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Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" (1954) is not only a great film in its own right, but the source of a genre that would flow through the rest of the century. The critic Michael Jeck suggests that this was the first film in which a team is assembled to carry out a mission--an idea which gave birth to its direct Hollywood remake, "The Magnificent Seven," as well as "The Guns of Navarone," " The Dirty Dozen " and countless later war, heist and caper movies. Since Kurosawa's samurai adventure " Yojimbo " (1960) was remade as "A Fistful of Dollars" and essentially created the spaghetti Western, and since this movie and Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress" inspired George Lucas' "Star Wars" series, it could be argued that this greatest of filmmakers gave employment to action heroes for the next 50 years, just as a fallout from his primary purpose.

That purpose was to make a samurai movie that was anchored in ancient Japanese culture and yet argued for a flexible humanism in place of rigid traditions. One of the central truths of "Seven Samurai" is that the samurai and the villagers who hire them are of different castes and must never mix. Indeed, we learn that these villagers had earlier been hostile to samurai--and one of them, even now, hysterically fears that a samurai will make off with his daughter. Yet the bandits represent a greater threat, and so the samurai are hired, valued and resented in about equal measure.

Why do they take the job? Why, for a handful of rice every day, do they risk their lives? Because that is the job and the nature of the samurai. Both sides are bound by the roles imposed on them by society, and in To the Distant Observer, his study of Japanese films, Noel Burch observes: "masochistic perseverance in the fulfillment of complex social obligations is a basic cultural trait of Japan." Not only do the samurai persevere, but so do the bandits, who continue their series of raids even though it is clear the village is well-defended, that they are sustaining heavy losses, and that there must be unprotected villages somewhere close around. Like characters in a Greek tragedy, they perform the roles they have been assigned.

Two of the movie's significant subplots deal with rebellion against social tradition. Kikuchiyo, the high-spirited samurai played by Toshiro Mifune as a rambunctious showoff, was not born a samurai but has jumped caste to become one. And there is a forbidden romance between the samurai Katsushiro (Isao Kimura) and a village girl (ironically, the very daughter whose father was so worried). They love each other, but a farmer's daughter cannot dream of marrying a ronin; when they are found together on the eve of the final battle, however, there are arguments in the village to "understand the young people,” and an appeal to romance--an appeal designed for modern audiences and unlikely to have carried much weight in the 1600s when the movie is set.

Kurosawa was considered the most Western of great Japanese directors (too Western, some of his Japanese critics sniffed). "Seven Samurai" represents a great divide in his work; most of his earlier films, Jeck observes, subscribe to the Japanese virtues of teamwork, fitting in, going along, conforming. All his later films are about misfits, noncomformists and rebels. The turning point can be seen in his greatest film, " Ikiru " (1952), in which a bureaucrat spends his days in the rote performance of meaningless duties but decides when he is dying to break loose and achieve at least one meaningful thing.

That bureaucrat was played by Takashi Shimura--who, incredibly, also plays Kambei, the leader of the seven samurai. He looks old and withered in the 1952 picture, tough and weathered in this one. Kurosawa was loyal to his longtime collaborators, and used either Shimura, Mifune, or often both of them, in every movie he made for 18 years.

In "Seven Samurai," both actors are essential. Shimura's Kambei is the veteran warrior, who in an early scene shaves his head to disguise himself as a priest in order to enter a house where a hostage is being held. (Did this scene create the long action-movie tradition of opening sequences in which the hero wades into a dangerous situation unrelated to the later plot?) He spends the rest of the movie distractedly rubbing his bristling head during moments of puzzlement. He is a calm, wise leader and a good strategian, and we follow the battles partly because he (and Kurosawa) map them out for us, walk us through the village's defenses and keep count as the 40 bandits are whittled down one by one. Mifune's character, Kikuchiyo, is an overcompensator. He arrives equipped with a sword longer than anyone else's and swaggers around holding it over his shoulder like a rifleman. He is impulsive, brave, a showoff who quickly assembles a fan club of local kids who follow him around. Mifune was himself a superb athlete and does some difficult jumps and stunts in the movie, but his character is shown to be a hopeless horseman. (As a farmer's son, Kikuchiyo would not have had an opportunity as a youth to learn to ride.) One running gag involves Kikuchiyo's inability to master an unruly local horse; there is a delightful moment where horse and rider disappear behind a barrier together, and emerge separately.

The movie is long (207 minutes), with an intermission, and yet it moves quickly because the storytelling is so clear, there are so many sharply defined characters, and the action scenes have a thrilling sweep. Nobody could photograph men in action better than Kurosawa. One of his particular trademarks is the use of human tides, sweeping down from higher places to lower ones, and he loves to devise shots in which the camera follows the rush and flow of an action, instead of cutting it up into separate shots. His use of closeups in some of the late battle scenes perhaps was noticed Orson Welles , who in " Falstaff ” conceals a shortage of extras by burying the camera in a Kurosawian tangle of horses, legs, and swords.

Repeated viewings of "Seven Samurai" reveal visual patterns. Consider the irony, for example, in two sequences that bookend the first battle with the bandits. In the first, the villagers have heard the bandits are coming, and rush around in panic. Kambei orders his samurai to calm and contain them, and the ronin run from one group to the next (the villagers always run in groups, not individually) to herd them into cover. Later, after the bandits have been repulsed, a wounded bandit falls in the village square, and now the villagers rush forward with delayed bravery to kill him. This time, the samurai hurry about pushing them back. Mirrored scenes like that can be found throughout the movie.

There is also an instinctive feeling for composition. Kurosawa constantly uses deep focus to follow simultaneous actions in the foreground, middle and background. Often he delineates the distance with barriers. Consider a shot where the samurai, in the foreground, peer out through the slats of a building and across an empty ground to the sight of the bandits, peering in through the slats of a barrier erected against them. Kurosawa's moving camera often avoids cuts in order to make comparisons, as when he will begin on dialogue in a closeup, sweep through a room or a clearing, and end on a closeup of another character who is the point of the dialogue.

Many characters die in "Seven Samurai," but violence and action are not the point of the movie. It is more about duty and social roles. The samurai at the end have lost four of their seven, yet there are no complaints, because that is the samurai's lot. The villagers do not much want the samurai around once the bandits are gone, because armed men are a threat to order. That is the nature of society. The samurai who fell in love with the local girl is used significantly in the composition of the final shots. First he is seen with his colleagues. Then with the girl. Then in an uncommitted place not with the samurai, but somehow of them. Here you can see two genres at war: The samurai movie and the Western with which Kurosawa was quite familiar. Should the hero get the girl? Japanese audiences in 1954 would have said no. Kurosawa spent the next 40 years arguing against the theory that the individual should be the instrument of society.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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The Seven Samurai (1954)

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Seven Samurai review – an epic primal myth that pulsates through cinema

Akira Kurosawa’s tale of ascetic mercenaries brought together for a single job inspired endless imitations, but the original has lost none of its magic

W hile researching samurai history for an Akira Kurosawa film project in the early 1950s, producer Sojiro Motoki discovered references to masterless warriors, or ronin, defending villages from marauders in 16th-century Japan. Movie history was made. Kurosawa and his co-writers Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni created an epic primal myth which has pulsated in cinema ever since, through the genres of westerns, war movies and crime dramas: the crew of ascetic, unsentimental but uncynical freelance mercenaries, brought together for a single job, taking pity on the desperate civilians who have nothing to offer but gratitude. They also see that there is a nobility and purity in this all-but-lost cause, which will refine their martial vocation as nothing else would.

Having been inspired by Hollywood westerns, Kurosawa saw his own film remade as The Magnificent Seven, going on to inspire films from The Dirty Dozen to Ocean’s Eleven; it was originally six samurai, but like Ingmar Bergman and Walt Disney, Kurosawa was to see the totemic power of seven. Takashi Shimura plays the samurais’ middle-aged leader Kambei: drily humorous, calm, experienced and wise: we see him shaving his head at the very beginning, posing as a monk to rescue a baby from a thief (again, a desperately dangerous task for negligible pay) – and for the rest of the movie, Kambei distractedly runs his fingers over his stubbly scalp, unused to it. With this mannerism, Shimura and Kurosawa show us Kambei coming to terms with his monkish destiny: this is surely to be his last mission and, like an artist, he wants it to be his masterpiece.

Toshiro Mifune gives a legendary, powerhouse performance – part improvised – as loose cannon Kikuchiyo, the aggressively madcap wildman, who is secretly agonised by his own upbringing as a farmer’s child, redeemed by the village children who love his clowning; he is the samurai who confronts his comrades with their own part in creating the chaos which has terrified the villagers and is anguished when he holds a fatherless baby in his hands – “This baby is me!” Isao Kimura is Katsushiro, the callow young disciple ronin who hero-worships deadpan-cool Kyuzo (Seiji Miyaguchi), and falls in love with farmer’s daughter Shino (Keiko Tsushima). Shichiroji (Daisuke Kato) is the easygoing samurai who is Kambei’s trusted assistant, and a warrior who shows that slimness is not a prerequisite. Minoru Chiaki is loyal Heihachi and Yoshio Inaba is the playful Gorobei, who paints the banner showing the villagers and the seven samurai: six circles and a triangle for the misfit Kikuchiyo. The farmers themselves are fiercely committed to this all-or-nothing gamble, but the most memorable is Yohei (Bokuzen Hidari), his face permanently set in a rictus of blubbering misery and fear.

And so the samurai patiently train the villagers to be warriors while they wait for the attack: instructing them on creating defences, marshalling forces, devising strategy. Kambei has created an artificial weak link in their fortifications, tempting the bandits into a restricted entry point which will give the samurai something like the Spartan advantage at Thermopylae. They do their best to inculcate in the farmers the Zen acceptance of danger and fear. Of course you are scared, the villagers are told, but the enemy is afraid of you, too! This is accompanied with a little laugh. The bandits are not afraid.

