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 Original Name: Shichinin No Samurai
Director:Akira Kurosawa
Runtime: 207 min
Year: 1954
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Color: Black and White
Palador DVD Code: PFE0001b1
Available As: Part of Kurosawa Box Set
Speciality: Changed action movies forever. Hailed by many critics as the original action movie. Inspired scores of clones worldwide, including the Hollywood blockbuster 'Magnificent Seven'.
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SEVEN SAMURAI - Unanimously hailed as one of the greatest film of all times, this 1954 classic is as powerful now, as it was then. Finding it difficult to survive the harassment of bandits, a village listens to the wisdom of an elder, and hires samurais to fight for them. Finding samurais is easier said than done in the chaotic times. Finally though, they manage to find seven down on their luck, and hungry samurais. The leader is an experienced samurai with a good heart who recruits the other six. Fighting forty killer bandits, as the villagers and the seven samurai discover, is not an easy task. Seven Samurai won numerous worldwide awards, and continues to inspire and spawn countless remakes even now. |
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| | SEVEN SAMURAI - CREDITS | | | | | | | | Directed by
Written by
Produced by
Cinematography by
Film Editing by
Production Design by | Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa
Shinobu Hashimoto
Hideo Oguni
Sojiro Motoki
Asakazu Nakai
Akira Kurosawa
So Matsuyama |
| | | | | | | | | | | | Cast: | | | | | | | | Character' name
Kambei Shimada
Kikuchiyo
Gorobei Katayama
Kyuzo
Heihachi Hayashida
Shichiroji
Katsushiro Okamoto
Shino
Rikichi's Wife
Manzo, father of Shino
Mosuke
Yohei
Rikichi
Gisaku, the Old Man
Peasant
Kidnapper
Ginsaku's
Daughter-in-law
Farmer in front
of Gono
Captured Bandit
Scout
1st Coolie
Farmer in front
of Gono
Bun Vendor
Grandfather of
Kidnapped Girl
Husband
Samurai
Blind Minstrel | Actor's name
Takashi Shimura
Toshirô Mifune
Yoshio Inaba
Seiji Miyaguchi
Minoru Chiaki
Daisuke Katô
Isao Kimura
Keiko Tsushima
Yukiko Shimazaki
Kamatari Fujiwara
Yoshio Kosugi
Bokuzen Hidari
Yoshio Tsuchiya
Kokuten Kodo
Jiro Kumagai
Eijirô Tono
Haruko Toyama
Tsuneo Katagiri
Kichijiro Ueda
Jun Tatara
Yasuhisa Tsutsumi
Atsushi Watanabe
Toranosuke Ogawa
Yu Akitsu
Isao Yamagata
Sojin |
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| | SEVEN SAMURAI - INFLUENCES & REFERENCES | | | | | | | | The Seven Samurai was among the first films to use the now-common plot element of the recruiting and gathering of heroes into a team to accomplish a specific goal, a device used in later films such as Ocean's Eleven.
Plot devices such as the reluctant hero, romance between a local girl and youngest hero, and the nervousness of the common citizenry had appeared in other films before this but were combined together in this film. Its use of such cinematographic elements as slow motion and panning battle shots made it a movie that would influence cinema worldwide.
Its influence can be most strongly felt in the western The Magnificent Seven, a film specifically adapted from The Seven Samurai. Director John Sturges took The Seven Samurai and updated it to the Old West, with the Samurai replaced with cowboys. Many of The Magnificent Seven's scenes mirror those of The Seven Samurai in most details, and the final line of dialogue is nearly identical: "The old man was right. Only the farmers won. We lost. We always lose."
Battle Beyond the Stars and Dikij vostok, and the Pixar film A Bug's Life also show The Seven Samurai's influence. Computer games, as well, have paid homage to the film, where the seven Dark Jedi in Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II are strongly modeled upon the samurai seen in the movie.
Mainstream heroic action films in India and USA have been greatly influenced by Seven Samurai. Bollywood classic superhit Sholay shows obvious influences.
