Last Man Standing With a Fistful of Dollars - Yojimbo

Yojimbo (1961)

OK, OK, I know what you're thinking - what could this guy possibly write that would add anything meaningful to the reams of information already published about this Akira Kurosawa flick? If you're asking yourself who or what is Akira Kurosawa, you might want to go read something else, or feel free to stick around and join the party. There’s always room for another. :>

The mention of Kurosawa's name will probably trigger mixed reactions. On the one hand, it is almost certainly guaranteed to bring some foreign cineastes out of the woodwork whose admiration for Kurosawa's artistry knows no bounds. On the other hand, to many (if not most) people mention of the name may elicit almost zero recognition or perhaps kindle a faintly interested query, as in "oh, you mean the guy who made all the samurai movies?" Since I view movies primarily as entertainment, I believe the value of Yojimbo lies somewhere in between the two polarities.

Akira Kurosawa (1910 - 1998) was the most influential filmmaker to ever come out of Japan; his movies better accepted in the West than they were in his native country, where they were viewed with suspicion because they were too “western.” :o Yojimbo (The Bodyguard) was done at the end of an extremely productive period for Kurosawa, ushered in by arguably his greatest work Rashomon (1950) and ending with the subject film, in 1961.

Yojimbo is the story of a cunning samurai, played by the great Toshiro Mifune, who, cut free of a master at the end of the feudal period must shift for himself.

Following the random direction he learns by the indication of a stick he tosses, he soon finds himself in a typical Western town, complete with tumbleweeds and fearful townsfolk staring out from behind curtained windows; and a coffin maker... Stop me if you've heard this one before -

The samurai soon learns that there are rival factions of gamblers, and like a good western gunfighter agrees to sell his services to the high bidder. A quick demo of his blinding swordplay convinces the buyers his services are worth a fistful of dollars. However Sanjuro (Mifune) is no idiot and, while outwardly agreeing, decides to play the factions against each other. The rest of the film plays out showing just how he does that.

It may be old news by now, but the movies derived from Yojimbo belie the fact that Yojimbo, according to Director Kurosawa, was derived itself from American westerns by John Ford and pulp fiction writer Dashiell Hammett's detective novel Red Harvest.

In its typical copycat fashion, Hollywood has copied Yojimbo right back, several times. Let me just interject at this juncture - I know how wonderful Kurasawa's shot composition, cinematography, capture of brilliant swordplay moves, etc., is, however; without the swaggering performance dished out by the inimitable Toshiro Mifune, this movie would not generate near the hubbub that it does.

Toshiro Mifune was the Clint Eastwood (or perhaps more properly the John Wayne) of the samurai film - it's as simple as that. Mifune had more screen presence than any other actor in the genre, and Yojimbo, in my humble opinion, is his finest hour.

The movie does have its shortcomings - the overacting, typical of the Japanese theatrical style, with the slapstick body language does not appeal to many Americans, who equate it with low-brow productions like The Three Stooges.

Another difficulty is the language barrier. The film is not dubbed in English but comes in Japanese language and you must read subtitles. This is OK for some but I don’t really enjoy this language barrier, myself.

Finally, the Criterion release is disgraceful with the 2.35:1 theatrical format cropped to less than full width. The film has some deterioration also and the soundtrack, even though it is in Japanese has a lot of hiss. This is not a good recommendation for a $30 disk. There are no extra features other than the film trailer and the subtitles which is another negative, especially since Criterion usually specializes in putting out a superior product. Not in this case.

Every film buff should see Yojimbo at least once. If it appeals to you on a deeper level, then you might want to add it to your collection, but it would be nice to see a cleaned up, properly 2.35:1 theatrical format disk offered for the premium price the vendors are charging.

Are you listening, Criterion?