Is Yojimbo a Western?
You may have seen the story as a western or a gangster film or a postapocalyptic adventure—even if you’ve never seen the original movie, Akira Kurosawa’s “Yojimbo.” Released in the U.S. 50 years ago and now available on Blu-ray, “Yojimbo” has proved to be one of the most enduring and influential Japanese films.
Is Yojimbo a sequel?
SanjuroYojimbo / Sequel
Sanjuro (椿三十郎, Tsubaki Sanjūrō) is a 1962 black-and-white Japanese jidaigeki film directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring Toshiro Mifune. It is a sequel to Kurosawa’s 1961 Yojimbo.
Why is it called Yojimbo?
Yojimbo means bouncer or bodyguard in Japanese. The character was created for the film Yojimbo (1961), an unofficial adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s novel Red Harvest, directed by Akira Kurusawa).
How does Sanjuro end?
In the movie’s final scene, Mifune faces off against Tatsuya Nakadai, a samurai he has defeated. And since Mifune has also outsmarted him, Nakadai’s honor is at stake. He requests a duel. Mifune makes a half-hearted attempt to talk him out of it, but fails.
What is the plot of Yojimbo?
A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master (Toshirô Mifune), enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon (Kamatari Fujiwara) and sake merchant Tokuemon (Takashi Shimura) to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.Yojimbo / Film synopsis
What inspired Yojimbo?
It was inspired by Dashiell Hammett’s detective novels, including Red Harvest (1929) and The Glass Key (1931), and was patterned after American westerns, especially the lone-hero films of John Ford, and in turn Yojimbo inspired Italian “spaghetti westerns,” notably Sergio Leone’s “Dollars trilogy” starring Clint …
Why is Yojimbo called Yojimbo?
What does Yojimbo mean in Japanese?
Bodyguard
Yojimbo (用心棒, Yōjinbō, “Bodyguard”) is a 1961 Japanese samurai film directed by Akira Kurosawa, who produced the film with Tomoyuki Tanaka and Ryūzō Kikushima. The two bosses each try to hire the newcomer as a bodyguard.
What is the theme of Yojimbo by Akira Mifune?
In Yojimbo, the theme of foreign influences is most visibly displayed in the duel between Mifune’s sword fielding superhero and his antagonist, the gun slinging samurai portrayed by Tatsuya Nakadai. This piece of new technology threatens traditional values, so much so that even the superhuman hero is afraid of it.
What does Yojimbo stand for?
Yojimbo (用心棒, Yōjinbō, “Bodyguard”) is a 1961 Japanese samurai film directed by Akira Kurosawa, who produced the film with Tomoyuki Tanaka and Ryūzō Kikushima. Kurosawa wrote the screenplay with Kikushima and Hideo Oguni based on Kurosawa’s story.
Why is Yojimbo so popular?
Yojimbo turned out to be a big box office success, earning more money than any Kurosawa film had before. Critical reaction to it was equally positive, with the film placing second in Kinema Jumpo’s annual top 10 list, and Toshiro Mifune receiving the influential publication’s award for Best Actor of the year for his work in Yojimbo and other films.
When did Yojimbo come out?
Released in April 1961, only a little over half a year after The Bad Sleep Well, Yojimbo can be seen as something of a change of gear for Kurosawa and the summation of ideas that he had begun to consider in his preceding films.