Remade as
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
Liu he qian shou (1979)
Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)
Sette magnifici gladiatori, I (1983)
Dune Warriors (1990)
Dikiy vostok (1993)
"Samurai 7" (2005)
References
My Darling Clementine (1946)
Referenced in
Resa dei conti, La (1966)
Corri, uomo, corri (1968)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
Lo chiamavano Trinità (1970)
Gharibeh Va Meh (1974)
Sholay (1975)
Star Wars (1977)
Hawk the Slayer (1980)
Mad Max 2 (1981)
Conan the Barbarian (1982)
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
"Cheers: Diane's Allergy (#3.10)" (1984)
V Madonna: daisenso (1985)
Screen Test (1985)
Zombie Brigade (1986)
Predator (1987)
Second Sight (1989)
Yume (1990)
Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993)
A Century of Cinema (1994)
Yong Chun (1994)
Men of War (1994)
Fainaru fantajî takutikkusu (1997) (VG)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
A Bug's Life (1998)
Rurôni Kenshin: Meiji kenkaku roman tan: Tsuioku hen (1999) (V
) Mifunes sidste sang (1999)
Wer liebt, dem wachsen Flügel... (1999)
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
The 13th Warrior (1999)
Cheung fo (1999)
Valkyrie Profile (1999) (VG)
Guns for Hire: The Making of 'The Magnificent Seven' (2000) (TV)
"Rabu Hina: I Love You!/Romantic Confession Inside a Cave/Tall Tale (#1.15)" (2000)
The Mexican (2001)
Yamakasi - Les samouraïs des temps modernes (2001)
Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001)
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Zatôichi (2003)
Exhumed (2003) (V) DragonBlade (2005)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004) (VG)
Film Geek (2005)
Sakigake!! Kuromati Kôkô: The Movie (2005)
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Steve McQueen: The Essence of Cool (2005) (TV)
Ma vie en l'air (2005)
The Knitting Machine (2005) (V)
Featured in
A.K. (1985)
The 62nd Annual Academy Awards (1990) (TV)
Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film (2002) (TV)
Lost in Translation (2003)
Spoofed in
Escape from Chernobourg (1999) |
| | SEVEN SAMURAI - AWARDS & NOMINATIONS | | | | | | | | Unanimously considered one of the greatest films of all time.
On Top 10 lists of most international critics. Consistently on IMDB Top 10. 100% votemeter on rottentomatoes.com
Akira Kurosawa remains to be hailed as one of the greatest and one of the most influential directors of all times.
Akira Kurosawa was given an Oscar for lifetime achievement in 1990.
Seven Samurai was nominated for two Oscars - one for art direction and the other for costume design. | | | | |
| | SEVEN SAMURAI - QUOTES | | | | | | | | About the Film
"The greatest action movie ever made." - Washington Post
"[Kurosawa] has loaded his film with unusual and exciting physical incidents and made the whole thing graphic in a hard, realistic western style." - New York Times
"Akira Kurosawa's The 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." - Roger Ebert, Chicago SunTimes
"One of the greatest epic masterpieces ever made." - Dallas Morning News
"The archetypal action classic." - San Jose Mercury News
"Moves like hot mercury, and it draws a viewer so thoroughly into its world that real life can seem thick and dull when the lights come up." - Boston Globe
"Seven Samurai is an unforgettable masterpiece -- the work of one of the world's greatest filmmakers at the height of his powers." - ReelViews
"It is clearly one of the most influential films ever made, and remains awe-inspiring even today." - Greater Milwaukee Today
"Akira Kurosawa captures the convulsive feeling of being alive and crams it inside a single movie. Seven Samurai is The Portable World." - CultureVulture.net | | | | | | | | | | | | From the Film | | | | | | | | Kikuchiyo: What do you think of farmers? You think they're saints? Hah! They're foxy beasts! They say, "We've got no rice, we've no wheat. We've got nothing!" But they have! They have everything! Dig under the floors! Or search the barns! You'll find plenty! Beans, salt, rice, sake! Look in the valleys, they've got hidden warehouses! They pose as saints but are full of lies! If they smell a battle, they hunt the defeated! They're nothing but stingy, greedy, blubbering, foxy, and mean! God damn it all! But then who made them such beasts? You did! You samurai did it! You burn their villages! Destroy their farms! Steal their food! Force them to labour! Take their women! And kill them if they resist! So what should farmers do?