It is impossible to watch Seven Samurai without thinking of the western, but there is an important difference. The bandits are the ones with the firearms: what the samurai and villagers have is swords, bamboo spears and bows and arrows. Their village may be a Japanese Alamo, but they are the Native Americans in this scenario. The glorious vigour and strength of this film is presented with such theatrical relish and flair: its energy flashes out of the screen like a sword.

Seven Samurai is released on 29 October in cinemas.

• Akira Kurosawa
• Drama films
• World cinema
• Action and adventure films

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Seven Samurai

• Blu-ray edition reviewed by Chris Galloway
• October 23 2010

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One of the most thrilling movie epics of all time, Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai) tells the story of a sixteenth-century village whose desperate inhabitants hire the eponymous warriors to protect them from invading bandits. This three-hour ride from Akira Kurosawa—featuring legendary actors Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura—seamlessly weaves philosophy and entertainment, delicate human emotions and relentless action, into a rich, evocative, and unforgettable tale of courage and hope.

Picture 8/10

Extras 9/10

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Seven Samurai (DVD)

Seven Samurai (Blu-ray)

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Seven Samurai

Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him. Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him. Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.

• Akira Kurosawa
• Shinobu Hashimoto
• Hideo Oguni
• Toshirô Mifune
• Takashi Shimura
• Keiko Tsushima
• 857 User reviews
• 124 Critic reviews
• 98 Metascore
• 5 wins & 9 nominations total

• (as Toshiro Mifune)

• Kambei Shimada

• (as Yukio Shimazaki)

• Farmer Manzo

• (as Ko Kimura)

• Farmer Mosuke

• Farmer Yohei

• Gorobei Katayama

• Farmer Rikichi

• Old Man Gisaku
• (as Kuninori Todo)

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• Trivia Akira Kurosawa 's original idea for the film was to make it about a day in the life of a samurai, beginning with him rising from bed, eat breakfast, go to his master's castle and ending with him making some mistake that required him to go home and kill himself to save face. Despite a good deal of research, he did not feel he had enough solid factual information to make the movie. He then pitched the idea of a film that would cover a series of five samurai battles, based on the lives of famous Japanese swordsmen. Hashimoto went off to write that script, but Kurosawa ultimately scrapped that idea as well, worrying that a film that was just "a series of climaxes" wouldn't work. Then, producer Sôjirô Motoki found, through historical research, that samurai in the "Warring States" period of Japanese history would often volunteer to stand guard at peasant villages overnight in exchange for food and lodging. Kurosawa then came across an anecdote about a village hiring samurai to protect them and decided to use that idea. Kurosawa wrote a complete dossier for each character with a speaking role. In it were details about what they wore, their favourite foods, their past history, their speaking habits, their reaction to battle and every other detail he could think of about them. No other Japanese director had ever done this before.
• Goofs In the closing moments of the final battle, the bandits fire two musket shots only seconds apart. It is clear from the plot that at that point they possess only one musket. The black powder muskets of the age required much more time to reload. This error was pointed out in the commentary of the deluxe DVD edition.

Kambei Shimada : This is the nature of war: By protecting others, you save yourselves. If you only think of yourself, you'll only destroy yourself.

• Alternate versions The film's original Japanese release version runs 207 minutes, plus intermission, which includes four minutes of entr'acte music against a blank screen. This is the version that has been generally shown worldwide since the 1980s, though sometimes it is shown without the intermission and entr'acte, resulting in a listed running time of 203 minutes. The initial U.S.A. release was re-titled 'The Magnificent Seven' and released November 1956, with English subtitles, and ran 158 minutes. Some European releases were even further shortened to 141 minutes. Landmark Films re-released the film in the U.S. in December 1982, the first time outside Japan the film saw a major release with its running time intact (although the intermission and entr'acte were removed). Later U.S.A. releases by Avco-Embassy Pictures, Janus Films, and Films Incorporated, and by BFI in the UK, are also the full original version of the film.
• Connections Featured in Objective 500 Million (1966)

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• November 19, 1956 (United States)
• The Magnificent Seven
• Izu Peninsula, Shizuoka, Japan
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• ¥125,000,000 (estimated)
• Jul 28, 2002

Technical specs

• Runtime 3 hours 27 minutes
• Black and White

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Seven Samurai Reviews

Seven Samurai” remains a timeless masterpiece. Kurosawa's editing prowess, evident in the climactic sequence, cemented the film's status as a timeless classic, echoing the eternal struggle for justice and sacrifice in feudal Japan

Full Review | Original Score: 10 | Mar 3, 2024

If Akira Kurosawa's entire body of work is full of forays into different types of stories, then Seven Samurai marks the moment where all of his most pertinent themes coalesce into a single, three-and-a-half-hour film.

Full Review | Jun 27, 2023

As usual in a Kurosawa epic, the film is deliberate about getting started, but once the battle is joined, all is breakneck fury.

Full Review | Mar 16, 2023

Kurosawa's epic adventure masterpiece, is one of the best films ever made. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Feb 19, 2023

Mr. Kurosawa has made another high ranking film.

Full Review | Aug 16, 2022

Seven Samurai is long; it is brutal; it is not always easy to follow. But it is magnificent.

Full Review | Aug 8, 2022

One of the finest films ever made.

Full Review | Jul 6, 2022

Seven Samurai is never dull, and it provided a model for future action movies in many ways—from its “assembling the team of fighters” narrative stretch to the proto-Peckinpah use of slow-motion in brutal action sequences.

Full Review | Mar 28, 2022

Seven Samurai is a spectacle of the human spirit, an interplay of hope and questions about the way of the world, and finally, an epic in which ideas and action converge with a remarkable, vital scope.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Mar 21, 2022

The glorious vigour and strength of this film is presented with such theatrical relish and flair: its energy flashes out of the screen like a sword.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Oct 27, 2021

Absorbing as the story itself is it's the tremendous resourcefulness of Akira Kurosawa's direction (and probably his writing) which makes the picture a real work of art.

Full Review | May 12, 2021

There are many excellencies in [Seven Samurai]. The acting of the men who are unknown to American audiences but whose talents are obvious; the careful building of suspense; the realism of the battle scenes... [and] the beauties of the countryside.

Full Review | May 4, 2021

The picture pyramids to high tension as traps are set for the anticipated marauders... Keystone of the drama is marvelous acting.

The outstanding feature of the picture is the photography. At times the camera angles are sensational.

[Seven Samurai ] rates my unqualified whoops of approval.

Those who enjoy a good wild Western will find this picture to be great sport.

The film is much too long -- two hours and 21 minutes. But at the end of that time, one has not only come to know its people intimately, but is prepared for the message to the effect that it is always the soldier who loses.

Responding to his sensitive, knowing direction, the actors have given inspired performances. Revealed in [Seven Samurai] is Kurosawa's talent for putting violent action on the screen, making it terrifically exciting to audiences.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | May 4, 2021

This sturdy tale of action pictures the Japan of centuries ago in one exquisite shot after another.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | May 4, 2021

Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai deserves very careful study. Kurosawa directed Rashomon. The present film shows a marked development from the earlier picture.

Seven Samurai (1954) Review: The Most Influential Film of All Time

“Akira Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai” is not only a great film in its own right but the source of a genre that would flow through the rest of the century. ” -Roger Ebert

Here is a little more appreciation and love from one of the ardent fans of Kurosawa and in particular, Seven Samurai.  Legends never die, the great art of work always echoes in the universe till eternity.

Late Akira Kurosawa, take a bow for your contribution to World Cinema and one of the greatest inspirations to many directors including Arthur Penn, Sam Peckinpah, Michael Mann , Sergio Leone & George Lucas.

The unparalleled influence of Seven Samurai in the World cinema is evident from the remakes, influences to the traces of homages in films.  The Magnificent Seven (1960 and 2016, the American remake of Seven Samurai), Sholay, Samurai 7, The Seven Magnificent Gladiators(1984, Italian remake of Seven Samurai), The Guns of Navarone, China Gate owe it to Akira Kurosawa. Seven Samurai has inspired many movies, but with the advanced technology and abundance of available technical resources, still, no one has come close to this undisputed epic masterpiece.

When Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai premiered in Japan, it was the most expensive movie, costing 125 million Yen (approximately $350,000), ever made in Japan. Donald Richie, in his book The Films of Akira Kurosawa (published in 1965) reported the director’s exasperated response to such attacks: “You try to give a film a little pictorial scope and the journalists jump on you for spending too much money. That is what I really hate about them — they are only an extended form of advertising.” 

Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954) is a three-and-a-half-hour-long black-and-white epic set in war-torn, 15th-Century Japan. It might not have a groundbreaking plot. The milieu of Seven Samurai is quite typical,  where a bunch of samurais, even those who are inexperienced, come together to fight against evil (Bandits here). But it was the first film where a team was assembled to fight against evil, as per the critic Michael Jeck.

The plot merely serves as the stage to draw the unforgettable characters. It examines the profound display of human psyche and symbiotic relationship of farmers and Samurais that made this film epic in every sense, besides its superior technicality that has paved the path to inspire the future generation filmmakers.

Kurosawa was so much invested in making this film that he wrote a complete dossier for each character with a speaking role. In it were details about what they wore, their favourite foods, their past history, their speaking habits and every other detail he could think of about them.

Kurosawa even designed a registry of all 101 residents of the village, creating a family tree to help his extras build their characters and relationships to each other.

Seven Samurai is set in the 15th century in Japan that tells the tale of impoverished farmers, their long-suffering and how they are reduced to scared creatures who can’t see beyond their own suffering. One of the villagers overhears the Bandits planning to rob the barley crops once the farmers harvest it. This news sends the villagers in a deep shocking state, while one of the ladies sobbingly expresses her desire to die as she says, “Land tax. Forced labour. War. Drought. And now Bandits. God must want us farmers to starve.”

There suffering is so profound that they find the solution of committing suicide more appealing than getting tortured at the hands of Bandits. An elderly woman makes it clear in one of her dialogues, “I want to die soon and leave this suffering behind.”

