Sunday, March 28, 2010

#78 Yojimbo - how to get rid of two gangs by selling yourself to both sides...

1961. Dir. Akira Kurosawa, starring Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai. Japanese with subtitles.

Seen it before? No.

Toshiro Mifune plays Sanjuro - a warrior who comes to a town where two gangs are duking it out so that one gang can rule and terrorize the town. What he does is interesting. Instead of leaving, which would have made the story end that much sooner, he sells his fighting skills to one gang and then the other in an attempt to eradicate both gangs and in essence free the town of gang activity.

The sword fights were underwhelming, cheesy and fake. It was like watching old Jackie Chan movies where he karate chops a guy (barely touching him) and the sheer force of the wind knocks him down.

Parts of the story irritated me...one part in particular was when the guy bet his wife in a game, lost her, and then wouldn't take her back because she was damaged...ARGH! Men suck!

See it again? That's ok
Own it? That's ok too.

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