Tsubaki Sanjûrô (1962)

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

Ryûzô Kikushima (writer)
Akira Kurosawa (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

7 May 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Drama

Plot:

A crafty samurai helps a young man and his fellow clansmen save his uncle, who has been framed and imprisoned by a corrupt superintendent.

Plot Keywords:

Uncle | Corruption | Samurai | Rescue | Ronin

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Toshirô Mifune	...	Sanjûrô Tsubaki / The Samurai
Tatsuya Nakadai	...	Hanbei Muroto
Keiju Kobayashi	...	The Spy
Yûzô Kayama	...	Iori Izaka
Reiko Dan	...	Chidori, Mutsuta's daughter
Akihiko Hirata	...	Samurai
Takashi Shimura	...	Kurofuji
Kamatari Fujiwara	...	Takebayashi
Takako Irie	...	Mutsuta's wife
Masao Shimizu	...	Kikui
Yûnosuke Itô	...	Mutsuta, the Chamberlain
Akira Kubo	...	Samurai
Kenzo Matsui	...	Samurai
Hiroshi Tachikawa	...	Samurai
Yoshio Tsuchiya	...	Samurai
Kunie Tanaka	...	Samurai
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tatsuyoshi Ehara	...	Samurai
Tatsuhiko Hari	...	Samurai
Kôji Uruki

Directed by
Akira Kurosawa

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ryûzô Kikushima		writer
Akira Kurosawa		writer
Hideo Oguni		writer
Shugoro Yamamoto		novel "Peaceful Days"

Produced by
Ryûzô Kikushima	....	associate producer
Tomoyuki Tanaka	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Masaru Satô

Cinematography by
Fukuzo Koizumi
Takao Saitô

Film Editing by
Akira Kurosawa

Production Design by
Yoshirô Muraki

Sound Department
Wataru Konuma	....	sound recordist
Hisashi Shimonaga	....	sound recordist

Camera and Electrical Department
Ichirô Inohara	....	lighting technician

Other crew
Ryu Kuze	....	fencing advisor

Production Companies

• Toho Company (presents)
• Kurosawa Production Co.

Distributors

• Toho Company (1962) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Toho Video (2002) (Japan) (DVD)
• Toho Video (2009) (Japan) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Cowboy Pictures (2002) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Toho Company (1963) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Arte Vidéo (2001) (France) (DVD)
• BFI Video (2003) (UK) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2009) (USA) (DVD)
• Palace Video (1983) (UK) (VHS)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (1975) (USA) (TV) (network premiere)
• Wild Side Vidéo (2006) (France) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

Sanjuro (USA)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Perspecta Sound encoding) (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:12 | UK:12 | UK:PG (re-rating) (2002) | UK:A (original rating) | West Germany:12 | USA:PG-13

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

This movie was originally going to be a faithful adaption of a Shugoro Yamamoto novel called Peaceful Days, and was going to be made before Yojimbo, which is about a group of nine samurai who are helped out by two ronin who are inadequate fighters and have to use there wits to trick two evil opposing sides into disposing of each other. The antagonists was changed to a corrupt government body and the tricking two opposing sides into fighting each over element was used for Yojimbo. After Yojimbo was a success Toho requested that Kurosawa produce a sequel. He changed the two weak ronin to the powerful Sanjuro character and rewrote the script to match the tone of Yojimbo. Also when this was going to be Peaceful Days, Kurosawa was only going to write it and 'Horikawa Hiromichi' (Kurosawa's assistant director) was going to direct it and Frankie Sakai and Keiju Kobayashi were to play the two ronin.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the Chamberlain's nephew goes to peek over the wall to check if Kikui's house is full of troops, he supports himself on the wall which bends slightly, belying its supposed sturdiness.

Quotes:

Sanjûrô Tsubaki: He was exactly like me. A naked sword. He didn't stay in his sheath.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Seven Samurai: Origins and Influences (2006) (V)

The master in a lighter mode

Sanjuro is not one of Kurosawa's great films, but it shows him relaxed and having fun, deconstructing the jidai-geki (samurai film) genre with tongue firmly in cheek.

The film lacks the meticulous visual style of Yojimbo, but it is very well photographed, with some extremely fluid cinematography and those effortlessly artful group compositions that only Kurosawa seems to be able to do. The plot is a little exposition-heavy, but it's always swift-moving and never comes close to taking itself seriously.

Watching Toshiro slice apart all those enemies in the various battle scenes with nary a bloodstain in sight, I did find myself wishing the folks at Toho had sprung for a few squibs. But all is set right in the brilliant final swordfight, which is worth the price of admission.