Finally, villagers move in a herd to seek advice from the eldest man in the village. The old bald man decides to find hungry Samurais and make a team of them to defend the village from bandits.

Many Samurai rejects their offer, few mock them and make fun of their food habits and living style,  until they meet Kambei Shimada, a skilled archer, who agrees to help them. He is approached by untested Katsushiro who voluntarily wants to become Samurai disowning his family and their property as he requests Kambei to make him his disciple.

Kambei makes the team of six more Samurai who have either nothing good to do or they join on request of Kambei as they are a masterless samurai. To the shock of everyone, Samurais are not welcomed with proper hospitality in the village which is explained very correctly by an elder man that farmers fear every change, be it a change in the weather or wind or Samurai coming to the village for their help.

The second act of the film focuses completely on the three important subplots that reflect upon the archaic social tradition and rebel against it, yet it essentially symbolizes many aspects of modern life as well.

Unfortunately, they have to do with caste-ism and discrimination held in the name of caste. The character of Toshiro Mifune, boisterous Kikuchiyo who wants to hog glory alone, has to jump the barrier of caste to become a samurai.

The verboten blooming romance between Katsushiro (Isao Kimura) and the village girl, which villagers find unacceptable due to social prejudices. Isn’t this still prevalent in our society?  And lastly,  how reluctant villagers are to try not to socialize with Samurais with the fear of corruption of their age-old, rigid traditions. But soon the villagers come to realize the bandits are more dreadful than the samurai and their bigotry against them. They restrict themselves to a symbiotic relationship with Samurais until the bandits are killed in skirmishes.

The third act consists of the one-and-half hour monumental battle sequence in the torrential rains. It has been done with such panache and particularization that you almost feel as if they are documented from real life. You feel the intensity, thanks to the terrific mastery of staging and editing & the way multiple cameras have been deployed to capture the violence. It is almost real.

Tony Richardson , in the Spring 1955 issue of Sight & Sound, observed that “Kurosawa is a virtuoso exponent of every technique of suspense, surprise, excitement, and in this, he gives nothing to his Western masters. Only in his handling of the series of battles is there a hint of monotony.”

Three of the world’s foremost scholars on the films of Akira Kurosawa (David Desser, Stephen Prince, and Donald Richie) describe Seven Samurai’s effect on the samurai film and its use of violence.

The ability of Akira Kurosawa to tell the stories through editing is impeccable and masterful. Will quote Orson Welles to understand the gravity of editing in cinema: “The notion of directing a film is the invention of critics – the whole eloquence of cinema is achieved in the editing room.”

It is through editing that narrative breathe. Every cut made serves a purpose, nothing is arbitrary. The battle scene in itself is a masterclass. Kurosawa employed multiple cameras for making the battle scenes continuity easier. He uses quick editing to keep the aesthetic energy up in the sequence and sustained wide shots to ease the tension.

Kurosawa has laid the foundation for inter-cut scenes and mastered it. In one of the most striking scenes, that has been shot so beautifully,  Kambei kills a thief who has kidnapped a child. Kambei enters the hut while the camera is still static, seen from Kikuchiyo’s PO.

We don’t get to see actual action inside the hut rather than the consequence of it, i:e we see the thief leaving hut injured. And the camera is still static, we see the action unfolding from Kikuchiyo, other samurai and villager’s perspective. T his can be called as “the textbook for modern movie violence.”

One thing that is very applaudable of Kurosawa is that he relied on long shots and doesn’t incorporate cuts ‘frequently’. This helped a lot in evoking the sense of emotions that feel more real, especially in case of battle scenes. Like the scene that strengthens the character of Kikuchiyo, when he finds out the cache of weapons and armour buried in the village.

Mifune handles the dialogue expertly and vomits out all the anger & frustration he had inside it, giving a bleak look at his tortured past life & eventually he breaks down in tears. The scene has no background score and it has only one cut when Kikuchiyo throws a handful of arrows against the wall. The entire emotional scene has been so beautifully shot and edited that it gives more profound depth to the character of Mifune.

Seven Samurai has a varied spectrum of emotions that include fear of not only bandits but Samurai too, samurai’s love for farmer’s daughter, revenge, anger, the desperation of food, survival, ego, self-finding, inspirational figure.

Kambei leads the villagers from the front end in a very brave manner and tactfully fights like a warrior and to my surprise, comes out to be a very calm and composed character. Kikuchiyo is one hell of an actor, who has so much of anger in him and looks very violent, but at the same time, he is too funny and dumb and sensitive in some corner of his heart. His character provides comic relief with his antique dumb behaviour but he makes it up for his silliness in the final battle scene where his emotional quotient goes to very next level.

Kyuzo is the greatest sword fighter who keeps himself very relaxed and slyly attacks to finish the opponent (His character reminds me of Brad Pitt’s character in Troy where in his first scene, he kills a physically strong opponent in one sword’s smash).

Technically we are so ahead today, that you may not appreciate this film but what this movie captures is something that many film-makers are miss out today in their films; a sense of fear, sense of loss, sense of thrill, sense of planning going haywire and the sense of adventure.

Seven Samurai captures all these things so beautifully and pitches perfectly that I can bet, nothing can come close to this achievement even today.  Many film-makers are in debt of Kurosawa. George Lucas has acknowledged his debt to Akira Kurosawa, and several homages and allusions can be found throughout the Star Wars series.

Behind The Scene Images of Seven Samurai

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Seven samurai is available on criterion dvd/bluray, rent seven samurai on amazon prime for online streaming, seven samurai links: imdb , wikipedia , rotten tomatoes, toshiro mifune: kikuchiyo takashi shimura: kambei keiko tsushima: shino yukiko shimazaki: wife kamatari fujiwara: farmer manzo daisuke kato: shichiroji isao kimura: katsushiro minoru chiaki: heihachi seiji miyaguchi: kyuzo yoshio kosugi: farmer mosuke bokuzen hidari: farmer yohei yoshio inaba: gorobei, director: akira kurosawa screenplay: akira kurosawa producer: sojiro motoki cinematography: asakazu nakai screenplay: hideo oguni screenplay: shinobu hashimoto music: fumio hayasaka editing: hiroshi nezu, where to watch seven samurai (1954), trending right now.

Either overly obsessed or deeply disinterested. A high functioning procrastinator who passionately writes on films. Juggling with passion, dreams, heartaches, career, survival and pissing on life.

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The Definitives

Critical essays, histories, and appreciations of great films

Seven Samurai

Essay by brian eggert march 7, 2008.

A convergence of art, layered textuality, and entertainment that has never been surpassed in the history of filmmaking, Seven Samurai represents Japanese master Akira Kurosawa’s most optimistic inspection of humanity and individuality, two themes that twisted with increased cynicism as his career progressed. Kurosawa’s universal story appeals to all audiences, regardless of age or culture, because Kurosawa uses a gamut of filmmaking and narrative methods that go above demographic or nationalistic designation. Blending Western formal methodologies with themes rooted in Eastern history, he generates near tangible energy onscreen with expert editing and innovative camera techniques. When viewing this 207-minute epic, the film passes by as if time has no meaning; its energy absorbs the audience in a visceral, amusing, compelling, heartening, and kinetic experience—perhaps the most enjoyable cinematic undertaking ever put to film. And yet, Seven Samurai moves beyond simple entertainment, utilizing its length to develop natural relationships between the characters, so we get to know them, their personas, and their individual philosophies. Seven Samurai is a spectacle of the human spirit, an interplay of hope and questions about the way of the world, and finally, an epic in which ideas and action converge with a remarkable, vital scope.

Known as “The Emperor” in Japan for his dictatorial approach to directing and his status as Japan’s preeminent filmmaker, Kurosawa worked primarily as an arthouse filmmaker until 1953, the year he began production on this masterpiece among several masterpieces in his career. Kurosawa had already achieved worldwide acclaim for Rashomon , his brilliant multi-perspective platform from 1950, which, for the first time, single-handedly attracted interest from the global film community to Japan. For his next picture, Kurosawa set out to make an allegorical samurai film, to rekindle an otherwise dead genre in postwar Japan, the jidaigeki , or period film. Although Japanese productions had produced countless samurai films with chambara , period films rooted in sword fighting, they weren’t strictly a classical or historical jidaigeki , in that chambara often ignored the meaning of the past as it applies to contemporary Japanese culture. Kurosawa sought to embrace the realism of history so frequently denied by chambara films, but also activate realism into something “entertaining enough to eat” as he would say—something both the erudite and the common could devour, a film loaded with thematic and energetic richness. To this end, Kurosawa paints with epic, historically precise, and philosophic brushstrokes, allowing Seven Samurai to transcend genre and cultural limitations to become a universally consumable motion picture.

To understand how such a simple, familiar tale could become one of cinema’s finest treasures, one must understand the setting. Early 1950s Japanese cinema relied on a very specific sense of nationalism, from a storytelling point of view. Ostensibly, Japan worked in two major categories: gendaigeki and jidaigeki , both in which any number of genres could function. The former category, gendaigeki , worked exclusively in contemporary settings and focused on the modern day world. Jidaigeki are historically set films employing settings that range from Japan’s Heian period (794-1185 A.D.) to the Meiji period (as late as 1912 A.D., when Emperor Meiji died). They use a selection of craftsmen, farmers, merchants, nobleman, prostitutes, and most popularly samurai as their choice characters. Frequently, swordplay films known as chambara (an onomatopoeia word for swords clanging), a subgenre within jidaigeki reliant solely on action (equivalent to Western gunslinger movies), dominated the category. Samurai dramas and epics outside of chambara were a longstanding tradition in Japanese film, drawing from a history of written storytelling. Established tales like those of The Loyal 47 Ronin and Miyamoto Musashi were repeatedly produced in Japan, as much as once every few years, until after WWII when samurai ideals no longer coincided with the United States Occupation’s postwar statutes over the Japanese filmmaking industry.

