RATING: Unrated, action, crime, Drama
PLOT: A crafty Ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town.
QUOTES: Sanjuro: I'll get paid for killing, and this town is full of people who deserve to die.
Hansuke: What happened? Why so glum? Your business should be booming.
The Cooper: No. When the fighting gets this bad, they don't bother with coffins.
THOUGHTS: If you have ever seen A Fistful of Dollars with Clint Eastwood, or Last Man Standing with Bruce Willis, You will enjoy this film, this is the original!! Akira Kurosawa has done it again! Last Man Standing was a complete remake to the core, (this film, without all the blood and swearing.) What a magnificent film! Paul you have got to see this!! As I have stated before I have an affinity for black and whites and for Oriental films. when the two genres are combined magic happens. Cheers Mr. Kurosawa I salute you for your genius once again!
SYNOPSIS: Sanjuro, a wandering samurai enters a rural town in nineteenth century Japan. After learning from the innkeeper that the town is divided between two rival gangsters, he plays one side against the other. His efforts are complicated by the arrival of the gunslinger Unosuke, the son of one of the gangsters. Unosuke has Sanjuro beaten after he reunites an abducted woman with her husband and son, then massacres his father's opponents. During the slaughter, the samurai escapes with the help of the innkeeper; but while recuperating at a nearby temple, he learns of innkeeper's abduction by Unosuke, and returns to the town to confront him.
THEIR RATING: Filmsgraded.com (Brian Koller) 4 out of 5. Pros: direction, cinematography, characters
Cons: Mifune the world's greatest swordsman, comic and dramatic mix doesn't always work.
"The success of Yojimbo bred imitations in the west. The first was A Fistful of Dollars (1964), the initial entry in Clint Eastwood's western trilogy with Italian director Sergio Leone. Less notable was Last Man Standing (1996), the remake starring Bruce Willis."
MY RATING: 5 OUT OF 5. I have loved this storyline for many years. Finally to see the O.G. screenplay was superb! the casting is as you would expect. The cinematography was quite the classic Kurosawa. for Kurosawa to bring the old west to Japan was ingenious. It is a western film pretending to be a Japanese film pretending to be a western! Lovely!!
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