Review of Yojimbo (1961) by Byron B — 05 Mar 2013

The inspiration for Leone's A Fistful of Dollars three years later. Kurosawa and his regular production team, including production and costume designer, Yoshirô Muraki, composer, Masaru Satô, and cinematographer, Kazuo Miyagawa made another thoroughly entertaining and stylistic film adventure.

Toshiro Mifune, who I have loved in the other Kurosawa samurai pictures I've seen, is more toned down here. In roughly only a decade since Rashomon, he seems so much more mature. There are scenes of humor because of dimwitted cowardly thugs.

In reality, minimal swordplay, since Sanjuro the "bodyguard" relies on outwitting two feuding gangs and hopes to have them wipe each other out. And there are a few nail biting scenes mostly courtesy of Tatsuya Nakadai, who plays the revolver wielding son of one of the gang leaders.