278. Shichinin no Samurai (The Seven Samurai) (1954)

Directed by Akira Kurosawa

Synopsis

A village is threatened by bandits, some villagers decide to recruit some Samurai to help defend it. They assemble a rag-tag team of seven samurai who defend the village with their lives.

Review

Well what to say about this? One of my favourite films of all time and not only mine but a favourite of most people who gave it the 3 hours plus it takes to watch it. It is a master piece of action cinema, eventually remade into the Magnificent Seven in a Western context, the best version is still the original one, this one, completely unmissable if you even presume to know anything about cinema.

The film is notable for a number of firsts. The idea of assembling a team done so often afterwards in films such as Ocean's Eleven has its start here, the use of slow-motion in action sequences starts here as well, for example. But it isn't so much the firsts that make this film amazing, it is how well it is put together.

The characters all have 3 dimensions even if at times there seems to be an almost Greek tragedy mask thing going on, particularly with the villagers, which weirdly works for the good of the film. The cartoonish expressions on some characters immediately give you a sense of their personality, as does their body language, it is a very visual and physical film. Never more than in the last battle as fighters splash in the mud under heavy rain. This heavy rain is the best use Kurosawa has done of weather as a mood intensifier, he had done rain in Rashomon and snow in Ikiru, but the rain in Seven Samurai is almost palpable, you can almost smell it, you almost feel damp with mud and sweat and rain. And then in the end only 3 Samurai survive, Japanese cinema can never give you a happy ending it seems, and I love that.

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The single largest undertaking by a Japanese filmmaker at the time, Seven Samurai was a technical and creative watershed that became Japan's highest-grossing movie and set a new standard for the industry. Its influence can be most strongly felt in the western The Magnificent Seven, a film specifically adapted from Seven Samurai. Director John Sturges took Seven Samurai and adapted it to the Old West, with the Samurai replaced by gunslingers. Many of The Magnificent Seven's scenes mirror those of Seven Samurai and the final line of dialogue is nearly identical: "The old man was right. Only the farmers won. We lost. We always lose." The film spawned several sequels and there was also a short-lived 1998 television series.

The Indian film Sholay (1975) borrowed its basic premise from Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven. The film was declared BBC India's "Film of the Millennium" and is the highest-grossing Indian film of all time.

A sci-fi reworking is found in the Roger Corman release Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) which not only pays homage to the plot of Seven Samurai, it also employs one of the actors from the American remake The Magnificent Seven, Robert Vaughn.

George Lucas states in the DVD commentary for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, that Yoda's running his hand over his head (like Kambei) is a nod to Kurosawa and this movie. Also the line about the farmers' lot in life is to suffer is quoted in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope but as droids.

Sam Peckinpah’s use of slow motion violence in his films, most famously The Wild Bunch, which influenced manifold other directors, was, in fact, influenced by Kurosawa’s use of such in this film.

In 2004, Kurosawa's estate approved the production of an anime remake of the film, called Samurai 7, produced by GONZO, which provided an alternate steampunk-themed retelling of the classic story.

A sixth season episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine entitled "The Magnificent Ferengi" also spoofs the film. Even the 1986 comedy ¡Three Amigos! borrows several themes from Kurosawa.

The game Throne of Darkness gives the player control of seven samurai (four at a time) who all closely resemble Kurosawa's characters in role, style of combat and appearance.

Trailer: