Yojimbo

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This is one of the easiest Kurosawa masterpieces to watch, and like previous classics from this legendary director, the action of the story occurs in medevial Japan. Ironically, this tale was inspired by the American Western (which is clearly evident)and inspired an important chapter of the Western genre. Later remade as Sergio Leone's "A Fistful of Dollars" (which led to "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" and "Once Upon A Time In The West"), Akira Kurosawa's medevial "western" is just as enjoyable, violent and stylish as Clint Eastwood's "spaghetti" Western that most movie fans are familair with. It is rare that a film and its subsequent re-make can be equally enjoyable and of equal quality, but such is the case. In Kurosawa's original, Toshiro Mifune portrays "The Man With No Name" and is just as mysterious, witty and sarcastic as that tough, skinny American. Fans of Leone's Westerns would be very wise to witness this great film. Comparisons are pretty futile since both are of different cultural settings and the action in both are exceedingly excellent. But it is such a great story and a great film to watch, an admirer certainly won't mind to witness two great versions of the same terrific formula. "Yojimbo" was again re-made in the 90's with Bruce Willis in "Last Man Standing".

Sanjuro Kuwabatake (Toshirô Mifune) is a samurai without a master, drifting without any specific destination. He arrives in a small village, dominated by two lords: Seibei, who produces silk, and Ushitora, who produces sake. Both of them explore gambling, and uses fugitive gangster for the protection of their business. They are constantly fighting against each other. Sanjuro offers his service of bodyguard for both of them and waits for the best offer. The end of the story recalls those Italian ('spaghetti') western movies, with the death of all 'bad guys'. This movie is very different from other Akira Kurosawa's masterpieces. The plot has adventure, excellent choreography in the sword fights and lots of black humor. In accordance with the information on the cover of the DVD, Sergio Leone used parts of this screenplay in his wonderful 'Fistful of Dollars'. The negative point is the DVD released in Brazil by the Brazilian distributor Continental. The subtitles have many problems in translation, synchronization and concordance in Portuguese. In some parts, it is very difficult to follow the story, since I can not understand Japanese. Further, there is a bug and the DVD freezes at 75:51 min. I tried two DVDs and both presented the same problem. The solution is to go back to the 'Menu', select the next chapter and 'rewind' back to 75:52 min. Although presenting problems on the Brazilian DVD, the movie is excellent and worthwhile. My vote is nine. Title (Brazil): 'Yojimbo' 05 January 2005: I have just received the following remark from an IMDb User: "Yojimbo doesn't "recall those Italian ('spaghetti') western movies, with the death of all 'bad guys'," considering that Yojimbo was released in 1961, and the entire GENRE of "Spaghetti Westerns" didn't really exist previous to Leone's Fistful of Dollars. You've made the classic mistake of mixing up cause and effect."

My Rating : 2/10 If you want a good Kurosawa film watch 'Seven Samurai' or 'Rashômon' or 'High and Low'. Yôjinbô alongwith Ran are two of the least favourite of Akira Kurosawa movies for me. Some may undoubtedly like them. This is an easy pass for viewers like me and according to me this movie should be out of the imdb Top 250 as it's pretty terrible in all the ways, bad script, dialogue and most of all the directing and pacing. Don't waste your time here. 2/10.

At time of writing Yojimbo presently sits as the 115th highest rated movie on IMDB, it's not the only one of Tohos movies in there either. Generally I disagree with IMDB's top 250, and this is no exception. Feeble compared to the considerably superior Seven Samurai (1954) it tells the story of a lone samurai who arrives in a small town tormented by two gangs. In a bid to save the town he plays mind games with them both in an effort to get them to kill one another off. The plot is simple but well handled, the film looks the part and it's character development is great. As if that wasn't enough we have legendary director Akira Kurosawa behind the camera and Toshirô Mifune in front of it. Mifune is great and is on form here, but is it just me or does he always play essentially the same character? I wasn't that keen on the films finale, I also felt that it dragged in places but regardless is a watchable Toho effort and a must watch for fans of the genre. Enjoyable but top 250? Hardly. The Good: Some great comedy Looks very crisp for its age Toshirô Mifune is on form The Bad: Drags in the middle Finale could have been handled better Things I Learnt From This Movie: The Great Khali was a Japanese actor in the 1960's Toho movies give me sake cravings

"Yojimbo", Japanese for "bodyguard" is the story of Sanjuro Kuwabatake, (Mifune) a samurai without a master or anyone to protect who walks into a small Japanese village that is rife with violence caused by two feuding groups. The boss of each group tries to hire Sanjuro, who decides to solve the village's issues by pitting one side against another. Problems arise for Sanjuro when the son of one of the bosses shows up, who brandishes a gun and absolutely is not afraid to use it. "Yojimbo" was later remade into "A Fist Full of Dollars", featuring Clint Eastwood, and the similarities are certainly prevalent, particularly with their respective "heroes". Mifune, a great actor who is able to be extremely expressive without the benefit of a lot of dialogue, is once again excellent in this film. The story itself is a good one, and the film was entertaining overall. I fear, however, that I may have either tried to watch too much Kurosawa in a short period of time, or that I may have seen his three best too early, because there wasn't a lot that excited me in this film as opposed to say, "The Seven Samurai", "Rashomon" or "High and Low". At times the film seemed to drag a little, and Unosuke, the guy with the gun, became kind of a joke because after awhile the way he was acting menacing with his gun was really pretty humorous. I kept thinking about the Simpsons episode when Homer joins the NRA and was using his gun for everything, including turning on the television, and I don't think that was the reaction that Kurosawa intended. I'm not panning the film as a whole; I just think that "Yojimbo" is perhaps not one of Kurosawa's great films. Every great director has some films that don't seem to be in the same league as their masterpieces, (though I have yet to watch a Kubrick film that hasn't left me breathless with admiration) and I'm certain that Kurosawa is no exception. Because the film was decent, but not great, I'm giving it a decent, but not great rating – an average 5/10. --Shelly

After a string of classic masterpieces, Kurosawa confronted his influences head-on. Throwing John Ford's Western aesthetics into a blender and painting them pitch black. The results are Yojimbo and its legacy. Yojimbo ("the bodyguard") is the tale of a flea-ridden wandering swordsman, Sanjuro (Toshiro Mifune, in his finest performance). He arrives at a gang-war ravaged town and starts hiring himself out to both sides, playing them off against another, in order to wipe all the scum out. Sound familiar? Even though Yojimbo the film is a thrilling ride and very funny dark comedy, it is hard to imagine what a bombshell this was for audiences at the time of its release. It is as far removed as can be from the then squeaky-clean aesthetic of samurai films: you can almost smell the sweat and the grime of the sordid town and characters. The action is fast and furious, enhanced by Kurosawa's deft use of telephoto lenses and Masaru Sato's avant-garde score. With all that, Yojimbo was a massive kick in the pants of a fossilized genre. It exploded beyond the confines of its own country and genre, forever influencing the very Westerns that had inspired it, particularly a new wave out of Spain and Italy at the time. One Sergio Leone copy/pasted the whole plot into his own revisionist Western and gave us the Dollars trilogy. The slightest of Spaghetti Western enthusiasts owes Kurosawa a debt of gratitude. As with all truly great work, its greatness exists even devoid of context, and for all the historical precedents it set, all Kurosawa wanted to make was an entertaining film. That he bloody well succeeded is the least you can say about Yojimbo.

Yojimbo, based on noir writer Dashiel Hammett's Red Harvest is a magnificently entertaining film. Toshiro Mifune stars as the nobody who calls himself Sanjuro (thirty but closer to forty). He enters a town destroyed by warring factions and plays a double-game to pit one faction against the other thus destroying the criminal element. Yojimbo (aka The Bodyguard) is one of the coolest and most stylish films ever made. Starring Toshiro Mifune, Kurosawa's favorite actor, as the scruffy looking Samurai, Yojimbo has all of Kurosawa's qualities and none of the flaws. The music score is an essential element of the plot and strikingly good, but admittedly bettered by the Ennio Morricone version in the Spaghetti Western remake Fistful of Dollars. The visuals are great, from the samurai swordplay, to the desolate streets, the town crier announcing its 3 a.m. to the brutal torture scene. One of the unique things about Yojimbo is the central character. He is an anti-hero. We see him initially as a killer and a man greedy for money. But then, he saves a family by re-uniting mother and child and giving them all the money he was advanced. Mifune has never been cooler than in this film and Eastwood could only aspire to equal such a performance. Of the two remakes, I liked Fistful of Dollars for starting the Spaghetti Western genre, although Yojimbo is a far more superior and stylish film. The gangster version, Last Man Standing, was not very good and Bruce Willis made for a poor substitute to Yojimbo. This film looks fresh and undated even today - watch it!