Movie review: Yojimbo (1961)

• October 27, 2006
• James Skemp
• dvd / movie, review

The short review: another five star, classic, movie.

When I rented Yojimbo from Netflix, I wasn't expecting anything less than a good movie. My expectations were met. However, I must admit that one of the later 'copycats' of this movie, the 1996 Last Man Standing (starring Bruce Willis in the title role), ruined a deal of how the movie would play out and end.

Yet, despite that, the movie was pretty darn good. If you've seen Last Man Standing, I would recommend you see the movie that it borrowed from. If you have seen and you liked Seven Samurai, then this also may be the movie for you.

Masterless samurai Sanjuro Kuwabatake (Toshirô Mifune) finds himself in a feud-torn Japanese village in legendary director Akira Kurosawa's darkly comic film. After pretending to work for merchants on both sides of the feud, Kuwabatake is imprisoned for treachery. He escapes in time to watch the two warring factions destroy each other, just as he had intended. Yojimbo served as the prototype for Clint Eastwood's A Fistful of Dollars.

If this movie was a part of a collection of Akira Kurosawa's films, I'd definitely purchase the collection.

Rated: UR
1 hr 50 min
1961

Want to see what else Ive watched through Netflix? Check out the list, and my attempt to track Netflix shipping for Madison WI.

• akira kurosawa