In the years preceding WWII, Japanese culture found a simplified version of samurai honor in military applications, linking kamikaze warriors willing to die for their imperial army to the blind loyalty of samurai to their daimyo . Death was met openly and without hesitation in both cases. When Japan surrendered, thus ending WWII, the Japanese people were struck with a vast ambiguity and uncertainty that penetrated their self-identity. With the war lost, U.S. Occupation forces that implemented an enforced democracy oversaw the Japanese film industry and required pre-approval of all film scripts prior to their production. For Occupation authorities, the samurai film represented a sense of Imperialist Japan’s nationalism, therefore incongruous for the new, reformed, democratic Japan. In theory, samurai films during the Occupation would have implied an unquestioning, death-driven loyalty to a lord—certainly an anti-democratic thought. But with a lacking samurai presence in Japanese culture, the samurai’s sense of honor and loyalty also disappeared. Japan’s culture took an Americanized dive, resulting in rampant crime and disillusion, as well as the emergence of highly organized yakuza gangs (something Kurosawa recognized and addressed in his postwar pictures Drunken Angel and, to an extent, Stray Dog ). Only after the Occupation ended, effective April of 1952, did jidaigeki samurai films reemerge.

Kurosawa’s humanism settles in the tangibility of his seven heroes, each with a specific, cohesive personality. Introduced all throughout the film’s first hour, Kurosawa describes them as a congenial and honorable bunch, making their ensuing deaths more profound for the viewer. Defining the samurai characters involved developing seven distinct personalities, one of many aspects of the film’s production labored-over by Kurosawa. When the farmers first meet their samurai leader, Kambei, he displays colossal humility and bravery, defying the farmers’ prejudices against the proud warriors. A crowd gathers around Kambei, an elder who kneels by a stream and proceeds to shave off his own topknot. A samurai losing his topknot infers punishment or his induction into the priesthood—either way, with no topknot, he no longer remains a samurai. (Indeed, several filmic samurai have been shamed after losing their topknot; in Masaki Kobayashi’s masterful film Harakiri , actor Tatsuya Nakadai’s character simply cuts off the topknots of his enemies, knowing shame will drive them to commit seppuku .) But Kambei’s own sense of honor is greater than such superficial illustrations of samurai code. Once Kambei’s head is smooth, he dresses in priest’s clothing, and then he uses the disguise to cut down a kidnapper holding a child hostage. Doing this without accepting a reward for his actions, Kambei is plainly the farmers’ ideal candidate to lead their bandit resistance. When asked to join, he accepts their proposal, continuing with the recruitment process himself.

Each of the seven samurai is equally distinct, several played by regulars in Kurosawa productions. Gorobei (Yoshio Inaba), the second to join, signs up because of the principled quality he sees in Kambei; though he understands the farmers’ plight, he tells Kambei, “It’s your character that I find most compelling.” Good-humored and particularly smiley, Gorobei becomes Kambei’s second in command, handled with gracious warmth by Inaba. Daisuke Kato plays Kambei’s former soldier Shichiroji. Pudgy, yet a fruitful warrior, he joins without an instant of hesitation. He fights for his love of battle, not for money or rank. “This may be the one that kills us,” Kambei warns. Shichiroji’s face slowly raises a smile. Perhaps Shichiroji seeks to finally achieve The End through an honorable death, but alas, he is one of only three living samurai when the film’s end credits begin to roll. When asked if he has killed many, the fourth samurai, Heihachi Hayashida (Minoru Chiaki), replies, “There’s no cutting me off when I start cutting. So I make it a point to run away first.” Gorobei recruits Hayashida, finding him chopping wood for a meal; not exactly a prime martial artist, the character is hired to lift morale in downtimes, allowing both the villagers and fellow samurai a hearty laugh when in distress. Based on legendary Japanese warrior-poet Miyamoto Musashi, master swordsman Kyuzo (Seiji Miyaguchi) initially turns down Kambei’s offer to protect the farmers. But then he appears before the group one night, joining without explanation. And surely, no explanation is needed. Kambei witnesses Kyuzo’s talent during a Western-like duel, where his sword strikes with elegance, speed, and class few samurai can control. During the farmers’ battle, Kyuzo, like each of the other three samurai who fall, dies by bandit gunfire; no sword or spear could ever take down this paladin—only the blunt, unskilled attack of a gunshot.

The other exception to the warrior rule is Kikuchiyo, the role which solidified Toshiro Mifune as an international star. Kikuchiyo is, in fact, not a samurai or ronin at all. A stray vagrant putting on airs to attain the glory of battle, Kikuchiyo begins as the film’s comic relief, boasting his prowess in a drunken stupor, carrying a longsword inches longer than any of the other samurai (an ironic phallic symbol if there ever was one). But Kikuchiyo overplays his masculinity, coming off as buffoonish to the other six samurai he strives to emulate. Even after being told to buzz off, Kikuchiyo trails along with their group several paces behind. He invites himself back to the farmers’ village, determined to assert his battle-readiness with harsh fighting words, mocking insults, and near-slapstick displays of horsemanship. Mifune’s reputation as an unhinged Japanese actor began much earlier than this Seven Samurai with pictures like Drunken Angel and Rashomon ; but his status received its most emphatic support in this role, often screaming in laughter, tongue out, making crossed-eyes, desperate to prove both his manhood and honor (sometimes opposites in bushido code). But Kurosawa conceived Kikuchiyo’s tragic figure to provide a living bridge between peasant and samurai, and as a result, the character emphasizes the film’s theme of modernity and history fusing into a post-modern philosophy for living—the very meaning of Seven Samurai embodied by this one character.

With farmers having murdered vulnerable samurai in the past, contrasted by the samurai’s reputation for exploiting farmers, both parties are shamed by Kikuchiyo’s words, humbled, and willing to forgive each others’ misdeeds for a grander sense of humanism. Kikuchiyo represents Kurosawa’s most creative turn of character, since he begins as a clown, but later provides the defining moment used to adjoin the villagers and samurai in a marriage of democratic ideals. Consequently, Kikuchiyo proves himself a warrior, advancing from farmer to samurai; he rises to accomplish the greatest single act performed by one of the seven when, in the final battle, he dies honorably just after killing the bandit leader (living up to that sword of his). Kikuchiyo’s growth of character also underscores Kurosawa’s harsh representation of violence in the picture—harsh in that he avoids dramatized violence, instead of communicating action alongside the film’s deeply real historicity. Part of Kikuchiyo idealizes battle, like a child who glorifies the violence of a comic book or movie without realizing the reality of death. Washed over with dreams of samurai honor, he ignores the bloody potential of the farmers’ conflict. Kurosawa’s violence is not romanticized; every death hurts, with victims falling into the sloppy mud below. How easy it would be if the bandits’ deaths were somehow cathartic and vindicating, but Kurosawa gives us a scene that acknowledges the reality of the situation: A bandit scout finds himself caught, and, despite protests from the samurai, is executed by a savage mob of angry farmers. Inelegant, and certainly dishonorable, such ignoble violence outside of The Battle is frowned upon by Kambei (and thus Kurosawa).

Based on actual events wherein farmers hired samurai to protect their village, the earliest ideas for Seven Samurai began with Kurosawa’s desire to reclaim the jidaigeki samurai genre by way of palpable entertainment—and certainly, much of his rhetoric on the film’s concept occupies the aforementioned consumption metaphor. As Kurosawa explains, “I think we ought to have richer foods, richer films.” Weeks of historical research helped gather necessary data for Kurosawa’s intended period realism, and eventually led to the discovery of the farmers-bandits-samurai storyline. Writers Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni, and Kurosawa simply elaborated from there, using more bandits and more samurai for an agreeably epic scale. Oguni did none of the actual writing even though he received credit; but he steered the story by overseeing Kurosawa and Hashimoto’s writing process—wherein, famously, the three credited writers holed-up in a hotel room for roughly six weeks, not allowing themselves to leave until their script was perfect. This was time well spent. Filming began in May 1953, under Toho Company Ltd., for a planned three-month shoot. By August, only one-third of the script was in the can and most of Kurosawa’s budget was spent (some $200,000, far exceeding normal budgetary caps in Japan’s film industry at the time).

Stories from Seven Samurai ’s set emerged in interviews with the cast and crew, seemingly describing Kurosawa in the prime of his publicized, detail-obsessed persona. For the farmers’ village and overall shooting locale, he scouted for months to find the perfect setting, which was sketched out in his head long before principal photography. Throughout five locations, Kurosawa erected assorted sections of the farming village to match where, visually, their location made the most sense. He also devised a registry of the village’s 101 members (just as Kambei keeps a list of remaining bandits)—including names, occupations, and other minor details—and required that all on-set actors, speaking lines or not, refer to each other in their characters’ names. With such order, Kurosawa could track continuity throughout his production, allowing even anonymous or background villagers a pulse. Kurosawa shoots his action with frequent use of deep focus, capturing the fore, middle, and background with multiple cameras and longer lenses. More cameras working at once meant better views of the action, and efficient creation of space through editing. Capturing the battle from numerous angles did not aestheticize his violence into graceful interplays of warrior and bandit, however; we feel each death, as Kurosawa remains dedicated to realism on all fronts. In each case, death is clumsy and unforgiving and unsophisticated. Several significant deaths are represented with slow motion, so that we might ruminate over their meaning, while others, like Kikuchiyo’s, play out at regular speeds, their importance eclipsed by the chaos of battle. And just as he labored over the grand schemes of action and setting, Kurosawa did not fail to overlook the minor details. Shino’s eyes, for example, always seem to capture light. This is because Kurosawa ordered that reflective mirrors, held at just the right angle, be used to create a sophomoric innocence in the character’s massive round eyes.

