Yojimbo (1961)

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

Akira Kurosawa (story)
Akira Kurosawa (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

13 September 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

A crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town.

Plot Keywords:

Samurai | Bodyguard | Escape | Ronin | Dark Humor

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Toshirô Mifune	...	Sanjuro Kuwabatake / The Samurai
Tatsuya Nakadai	...	Unosuke, gunfighter
Yôko Tsukasa	...	Nui
Isuzu Yamada	...	Orin
Daisuke Katô	...	Inokichi, Ushitora's rotund brother
Seizaburô Kawazu	...	Seibei, brothel operator
Takashi Shimura	...	Tokuemon, sake brewer
Hiroshi Tachikawa	...	Yoichiro
Yosuke Natsuki	...	Kohei's Son
Eijirô Tôno	...	Gonji, tavern keeper
Kamatari Fujiwara	...	Tazaemon
Ikio Sawamura	...	Hansuke
Atsushi Watanabe	...	The Cooper (Coffin-Maker)
Susumu Fujita	...	Homma, instructor who skips town
Kyû Sazanka	...	Ushitora
Kô Nishimura	...	Kuma
Takeshi Katô	...	Ronin Kobuhachi
Ichirô Nakaya	...	First Samurai
Sachio Sakai	...	First Foot Soldier
Akira Tani	...	Kame
Namigoro Rashomon	...	Kannuki the giant
Yoshio Tsuchiya	...	Kohei
Gen Shimizu	...	Magotaro
Yutaka Sada	...	Matsukichi
Shin Otomo	...	Kumosuke
Shoichi Hirose	...	Ushitora Follower
Eisei Amamoto	...	Yahachi
Shôji Oki	...	Sukeju
Fuminori Ohashi	...	Second Samurai
Hiroshi Yoseyama	...	Farmer
Senkichi Ômura	...	Traveler
Fumiko Honma	...	Farmer's ex-wife
Ryusuke Nishio	...	Seibei Follower
Naoya Kusakawa	...	Seibei Follower
Nadao Kirino	...	Seibei Follower
Jun Ôtomo	...	Seibei Follower
Shinpei Takagi	...	Ushitora Follower
Akio Kusama	...	Ushitora Follower
Yasuzo Ogawa	...	Ushitora Follower
Hiroshi Takagi	...	Ushitora Follower
Junichirô Mukai	...	Seibei Follower
Fumiyoshi Kamagaya	...	Seibei Follower
Ichirô Chiba	...	Second Foot Soldier
Haruya Sakamoto	...	Ushitora Follower
Rinsaku Ogata	...	Seibei Follower
Fumio Kogushi	...	Ushitora Follower
Yoko Terui	...	Woman at Seibei's house
Hiromi Mineoka	...	Woman at Seibei's house
Michiko Kawa	...	Woman at Seibei's house
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Takuzo Kumagaya		(as Jirô Kumagai)
Jerry Fujio	...	Roku, samurai whose arm is cut (uncredited)

Directed by
Akira Kurosawa

Writing credits
Akira Kurosawa		(story)
Akira Kurosawa		(screenplay) &
Ryûzô Kikushima		(screenplay)

Produced by
Ryûzô Kikushima	....	executive producer
Akira Kurosawa	....	producer
Tomoyuki Tanaka	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Masaru Satô

Cinematography by
Kazuo Miyagawa

Film Editing by
Akira Kurosawa

Production Design by
Yoshirô Muraki

Costume Design by
Yoshirô Muraki

Makeup Department
Yoshiko Matsumoto	....	hair stylist
Junjiro Yamada	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Hiroshi Nezu	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Masanobu Deme	....	assistant director
Shirô Moritani	....	chief assistant director

Art Department
Koichi Hamamura	....	property master
Yoshifumi Honda	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Choshichiro Mikami	....	sound recordist
Ichirô Minawa	....	sound effects editor
Masanobu Miyazaki	....	sound mixer
Zen Shida	....	assistant sound
Hisashi Shimonaga	....	sound recordist

