayashida
Seiji Miyaguchi	...	Kyûzô
Yoshio Kosugi	...	Mosuke
Bokuzen Hidari	...	Yohei
Yoshio Inaba	...	Gorobê Katayama
Yoshio Tsuchiya	...	Rikichi
Kokuten Kôdô	...	Gisaku, the Old Man
Eijirô Tôno	...	Kidnapper

Also Known As:

Seven Samurai (UK) (USA)
Shichi-nin no samurai (Japan) (alternative transliteration)

Runtime:

207 min | 160 min (international version) | Argentina:163 min | Sweden:202 min (2002 re-release) | UK:150 min (original version) | UK:190 min (1991 re-release) | USA:141 min | USA:203 min (re-release) | USA:207 min (restored version) | Spain:202 min (DVD edition)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Brazil:10 | Czech Republic:U | Spain:T | Argentina:16 | Australia:PG | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG | Denmark:15 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:11 (re-rating) (2002) | Sweden:15 (original rating) | Switzerland:14 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1991) | USA:Unrated | West Germany:16

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

Akira Kurosawa's original idea for the film was to make it about a day in the life of a samurai, beginning with him rising from bed and ending with him making some mistake that required him to kill himself to save face. Despite a good deal of research, he did not feel he had enough solid factual information to make the movie, but came across an anecdote about a village hiring samurai to protect them and decided to use that idea. Kurosawa wrote a complete dossier for each character with a speaking role. In it were details about what they wore, their favorite foods, their past history, their speaking habits and every other detail he could think of about them. No other Japanese director had ever done this before.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: During the final battle, when first we see Kikuchiyo enter the females' hut, it appears that he backs the bandit out twice. In reality, it is two different bandits, as can be seen by the fact that they are wearing different helmets. What is strange is that Kikuchiyo kills the bandit chief, who fired the two final and fatal shots, but the second man (wearing a kabuto with a wide, flat neck-guard) seems to vanish without trace after leaving the building.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Bandit second-in-command: We'll take this place next.
Bandit Chief: We took it last autumn. They haven't got anything worth taking yet. Let's wait.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Corri uomo corri (1968)

This film can be described in one word...Awesome!!

This is my favorite Kurosawa film, the man was a true master of the cinematic arts. If you have never seen a Kurosawa film definetly make this your first. Though extremely long at about 3 1/2 hours it is well worth the time spent.

To quickly summarize, a poor Japanese village hires 7 Samurai to protect it from being raided by bandits. Don't get me wrong there is way more to it than that, I just dont want to give anything away. This is an intense and emotional movie that hooks you from the first scene and keeps you on the line till it is all over. The battle scene at the end is in true Kurosawa form. The acting is outstanding by everyone involved from the main characters all the way down to the very last extra. Of course the best way to see any film, especially a Kurosawa film is on the big screen if you are able to. Beautifully filmed, in black and white, anyone familiar with Kurosawa's work has to wonder visually how much more gorgeous it could have been had Kurosawa had the option of color in 1954.

The camera use is brilliant and every scene is balanced visually. This film is also the first one to use "the wipe" as a way of changing from one scene to another. This technique was later used by George Lucas in his Star Wars movies. I would also recommend the DVD version that has the commentary option by the Japanese cinema expert if anyone is interested in a deeper understanding of the "hows" and "whys" of Kurosawa's film making. Any man, woman, boy or girl who just wants to see a really, really great movie, THIS IS THE ONE! An A+++ in my book.