Over the years, remakes, inspirations, and down-right thieveries would draw on Seven Samurai ’s commercial and artistic victory. The most popular of these derivations is, of course, American director-producer John Sturges’ The Magnificent Seven from 1960, which spawned a number of sequels, and even a television series. Sturges adapted Kurosawa’s masterpiece into an American West setting, giving the film, but not Kurosawa or his other two writers, screen credit (which is more than Kurosawa’s Yojimbo received when adapted into A Fistful of Dollars by Sergio Leone). Notable score by Elmer Bernstein aside, Sturges’ film lacks the majesty and philosophy behind its heroes and conflict. As Kurosawa would say, appropriately and succinctly, “Gunslingers are not samurai.” Indeed, the cowboys remain a vagrant bunch with no written maxim to follow, thus their employment by Mexican farmers bears no significant social, political, or philosophical implications. The resultant movie offers expert Western amusement thanks to Sturges’ direction, and fine performances by stars Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, and Charles Bronson, but leaves viewers with an empty stomach in comparison. Other minor inspirations include India’s most successful film of all time, Sholay , released in 1975, which took the skeletal outline of Seven Samurai for Bollywood’s version that ran for more than five years in India, advertised as “The Greatest Story Ever Told!” Fans of Pixar Animation Studios will also recognize Seven Samurai ’s framework in A Bug’s Life (1998), which replaces samurai with assorted insect circus performers enlisted to rescue a farming colony of ants from grasshopper-bandits. In 2004, a Japanese anime series entitled Samurai 7 even attempted to retell the story in a postmodern futuristic world; over 26 episodes, the cartoon program touches on several themes from its source, but fails to address Kurosawa’s widespread historical themes.

Bibliography:

Galbraith IV, Stuart. The Emperor and the Wolf: The Lives and Films of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune . New York: Faber and Faber, 2002.

Goodwin, James. Akira Kurosawa and Intertextual Cinema . Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, c1994.

Kurosawa, Akira. Something Like An Autobiography . New York : Knopf: distributed by Random House, 1982.

Richie, Donald. The Films of Akira Kurosawa, Third Edition, Expanded and Updated . With additional material by Joan Mellen. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1996.

Richie, Donald; Schrader, Paul. A Hundred Years of Japanese Film: A Concise History, with a Selective Guide to DVDs and Videos . Tokyo; New York: Kodansha International: Distributed in the U.S. by Kodansha America, 2005.

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Seven Samurai Review

26 Apr 1954

200 minutes

Seven Samurai

Any pub quiz clod can name the Magnificent Seven, even down to Brad Dexter. But only a true sensei of movie trivia can list all of the Seven Samurai — Takashi Shimura (Kambei), Toshiro Mifune (Kikuchiyo), DaisukeKato (Shichiroji), Yoshio Inaba (Gorobei), Seiji Miyaguchi (Kyuzo), Minoru Chiaki (Heihachi) and Isao Kimura (Katsushiro).

Period-set tales of swordplay (chambara films) had been a staple of Japanese popular cinema since the silent era, holding the same place in the affections of the home audience that the Western did for Americans or the Boys' Own Adventure for the British. However, by the 1950s, with Japan's martial heritage tainted by the country's conduct during World War II and loss of face after the Allied victory, the form fell into a decline.

Until, that is, Akira Kurosawa stepped in. An established director who had earned an international reputation with Rashomon in 1950, Kurosawa was an admirer of the Hollywood method and saw in the chambara an opportunity to fashion a high adventure along the lines of John Ford's Stagecoach or George Stevens' Gunga Din. It is no surprise that Seven Samurai could so easily be remade as The Magnificent Seven (1960) — not to mention Battle Beyond The Stars (1980), The Seven Magnificent Gladiators (1983), World Gone Wild (1988) and A Bug's Life (1998) — because it draws so much of its plot and character from the Wild West.

The film opens with some swift plot groundwork. A farmer overhears a group of bandits agreeing to hold off a raid on a village because the peasants will not have had time to harvest their crops since the last attack. They vow, however, to return after the harvest. In despair, the villagers send emissaries to hire samurai to protect them. The swordsmen of the nearest town are mostly not interested in a venture that pays off only in rice, until — after a vignette modelled on the establishment of Wyatt Earp's heroism in Ford's My Darling Clementine involving the rescue of a child from a robber — Kambei takes the position of group leader, deciding from a description of the village that 40 bandits can be held off with a minimum of seven men.

Here, Kurosawa one-ups Hollywood. Before 1954, even the most epic American adventures featured a lone hero and a stooge posse, or at best two brawling buddies. But here Kurosawa invented the now-familiar device of a heroic leader assembling a team of specialists to meet a challenging task. At well over three hours, the movie has time to give each of the Samurai rich characterisation: Shichiroji is Kambei's long-term right-hand man; Kyuzo is the icy master swordsman; Gorobei signs up because he admires Kambei's heroism; Katsushiro is the youth who yearns to learn from the masters; Heihachi is the second-rate sword, welcomed because of his cheery disposition; and Kikuchiyo (a hyperactive, star-making role for Mifune) is the crazy amateur whose insane clown antics mark him as the wild card in this otherwise dignified, professional pack.

Set in the 16th century, when civil wars had reduced Japan to chaos, the film also speaks to the defeated people of 1954, who regarded the occupying Americans much as the peasants regard both the rapacious bandits and the martially-superpowered samurai. The early stretches, influenced by High Noon, show the farmers as gutless whiners who hide the womenfolk from their would-be protectors. A crunch comes when the samurai discover a cache of armour and weaponry looted from ronin (masterless samurai) who have been caught fleeing from losing battles and murdered by the farmers.

It is only when Kikuchiyo delivers a great speech about the way the samurai have treated the farmers ("You're the son of a farmer, aren't you?" Kambei observes) that the team really bond together and commit to the redemptive purpose of their mission, even if (inevitably) it means most of them will die. Also, by their example and with their training, they enable the farmers to stand up for themselves, recognising that it is the tillers of the soil who must always survive. In his staging of sword duels and mass battles, Kurosawa changed the way action scenes were shot.

Well before Sam Peckinpah hit on the device, he used tiny flashes of slow motion to emphasise moments within busy scenes — usually as wounded characters stagger to their deaths — and before Sergio Leone he recognised the importance of establishing the characters' places within the frame before the fighting starts.

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SEVEN SAMURAI Criterion Blu-ray Review

A review of the Criterion Collection Blu-ray of Seven Samurai. Directed by Akira Kurosawa, the film stars Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura.

For years now Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai has been ranked as one of the best movies ever made, and is usually considered one of the finest achievement in cinema. In the most recent Sight and Sound poll of the best films ever made, critics ranked it eleventh (its highest charting was in 1982 at #3) while filmmakers ranked it ninth. It's ranked thirteenth on IMDb.com's list of the greatest films of all time. Ain’t no denying that Kurosawa and his cast (including Toshiro Mifune) made a masterwork. And my review of The Criterion collection’s Seven Samurai after the jump.

A band of marauding Ronin spot a village and are about to raid it when their leader notes that the village's crops won't be ready for another couple of weeks. They ride off, but a villager hears their plans. After a discussion, the villagers decide the only thing to do is go into town and recruit samurais of their own to defend the village. This proves difficult — the only thing they have to offer their recruits is three square meals a day. After some unsuccessful attempts, the first man they truly want is Kambei (Takashi Shimura), who shaves off his hair (considered a point of pride among samurai) to save a young boy from a bandit. This rescue sequence also introduces Kikuchiyo (Mifune), and the younger Katsushiro (Isao Kimura), who immediately offers himself as an apprentice to Kambei. Reluctantly joining up, Kambei figures they need at least seven samurai to defend the village. To add to their numbers, he finds his old friend Schichiroji (Daisuke Kato) and recruits Gorobei (Yoshio Inaba), which leads to Heihachi (Minoru Chiaki), who's found cutting wood. The real find is Kyuzo (Seji Miyaguchi), who Kambei notes is a great warrior because he's "a man obsessed with testing his own skill." Kikuchiyo auditions, but he's tripped up — his scroll offering his samurai lineage is proved to be fake when it says that his age should be 13 (most of the Samurai, including Kikuchiyo, are illiterate). But the men head off, and Kikuchiyo decides to follow, only to be slowly accepted into the fold.

Once back at the village, the men begin their preparations, even though the villagers are cold toward them. It's because the villagers are afraid: Farmer Manzo (Kamatari Fujiwara) forces his daughter Shino (Keiko Tsushima) to cut off her hair for fear that a samurai will rape her, while everyone is weary because they have preyed on wounded samurais in the past. In the village, Kikuchiyo plays entertainer, although it's later revealed that he was an orphaned farmer. Fortifications are made, but there are 40 ronin who are ready to attack, and due to their hunger, it will be a fight to death.

Seven Samurai was Akira Kurosawa's first film to feature swordplay, and in structuring the story and the action he had taken extensive notes on John Ford. Though Pauline Kael crinkled her nose at the film's final passage, where Kambei remarks to one of the few surviving samurai "In the end, we lost this battle too. I mean, the victory belongs to the peasants, not to us," the statement echoes throughout the works of Ford, who saw the role of the gunslinger as inherently transitional, making way for future generations of settlers. Ford's presence is felt in the story, but the script's philosophies are drawn more from Eastern thinking. In one sequence, Kikuchiyo takes the initiative to spy upon the bandits and steals a gun from them. But in doing so, he abandons his post, which leads to a surprise attack and some poignant deaths. The individual then is punished for his egocentric actions, heightening the films interests in community over self, which is antithetical to much of Western thought.

There are some debts of gratitude, but Seven Samurai has nonetheless become one of the most influential film ever made. Though Kurosawa — and other filmmakers for that matter — had used slow motion before, one of the most revolutionary aspects of Samurai was how Kurosawa used it in action, and specifically to elongate the moment of death. Almost every major action director since owes a debt of gratitude to Kurosawa, from the obvious followers like Sam Peckinpah (in the accompanying booklet Arthur Penn recalls Peckinpah saying "I owe my reputation to you two [Penn and Kurosawa] guys") to John Woo to everyone in between. Kurosawa helped pen the action book.