Kambei Shimada: Go to the north. The decisive battle will be fought there. Gorobei Katayama: Why didn't you build a fence there? Kambei Shimada: A good fort needs a gap. The enemy must be lured in. So we can attack them. If we only defend, we lose the war.
Gisaku: Find hungry samurai.
[on taking Katsushiro as a student]
Kambei Shimada: You embarrass me. You're overestimating me. Listen, I'm not a man with any special skill, but I've had plenty of experience in battles; losing battles, all of them. In short, that's all I am. Drop such an idea for your own good. Katsushiro: No Sir, my decision has been made. I'll follow you sir. Kambei Shimada: I forbid it. I can't afford to take a kid with me.
[last lines]
Kambei Shimada: The farmers have won. We have lost.
Kikuchiyo: You fool! Damn you! You call yourself a horse! For shame! Hey! Wait! Please! I apologize! Forgive me!
Gisaku: What's the use of worrying about your beard when your head's about to be taken?
Kyuzo: Killed Two. |
| SEVEN SAMURAI - TRIVIA | | | | | | The three surviving Samurai were the first three title character actors to die in real life: Daisuke Kato (Shichiroji) died in 1975, Isao Kimura (Katsushiro) died in 1981 and Takashi Shimura (Kambei) died in 1982.
Minoru Chiaki (Heihachi Hayashida), whose samurai character was the first to die, was the last surviving star (he died in 1999).
In one scene of the film, Kikuchiyo (Toshiro Mifune) shouts at the rest of the samurai because of a comment from Kyuzo, who wished to punish all of the farmers for their previous murders of samurai. This sequence is something of a personal apology from Akira Kurosawa, speaking as one of samurai lineage, to the descendants of the farmers and civilians of Japan for the centuries of suffering they endured at the hands of the samurai class.
The Toshiro Mifune character was an inspiration for a Danish movie called Mifunes sidste sang ("Mifune's last song"), about a successful and fashionable business man who tries to hide his farming background from his friends.
Toshiro Mifune stated that his role as Kikuchiyo was his favourite and that he remembered every one of the character's lines.
Filming had to be stopped several times due to a shortage of horses for the final battle sequences.
Seiji Miyaguchi, who played the taciturn samurai Kyuzo, had not touched a sword at all before this movie. Editing and careful cinematography were both used to give the impression that he was a master.
Toho pulled the plug on the project several times when it ran over budget, forcing director Akira Kurosawa to go back and personally argue with the board of directors who were convinced they were making a flop.
Often credited to be the first modern action movie. Many now commonly used cinematographic and plot elements - such as slow motion for dramatic flair and the reluctant hero to name a couple - are seen for perhaps the first time. Other movies may have used them separately before, but Kurosawa brought them all together.
According to a Japanese film scholar, the one of the things that inspired this film was an account the director read about a actual village who hired samurai to protect them.
Kurosawa's original idea for the movie he was to make was a film about a day in the life of a samurai, beginning with him rising from his bed and ending with him making some mistake that required him to 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, but came across the above-mentioned 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 was details about what they wore, their favorite foods, their past history, their speaking habits, and every other detail he could think of about them. No other Japanese director had ever done this.
Was voted the 12th Greatest Film of all time by Entertainment Weekly, being one of two films in the magazine's top 20 greatest films not in English. Federico Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" is No. 6.
The movie is set in 1586. We learn during the scroll scene that the real Kikuchiyo was born in year two of the Tensho era (1574) and is now 13 years old. Japanese convention considered a child to be one year old when he was born and advanced his age one year each new year.
First use of a scene which is now commonplace in cinema: The approaching horde coming into view as they crest a hilltop, specifically when Kikuchiyo sees the mounted bandits approaching.
The simultaneous production of this film and Gojira (1954) nearly forced Tôhô Kabushiki Kaisha into bankruptcy. | |
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