Amazon.com Essentials:
This semi-comic 1961 film by legendary director Akira Kurosawa
(Rashomon, Ran) was inspired
by the American Western genre. Kurosawa mainstay Toshirô Mifune
(The Seven
Samurai) plays a drifting samurai for hire who plays both ends
against the middle with two warring factions, surviving on his wits
and his ability to outrun his own bad luck. Eventually the samurai
seeks to eliminate both sides for his own gain and to define his own
sense of honor. Yojimbo is striking for its unorthodox
treatment of violence and morality, reserving judgment on the actions
of its main character and instead presenting an entertaining tale with
humor and much visual excitement. One of the inspirations for the
"spaghetti Westerns" of director Sergio Leone and later surfacing as a
remake as Last Man
Standing with Bruce Willis, this film offers insight into a
director who influenced American films even as he was influenced by
them. --Robert Lane