And though there had been team movies before, this may be the first "Let's assemble a team" film - at least DVD commentator Michael Jeck claims it is. As such, movies from The Guns of the Navarrone to Johnnie To's The Mission have borrowed from it. By having Kambei keeping track of the numbers of invaders, siege cinema picked up a couple of tricks from Kurosawa by letting the audience know how many villains are left to deal with, and where the main characters are. And the character of Kyuzo, the stoic warrior who may be the best at what he does, has become a popular archetype who shows up in films like this, while this character has also served as a doppelganger for the main character in Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samurai and subsequent "professionals."

But more than just setting up templates for future directors, Seven Samurai has been remade extensively, perhaps more than any other picture in cinema history. From the official American remake The Magnificent Seven (which was the Japanese film's American title at one point), to the cheesy sci-fi epic Battle Beyond the Stars , to the comic restructuring in Pixar's A Bug's Life , to the anime TV show Samurai 7 , the plot of the film has long been a favorite to rework (for instance, The Road Warrior could be called One Samurai ).

One of the reasons that Seven Samurai is regarded as Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece is that it is 207 minutes long and never boring. That may sound crass, but the ability to tell a story over a longer period of time and still have be just as gripping from beginning to end shows the sure hand of a master. The epic length doesn't translate into "epic" scope — the film doesn't have the hundreds of extras like Kurosawa's later films, such as Kagemusha or Ran — and yet it is epic in that by the end the long form gives gravitas to the conclusion. The film is an experience that requires that longer immersion, and every minute is vital.

The brilliance is partly in the structure — the story is divided into two by the intermission. The first half of the picture (running 107 minutes, with a five-minute intermission) is all set up. In this, we are introduced to our main characters, the team is assembled, and the lay of the land is shown — it's a slow and steady build. And as such, the pacing is different than the second half (running 95 minutes), which then begins to pay everything off, from Kikuchiyo's outsider behavior and samurai standings, to the reason why the farmer Rikichi (Yoshio Tsuchiya) gets so upset when the samurais tease him about not being married. The ronin don't reappear until a few minutes after the second hour has begun, but when they do, the film keeps increasing the tension and the stakes. However, this structure lets the characters breathe as we get to know who they are before they're put the test, and it leaves room for the youngest samurai, Katsushiro, to have a romance with Shino, while Kikuchiyo literally horses around. The violence in Seven Samurai is thrilling and justly revered, but it's also palpable. Kurosawa even manages to evoke sympathy for the villains, and by the end it becomes uglier and uglier as the battle comes to a close.

The time also allows for Kambei's hair to slowly grow out, which bespeaks the subtle craftsmanship seen throughout the picture. Kurosawa took a year to make it (and by doing so angered the executives at Toho, but figured his successes, and the fact that they had already invested so much, would carry him through). The long shoot helped lend Samurai an organic pacing, but it also highlighted how well Kurosawa uses nature — much like his hero John Ford. Though Ford's composition is unparalleled, Kurosawa captures rain, winds, clouds, and shifts of light as few others have before or since. In that way, the film genuinely is epic — Kurosawa uses nature like a god. He's wonderful at composition, but his greater strength in this picture is in how he uses editing. From the masterful use of slow motion, to his cross-cutting, Samurai is a master class in how to shoot for cutting. The work here rivals Sergei Eisenstein.

One of the things that makes Seven Samurai a classic, beside its technical accomplishments, is that it defined honor in a way that cinema was bound to repeat. What Kurosawa did was have these men gather together to fight a war of impossible odds. That is nothing new. But what is new is that there is no great glory in winning. The prize for fighting is eating, the likelihood of death is high, even the people they are defending don't care for them, and there will be no poems or legends written about the survivors. They are men on a job who are skilled laborers, and when their job is done, they will move on to the next — if there is a next. This heightens the audience's attention because their gaze is truly privileged, an event that (in the film's terms) the rest of the world would never be aware of.

And fighting a battle out of honor, doing it because you are good at it, and expecting no reward except the chance to exercise your skill with no hopes or thoughts of anything — other than maybe not dying — has become a defining characteristic in the action film. From Assault on Precinct 13 to Ghostbusters , that sense of doing what you have to do as well as you can only for the greater good or simple survival is a transcendent idea.

But you can’t talk about this film, and not talk about Mifune. Toshiro Mifune had been working for seven years previous to Seven Samurai , and he had already made six films with Kurosawa, while the duo made 16 films together until the lengthy process of making Red Beard ended their relationship, but his performance here is the one for which he will always be remembered. The harshest critics called him over the top and hammy, but with his character (who's introduced with his oversized sword, in what must be the 16th century equivalent of a middle aged man buying a sports car) it's quickly apparent that he's overcompensating for his inadequacies. Followed by children (Kurosawa makes this the most natural thing in the world), and loved by the men eventually, they know he's not a real samurai (at least not until the end). When it's revealed that he was orphaned as a baby and grew up a farmer, everything makes sense: his character longs for approval and acceptance, although he knows he doesn't deserve it. Mifune has an amazing fluidity to his body, as well as the gift to simply be on camera. Though Samurai is an ensemble film, and the group of actors is excellent, Mifune has a showcase of a role, a honey, and he relishes such a ripe opportunity.

Mifune also stands in contrast to the mindset of many Japanese films. His boorishness and volume can't be seen in anything by Ozu or Mizoguchi. This was on purpose. Kurosawa was frustrated with the temperament of his nation's filmmakers: "Japanese films all tend to be rather bland in flavor, like green tea over rice," he once said in a salvo to Ozu (who directed a film entitled The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice), and Samurai was meant to be a devastatingly exciting movie, to shake up and engage those who watch it in a way that Japanese cinema hadn't before (even in previous samurai films, which drew from Kabuki). In that, Samurai is both a monumental achievement and a rebellious work, to which it deserves its placement among the greats. And not just because it manages to be just as gripping now as it was when it was made. And not just because it's just as involving on each successive multiple viewing. And not just because it redefined action.

Mostly, because it's a great entertainment.

The Criterion Collection released a DVD edition of Seven Samurai at the format's inception — the first Criterion DVD to reach the street, in fact. Early DVD adopters were happy to get it, even though it was almost a direct copy of the Criterion Laserdisc, including the commentary by Michael Jeck. The only new feature was a "restoration demonstration," which was later removed at the request of Toho Films, making that very first Criterion pressing a collector's item. Criterion then offered a double dip of Seven Samurai on DVD, and that is the basis for this release. Though this is a similar master, the difference in picture quality for the blu-ray edition is stunning. The full frame (1.33:1) transfer is cleaner, brighter, and more vivid than the previous standard def edition, and though there are moments of brief picture damage, the transfer is the absolute best one could hope for. Along with the restored picture, the audio has been remastered with a new Dolby 2.0 stereo track (not DD 4.0, as it was previously listed), along with the original mono (DD 1.0), both in Japanese, with optional English subtitles.

A two-disc set, the film is now presented on one disc, and the supplements on the other. The feature film disc contains two commentaries: the original Jeck track (still a high-water mark in cinematic commentaries) and a critics' roundtable with Stephen Prince, David Desser, Tony Rayns, Donald Richie, and Joan Mellen. Alas, it's not so much a roundtable as a series of commentaries, with each person getting roughly 40 minutes of the film to discuss. A roundtable discussion might have been more fun, but each commentator is exceptionally knowledgeable.

Disc Two kicks off with “Akira Kurosawa: It is Fun to Create” (49 min.), a multi-episode Japanese TV series that highlighted the films of Akira Kurosawa, episodes of which are also available on the Criterion releases of Ikiru , Kagemusha , The Lower Depths , Ran , and Stray Dog . This one is specifically about Samurai and features comments from Kurosawa, co-writer Shinobu Hashimoto, set decorator Koichi Hamamura, script supervisor Teruyo Nogami, and actors Seiji Miyaguchi and Yoshio Tsuchiya. This is followed by “My Life in Cinema: Akira Kurosawa” (116 min.), which has fellow director Nagisa Oshima in conversation with Kurosawa about his films and career, but focuses mainly on his rise in the ranks. The featurette “ Seven Samurai : Origins and Influences” (55 min.) enlists Stephen Prince, Joan Mellen, Tadao Sato, David Desser, Tony Rayns, and Donald Richie to talk about the film and where it came from. The second disc finished out its supplements with three trailers and the film's teaser, and two still galleries for behind-the-scenes stills and poster images. The set also comes with a booklet with essays by Kenneth Turan, Peter Cowie, Phillip Kemp, Peggy Chiao, Alain Silver, Stuart Galbraith IV, directors Sidney Lumet and Arthur Penn, and from Mifune himself. Few Blu-rays have been as essential as this one.

[screen captures courtesy of DVD Beaver ]

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Seven samurai, common sense media reviewers.

Famous epic with stylish violence and subtitles.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Teamwork matters. The samurai and villagers work t

The samurai and villagers are shown to have charac

Sword and gun fighting.

Infrequent subtitled strong language.

Light drinking of sake.

Parents need to know that Seven Samurai features a group of samurai who help a farming village defend itself against a gang of bandits. There are multiple skirmishes, and the villagers, samurai, and bandits suffer casualties. The violence is not particularly bloody but it's accentuated through fluid…

Positive Messages

Teamwork matters. The samurai and villagers work together to defeat the bandits.

Positive Role Models

The samurai and villagers are shown to have character flaws, but ultimately, they all stand together in the face of the ruthless bandits - who are not really developed beyond their thieving impulses.

Violence & Scariness

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Seven Samurai features a group of samurai who help a farming village defend itself against a gang of bandits. There are multiple skirmishes, and the villagers, samurai, and bandits suffer casualties. The violence is not particularly bloody but it's accentuated through fluid camera movements and slow motion cinematography. The samurai and villagers are shown to have character flaws, but ultimately, they all stand together in the face of the ruthless bandits - who are not really developed beyond their thieving impulses. Strong language is used -- in subtitles -- but sparingly so. The presence of subtitles may be a hindrance to some younger viewers. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (11)
• Kids say (12)

Based on 11 parent reviews

A slow burning classic

What's the story.

