Seven Samurai - 3 Disc Set
A desperate village hires a group of mercenary samurai to protect it from marauders in this crown jewel of Japanese cinema. No other film so seamlessly weaves philosophy and entertainment, delicate human emotions, and relentless action. Seven Samurai is an inspired epic, a triumph of art, and an incredible three-hour ride. Stars Takashi Shimura, Toshiro Mifune, Yoshio Inaba and Seiji Miyaguchi. "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. The critic Michael Jeck suggests that this was the first film in which a team is assembled to carry out a mission--an idea which gave birth to its direct Hollywood remake, 'The Magnificent Seven,' as well as 'The Guns of Navarone,' 'The Dirty Dozen' and countless later war, heist and caper movies. Since Kurosawa's samurai adventure 'Yojimbo' (1960) was remade as 'A Fistful of Dollars' and essentially created the spaghetti Western, and since this movie and Kurosawa's 'The Hidden Fortress' inspired George Lucas' 'Star Wars' series, it could be argued that this greatest of filmmakers gave employment to action heroes for the next 50 years, just as a fallout from his primary purpose." "Many characters die in 'The Seven Samurai,' but violence and action are not the point of the movie. It is more about duty and social roles. The samurai at the end have lost four of their seven, yet there are no complaints, because that is the samurai's lot. The villagers do not much want the samurai around once the bandits are gone, because armed men are a threat to order. That is the nature of society. The samurai who fell in love with the local girl is used significantly in the composition of the final shots. First he is seen with his colleagues. Then with the girl. Then in an uncommitted place not with the samurai, but somehow of them. Here you can see two genres at war: The samurai movie and the Western with which Kurosawa was quite familiar. Should the hero get the girl? Japanese audiences in 1954 would have said no. Kurosawa spent the next 40 years arguing against the theory that the individual should be the instrument of society." ---- Roger Ebert DVD - The Criterion Collection - 3 Disc Set
Curator's Comments: Read Roger Ebert's essay on this DVD Classic. Director: Akira Kurosawa
Country: Japan
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