Review of Yojimbo (1961) by Andres B — 28 Nov 2010

UPDATED (with examples): (since the time I've wrote this I've watched Yojimbo a second time): watched Yojimbo today for the first time, great script and great direction. like all of Kurosawa's films I suspect this one gets better with repeated viewings (it does, its Kurosawa's best film, I think). Notable: Toshiro Mifune as a minimalistic bad mofo, its cool to see where he stands at the end of the movie, he is like an angel that has set a corrupt world aright,with his sharp wits as much as his sharp sword. but throughout the movie you don't really see what his moral angle is, because he plays his cards close to his chest, its refreshing to see how kind he is and how moral: he doesn't accept dirty money but he has no qualms out of using clever trickery to pit corrupts against each other, and when he does accept money from the corrupt, he manages to still get paid and give the money to the marginalized people who need it.

I also like the guy who plays the old man, in a way he is a surrogate for the first time watchers of the film, and I like that while the "villains" are funny in the first half of the movie, Mifune meets his match with the Testuya Nakadai character who also is quite intelligent in addition to having literally the only gun in town. Its also intriguing how at the beginning of the movie because of all of the deaths the most profitable business in town is a casket making business. I already want to watch this movie again, and buy a copy for myself.

Yojimbo was remade as A Fistful of Dollars, Clint Eastwood is great in that movie (just as great as Toshiro Mifune is in Yojimbo) but Yojimbo is a better movie, the ruses Sanjuro comes up with are more clever than The Man With No Name's I think.

The music is great and memorable in both movies!

HOW THE MOVIE HAS AFFECTED ME: I've made a powerful association with the music from both movies. Particularly the main theme from each movie. When I think of the theme to Yojimbo and Sanjuro's stride or the theme to A Fistful of Dollars and Clint Eastwood's it makes me want to stand up and walk straighter (not that I look like Mifune or Eastwood at all, haha, but it helps motivate me to stand up taller and to walk standing up straight).

Also the story is so good and the writing is so good in this movie. If you pay attention you won't be bored at all.

MEMORABLE IMAGES:

The dog carrying the dismembered hand, Sanjuro standing on a platform high above the town watching the two cowardly sides pushing and pulling back from a fight, Usagi (Rabbit) pullling out his gun for the first time, Sanjuro stopping a paper flying around the room using only a throwing knife.

MEMORABLE STORYLINES AND MOMENTS:

Sanjuro becoming good friends with the restaurant owner and then going to rescue him at the end, the storyline with the wife the husband the kid and the gangs that tear her from her family, and Sanjuro using his wits to make fools out of the gangs to reunite this family.All the tricks Sanjuro uses to play both sides against each other, Sanjuro getting one of the bad guys to unknowingly help him escape from town.

After watching it for a second time Yojimbo is.

Now my favorite samurai movie, and my favorite Akira Kurosawa movie:

Funny, great story, and great extremely clever and cool protagonist and the earliest badass I've seen in a movie.

As I continue to rewatch this movie I plan to expand and add more detail to this review.