SEVEN SAMURAI presents a tale of displaced samurai that put aside class differences in order to defend a farming village that has been the unfortunate target of a wily gang of bandits. The film's three and a half hour length is more than justified by the intricate character development of both the samurai and the villagers, as both groups let go of class biases to accomplish their mutual goal of fortifying the village. By the climactic showdowns against the bandits, a palpable anxiety is present due to the great affinity the audience feels for the characters. Worthy of special note is Toshiro Mifune's performance as the intense samurai Kikuchiyo who has a past that he is trying to hide.

Is It Any Good?

In what many consider to be his masterpiece, director Akira Kurosawa's action sequences are fantastic and, for their time, very innovative. Sweeping camera movements and slow motion are used quite effectively to pull the viewer into the thick of the battles. Of course, the techniques have now become old hat for action films, but Kurosawa got it so right that even now the action seem especially kinetic and involving.

This classic of the samurai film genre will appeal to teens and older who love action. Young viewers may find the human deaths disturbing, as many of the most sympathetic characters meet their demise while protecting the village. For those who can deal with the emotion of loss, Seven Samurai offers substantial rewards.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the rigid class system in place during the time period of Seven Samurai . Why is there such a separation between the samurai and the villagers? What makes it easier for the samurai and villagers to overcome the social barriers to band together?

How might the film have been different if more insight had been supplied for the bandits' motivations? Are the "bad guys" oversimplified?

Does violence have the same impact in a movie like this as in an action movie? Why or why not? Which type of movie violence do you find more affecting and/or upsetting?

Movie Details

• In theaters : November 19, 1956
• On DVD or streaming : April 21, 1998
• Cast : Takashi Shimura , Toshiro Mifune , Yoshio Inaba
• Director : Akira Kurosawa
• Studio : Criterion Collection
• Genre : Drama
• Character Strengths : Teamwork
• Run time : 203 minutes
• MPAA rating : NR
• Last updated : June 2, 2022

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‘Seven Samurai’ at 70 – Review

Seven Samurai (1954) Director: Akira Kurosawa Screenwriters: Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Seiji Miyaguchi, Isao Kimura, Daisuke Katō, Yoshio Inaba, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, Kamatari Fujiwara

It is true that sometimes there are more things to a film than meets the eye. We try to loop our fingers through it, we swallow its visuals whole. We label it by genre, critique it by checkboxes. But sometimes, when we least search for it, a film can sneak up on you. A sliver of something escapes from an unnoticed crack and it becomes more than a category; it transcends the conventions of a war film, of a rom-com, of a horror flick. Real cinema is the film that speaks to something that you didn’t even know existed in you. It does this quite simply, quite magically: because you weren’t looking for it.

There’s a reason why Seven Samurai is regarded as one of the most ‘remade, reworked and referenced’ films of all time. It was a meticulously constructed phenomenon. Production included a six-week writing process, a complete set construction and a 148-day shoot. Kurosawa believed that a director was nothing without a rich script, evocative editing, and a soundtrack to match. It was down to his creative dedication that Seven Samurai become known as ‘Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece.’

Martin Scorsese once said, ‘cinema is a matter of what’s in the frame and what’s out,’ and Seven Samurai certainly fits that criteria. Kurosawa’s epic had DNA that seeped into generations of filmmaking; he created an experience so mightily human it seeps from the edges of your screen.

Seven Samurai settles itself in the Sengoku period of feudal Japan, more specifically in 1586. The film’s central village is attacked by bandits, leaving its inhabitants fearful and morose. Thus, they decide to seek out samurai to defend them. After approaching veteran samurai, Kanbê Shimada (played by Takashi Shimura), a defence is slowly planned out. He is soon joined by six other samurai, which include the youthful protégé Katushiro (Isao Kimura) and drunkenly volatile Kikushiyo (Toshiro Mifune).

Writing for The New York Daily News , Wanda Hale wrote that Kurosawa had ‘exceeded himself’ with his ‘action picture.’ She also praised his ‘deep perception of human nature.’ This duality is why Seven Samurai is a stellar feat of cinema.

Kurosawa’s 1954 epic sits like a book of fables in your hands. You can turn its pages and hear the roar of fictitious gods, the clang of slender swords. Seven Samurai also holds onto your soul like an infant; instead of bellowing, it coos. Misty-eyed, you gaze upon the villagers’ grief, the suffering of its women and the traumas of the samurai’s past. From thick mud to flowering field, every range of the human experience is brushed upon.

The film’s score and atmosphere are amiable companions, embracing scenes with an unmistakable honesty. Dust and tears shroud the opening sequences, establishing the film’s gritty air. The first time we see the villagers, their grieving bodies heave against one another. Scenes taking place in their homes feel closeted and morose, similar to the set of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) . Composer Fumio Hamasaka matches this, using a deep male chorus to tower over the scenery.

This atmosphere does not remain pervasive, however. The village is a mirror; it reflects the changing mindsets of its weary villagers. When the samurai enter, breath and space seem to flow through every room. The soundscape becomes richer, brassier, showcasing the hope-instilling honour of the samurai. The foreboding choruses become airier, with Hamasaka infusing traditional Japanese sounds into the local village life.

It’s clear to see that Kurosawa’s vision dawned on him, like a blessing in prayer; watching it unfold ignites a spark inside your chest. He used three separate cameras in filming, their directions orientated via diagram. Using a telephoto lens, he would stack the front, middle and back of his scenes with character reactions. In their stillness, we are given multiple perspectives. In a similar fashion, Kurosawa often pins his focus to the middle of our screens. Using this technique, characters are placed under trial and called into question by the filmmaker.

This sense of control and order is reluctantly dashed by the final act. As conflict breaks out, scenes are wrought by constant movement. The camera work becomes fluid, with its lack of cross-cutting later inspiring films such as The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) . This heightens the conflict’s consequences, making us soak up the collapsing bodies and streaming arrows. Once called ‘the world’s greatest editor,’ Kurosawa allows scenes to remain brief, so as not to elongate. Although some transitions remain choppy, his decisions allow for maximum plot engagement.

Where Seven Samurai truly thrives is in its moral edge; every corner yields a jewelled message. The hierarchy of the feudal Japanese village is the most obvious; the farmers, socially-dwarfed by the samurai, must provide for them accordingly. The samurai themselves make for an interesting moral debate. As the film progresses, few differences can be identified between the bandits and the samurai.

With the samurai as the life force of the film, a far more prominent message is revealed: what does it mean to be honourable? Much like the gentlemen of Dickens’ “Great Expectations”, samurai are meant to exemplify virtuous qualities. But, as Roger Ebert stated, ‘like characters in a Greek tragedy,’ they fall prey to their own fatal flaw.

Takashi Shimura’s performance as Kanbê Shimada is a calm storm. He is the calculating leader, plagued by the wisdom of war. Kanbê’s past has made him jaded, his soul seemingly decades older. In his first scene, he shaves his hair off, signalling his reluctant re-entry into combat. However, his honour lies in his ability to move forward. Much like a pebble, he allows the rivers of time to move him. Kanbê brings the samurai together, conducts the village’s lessons and the structures of their battles. Shimura is able to bring the right sense of authority to the role, allowing us to fully trust the film’s narrative.

Isao Shimura plays Katsushirō, the disciple. As Kanbē’s protégé, he represents the naivety of youthful ambition. Isao plays him as quiet, studious, and curious. He brings out the film’s softer side with a blossoming romance when Katsushriō meets Shino (played by Keiko Tsushima). The two begin a tender, childlike romance, in the petals of a flower field. This is cleverly introduced by Kurosawa, to commemorate the beauty of youth.

Katushirō’s level of honour is, however, called into question. After spending the night with Shino, she is humiliated by her father. After being congratulated by the samurai, Katushirō is left mute by his actions. Throughout the final scenes, he is glued to our screen’s centre; nailed to the cross of his actions, he now represents the disruption of honour.

The film’s final samurai, Kikuchiyo, is our loose-cannon. The role was played by the legendary Toshiro Mifune , who starred in 16 other Kurosawa pictures. Famed for his aggressively erratic energy, he studied wild tigers to prepare for the role. And, as Kikuchiyo, he dominates throughout the film. He demands our focus, and from his roaring spit to his near-constant movement, he gains it.

What makes Mifune’s performance show-stopping is his use of emotional levels. Whilst Mifune provides his signature hostile nature, he is also the film’s comic relief. Often seen chasing children or hauling villagers back to a brawl, Kikuchiyo becomes palatable and charming. It is, however, his vulnerable side that makes this film an empathetic experience. Kikuchiyo, we learn, is a broken child of man; his honour lies in his ability to question the unquestionable. In one striking moment, he monologues straight to camera. Mifune’s intensity is so human that it shocks life into you.

Seven Samurai murmurs of a realm where gods can touch men, can give them the power to slice and to claim. Seven Samurai speaks of a place where even the harshest of winters can thaw to give way for a fruitful harvest. But, most importantly, Seven Samurai shouts of a feeling: it shouts of a feeling of humanity. From the farmer’s grains of rice, to Kanbē’s shaved head, to the bandit’s charging horse, to the bloom of a flower – they are all threaded together by the reality of the human experience. So, if you decide to trek the mountains of this 1954 epic, be on your guard; Kurosawa has made sure that you will leave with more than just a sword and armour.