Camera and Electrical Department
Masao Fukuda	....	still photographer
Choshiro Ishii	....	lighting technician
Shôji Kaneko	....	assistant lighting technician
Takao Saitô	....	assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Masahiro Katô	....	costumer

Editorial Department
Reiko Kaneko	....	assistant editor

Transportation Department
Ginzo Osumi	....	transportation coordinator

Other crew
Hiroshi Kanesu	....	choreographer
Ryu Kuze	....	swordplay technique
Teruyo Nogami	....	script supervisor
Yoshio Sugino	....	swordplay instructor

Production Companies

• Kurosawa Production Co.
• Toho Company

Distributors

• Seneca International (1961) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (1972) (USA) (TV) (network premiere)
• Action Film (1964) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Cowboy Pictures (2002) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Continental Home Vídeo (2002) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2009) (USA) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2004) (Australia) (DVD)
• Palace Video (1983) (UK) (VHS)
• Palace Video (1983) (UK) (video) (Betamax)
• Sandrews (2003) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Tocantins (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Toho Company

Other Companies

• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

Yojimbo (UK) (USA)
The Bodyguard (International: English title) (literal title)
Yôjinbô (International) (modified Hepburn romanization)
Yojimbo the Bodyguard (USA)

Runtime:

110 min | USA:75 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Perspecta Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | USA:TV-MA (cable rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | USA:Unrated | UK:PG (video rating) (1993) | UK:A (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Toho Studios, Tokyo, Japan

Company:

Kurosawa Production Co.

Trivia:

"Yojimbo" is an uncredited film version of Dashiell Hammett's novel "Red Harvest". "Red Harvest" is about a detective who comes to a small city and sets two sides of a gang war against one another until both are almost completely wiped out.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the initial fight scene The Samurai cuts the first two adversaries in the mid-section, then slices the last man's arm off. That last man is first seen from behind holding the sword in his right arm above his head, but the arm holding the sword shown moments later is a left arm.

Quotes:

Unosuke, gunfighter: If I don't have my pistol, I feel sort of naked.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Exhumed (2003) (V)

"You don't mind if I kill all of you?" "What? Kill me if you can!" "It'll hurt."

Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo is a not too long, not too short action film that uses its action with just the right touches of voracity and excitement, and in the backdrop is also a sense of humor to the process. If I had to recommend a Kurosawa film to someone who's never seen one before (and might be impatient to sit through the three and a half hour Seven Samurai, or might not get the non-linear structure of Rashomon), I'd put this one in their hands to try out.

Kurosawa regular Toshiro Mifune is terrific as Sanjuro Kuwabatake, a drifter of a samurai who stumbles upon a town with an assorted cast of characters, with a split between two gangs. One of the gangsters, Unosuke (Nakadai), is the only one in town; it seems, with a gun. At first Sanjuro plays each side, but when he gets beaten roughly by whom he was "protecting", he realizes the fun's over, and it's time to fight back.

Much has been made about how Sergio Leone took Kurosawa's story and characters (most in particular being a rogue from out of town) and made them into his breakthrough Fistful of Dollars- Kurosawa even sued Leone over the story rights. But to those who wonder whether Yojimbo is 'better' than Fistful or vice versa need to remember one of two things- Kurosawa took the story from Dashiell Hammett's gangster novel Red Harvest, so neither filmmaker is making something really original; and that since each film is made in a different continent, and with the slightest different sensibilities about its characters. For one thing in Yojimbo guns are scarcer than in Fistful, and there's a treatment Kurosawa has with his actors that sets it apart from the small town western scope of Leone's weapons and actors. So each film (noticeably) carries its own kind of visual style while working in a similar plot structure. In other words, it's kind of like comparing apples and oranges picked in the same farm (if that makes at all sense).

Overall, Yojimbo on its own is a lean, cool Japanese crime/action film, helmed by a master, and featuring a number of highlights to look forward to on multiple viewings. Some of those include: the scene inside Seibei's brothel (with the women dancing and singing), Masaru Sato's wonderful musical orchestrations, Mifune's curiously low-key and rough performance (which did and didn't serve as inspiration to Clint), and a climax that is up there with one of Kurosawa's finest battles. A+