Score: 24/24

Recommended for you: Where to Start with Akira Kurosawa

Written by Bella Madge

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Seven Samurai (Japan, 1954)

The most popular cinematic export from Japan is inarguably the samurai movie. Whole books have been devoted to the genre, and more than one mail-order video business has made a tidy profit shipping samurai tapes and DVDs around the world. The most important samurai movie is Akira Kurosawa's 1954 feature, Seven Samurai , which not only impacted the way the genre was viewed, but elevated its status. Seven Samurai was influential not only in Japan and for foreign film enthusiasts, but it led to a popular and reasonably faithful remake, The Magnificent Seven . And, although Japanese critics during the '50s were dismissive of the picture, it has since achieved an almost mythical status and was recently selected by a group of '00 critics as the Best Japanese Movie of All-Time.

Curiously, for a feature that is often viewed as the standard-bearer of the samurai movie, Seven Samurai is actually an atypical genre entry. An "average" samurai film focuses on a sword-wielding, superhero-type individual who battles his way through the story, often triumphing over a seemingly overwhelming host of foes. Seven Samurai offers us flawed protagonists, some of whom are not skilled fighters, and one of whom is often drunk, belligerent, and decidedly non-heroic in his approach. The odds are impressive, yet, in large part due to the melancholy tone adopted by Kurosawa during the closing scene, the victory is hollow, and almost feels like a defeat. (The lead samurai's final words: "So. Again we are defeated. The farmers have won. Not us.")

Seven Samurai is richly deserving of its high place in cineaste circles. Despite its epic length and scope, the key to the movie's success is that it focuses on a small group of characters. (The actual number of fully realized individuals is three, not seven – several of the "secondary" samurai are only sketchily developed.) The narrative is straightforward, allowing numerous opportunities for elaborate action sequences. In fact, the bulk of the movie's second half is comprised of battle scenes. These are clearly delineated and exactingly choreographed. Kurosawa, a meticulous craftsman, does not rely on editing sleight-of-hand to present fights. His stylistic imprint is emblazoned upon every frame. ( Seven Samurai was filmed with a 1.33:1 aspect ratio. For a sample of what Kurosawa accomplish in widescreen, check out some of his later films, starting with Hidden Fortress .)

Those familiar with the narrative of The Magnificent Seven will recognize the storyline for Seven Samurai . In order to shoehorn Seven Samurai 's 3 1/2 hours of material into The Magnificent Seven 's two hours, condensation was mandated. Two of Seven Samurai 's lead characters were combined to form a single individual in The Magnificent Seven . For the most part, however, the basics were left intact. After viewing American remake, Kurosawa reportedly remarked that he was pleased with the effort, going so far as to send a gift to filmmaker John Sturges, who helmed the 1960 feature.

Seven Samurai tells the tale of a 16th century Japanese farm community that, led by a band of seven warriors, defends itself against a gang of pillaging robbers. When several of the village's men, lead by a hot-head named Rikichi (Yoshio Tsuchiya), grow weary of the annual raids of the bandits, they decide to act. Since the citizens do not have the martial ability or skill to fight, Rikichi seeks mercenary samurai who are willing to defend the settlement in return for food and lodging. The seven men who accompany Rikichi home are a diverse lot. They include the sage Kambei (Takashi Shimura), a great leader of men; Kikuchiyo (Toshiro Mifune), a burly clown whose prowess with a sword does not match his arrogance; Kyuzo (Seiji Miyaguchi), a quiet master swordsman who lets his weapon speak for him; and young Katsushiro (Isao Kimura), who idolizes Shichiroji and Kambei. Also in the party are Heihachi (Minoru Chiaki), Shichiroji (Daisuke Kato), and Gorobei (Yoshio Inaba). After teaching the men of the town how to fight and preparing the village for its defense (building fences, flooding the rice fields, and tearing down a bridge), the seven samurai await the inevitable coming of the 40-odd bandits and the battle that will determine the peasants' future.

The film is divided into three sections. The first features the gathering of the protectors, as each samurai is given an introduction. Seven Samurai was the first film to use this approach; it has been copied often in the five decades since Kurosawa completed the movie. This portion of the picture is essentially set-up, but it's crucial to defining the characters and their relationships. The longest introduction belongs to Kikuchiyo, who initially appears as a drunken buffoon, then later proves to be more resourceful than any of his future companions expected.

Seven Samurai 's second segment encompasses the preparations for battle. During this portion of the film, the protectors are introduced to the farmers. In addition to fortifying the settlement and teaching the men how to use weapons, a form of bonding occurs. Kikuchiyo becomes a favorite of the village children, and they follow him around. Katsushiro begins a romance with a local girl, Shino (Keiko Tsushima), who willingly offers herself to the samurai despite the dishonor such a liaison would bring upon her and her family. Being in the village also brings back troubling memories for Kikuchiyo, whose past remains shrouded from his fellows.

The third section is the battle for the village, with the bandits attacking in waves. There's also a pre-emptive strike attempted by the samurai, who raid the bandits' camp before they ride to the village. The bandits have two advantages over their intended prey – they are mounted and they are in possession of three guns. Despite being difficult to load and fire and notoriously unreliable, those weapons represent a significant advantage, and the samurai realize that the key to victory may be stealing at least one of the guns from their enemies. (Nearly all of the early significant casualties are the result of men being shot.)

Although Seven Samurai is an ensemble picture, no star shines brighter than Kurosawa's favorite actor, Toshiro Mifune. His Kikuchiyo is larger-than-life. Mifune is given an opportunity to show his range here, playing a stumbling drunk; a playful clown who delights in the company of children; a dark, brooding man who reflects on his unhappy past; and a terrifying fighter who cannot be slowed or stopped. Veteran Takashi Shimura, another frequent Kurosawa collaborator, is the voice of wisdom, reason, and patience as Kambei. The actor presents his character as a man who commands respect through his mere presence. Kambei's coolness is in direct contrast with Kikuchiyo's flamboyance. The third major samurai is Katsushiro. Isao Kimura portrays him with a mixture of energy and naïveté, then blends in a growing sense of somber realization as he recognizes that battle is not all glory.

Of the remaining four samurai, only Seiji Miyaguchi's Kyuzo stands out as memorable, primarily because he is so different from his fellows. Quiet and withdrawn, he is a serious individual who speaks primarily with his sword. Miyaguchi portrays him as an honorable, unsmiling loner. The other three are largely interchangeable until the third or fourth viewing of the film, when their personalities begin to emerge. Of the villagers, only Yoshio Tsuchiya's impulsive Rikichi, Kamatari Fujiwara's dour Manzo, and Keiko Tsushima's sultry Shino gain any real individuality. The bandits are portrayed from a distance; we don't get to know any of them (although we learn their motives – they are as hungry as the villagers).

One of the most intriguing sequences occurs as Kambei plans the defense of the village. Using a map of the environs, he explains how the enemy will likely approach and what he intends to do to impede them. By including this scene, Kurosawa ensures that we understand the layout of the village and the plans of the samurai, so that when the battle begins, we have an understanding of how landmarks relate to each other. James Cameron employs a similar approach in Titanic when, in the "present" sequences, he uses computer graphics to show what happened to the ship as it broke up so that, when we see it happen, we comprehend what is transpiring.

In many ways, Seven Samurai is defined by its style. Kurosawa doesn't just set marks and coach actors; he composes scenes. Despite its drawbacks (a lack of "three dimensionality"), he frequently uses the "deep focus" camera technique to keep everyone in focus, regardless of their distance from the lens. He rarely resorts to close-ups, and, when he does, there's a specific reason. His battle scenes are realistic, but not confusing. Whenever possible, he captures the seven samurai in the same shot. (This is emphasized at the end, when the survivors are shown in the same frame as the graves of the dead.) On more than one occasion, he shoots figures silhouetted against the horizon.

Over the span of his career, Kurosawa made so many great films that it can be difficult to determine which is his best. For most critics, the finalists would be Rashomon and Seven Samurai – films with more differences than similarities. Rashomon is the more thought-provoking of the two, but Seven Samurai is a grand epic – a big, splashy motion picture that runs well over three hours and never flags. The intermission is almost superfluous; we are so caught up in the story that, by the time it arrives, it's more of a nuisance than a welcome break. Seven Samurai has the kind of momentum that many long movies lack. Despite its length, it is a perfect example of economy – there isn't a single wasted shot. Seven Samurai is an unforgettable masterpiece – the work of one of the world's greatest filmmakers at the height of his powers.

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• Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
• Hidden Fortress, The (1962)
• Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
• Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
• Howard the Duck (1986)
• Catwoman (2004)
• Rashomon (1951)
• Ikiru (1952)
• Throne of Blood (1957)
• Godzilla (1969)
• (There are no more worst movies of Takashi Shimura)
• Red Beard (1968)
• (There are no more better movies of Yoshio Tsuchiya)
• (There are no more worst movies of Yoshio Tsuchiya)
• (There are no more better movies of Keiko Tsushima)
• (There are no more worst movies of Keiko Tsushima)

The greatest samurai movie in history turns 70 and is perfect if you liked 'Shogun'

‘Shogun’ , the acclaimed FX series, is one of the big surprises of 2024 . A show that has surprised many people because its subject matter is as attractive as it is demanding in terms of storytelling. And, as usual, when a movie or series triumphs in such a way, not a few people are interested in other similar ones, especially if there is the possibility of discovering a classic they have not yet seen. All this leads to ‘Seven Samurai’, the best samurai movie of all time .

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‘Seven Samurai’ is the great masterpiece of Akira Kurosawa . Released in 1954, it is currently included in numerous lists of the best films of all time in portals and media such as IMDb and Empire, among others. Did you know that you can stream it?

Although it is one of those movies that is better watched without knowing what you are going to find, you should know that the story is set in Japan, in the sixteenth century . The movie has a running time of 207 minutes and focuses on a village of farmers who, tired of being attacked by bandits, decide to enlist the services of a group of samurai who are willing to do anything to help others.

Where to watch ‘Seven Samurai’

You can watch ‘Seven Samurai’ on Max and Criterion Channel as the platforms that currently have it in their catalog. You can also rent or buy the movie on Amazon Video, Vudu, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, and YouTube for as little as $3.99.

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