Seven Samurai

Seven Samurai

Japanese poster
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Produced by Sojiro Motoki
Written by Akira Kurosawa
Shinobu Hashimoto
Hideo Oguni
Starring Takashi Shimura
Toshirō Mifune
Music by Fumio Hayasaka
Cinematography Asakazu Nakai
Editing by Akira Kurosawa
Distributed by Toho
Release date(s) Japan:
April 26, 1954
United States:
November 19, 1956
Running time 207 min.
Country Japan
Language Japanese
Budget US$ 500,000

Seven Samurai[1] (七人の侍 Shichinin no Samurai?) is a 1954 Japanese film co-written, edited and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film takes place in Warring States Period Japan (around 1587/1588). It follows the story of a village of farmers that hire seven masterless samurai (ronin) to combat bandits who will return after the harvest to steal their crops.

Seven Samurai is described as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made,[2] and is one of a select few Japanese films to become widely known in the West for an extended period of time. It is the subject of both popular and critical acclaim; it was voted onto Sight & Sound's list of the ten greatest films of all time in 1982 and 1992, and remains on the directors' top ten films in the 2002 poll.

Contents

Plot

A gang of marauding bandits approaches a mountain village. The bandit chief recognizes they have ransacked this village before, and decides it is best that they spare it until the harvest in several months. A villager happens to overhear the discussion. The news leaves the villagers divided about whether to surrender their harvest or fight back against the bandits. They go to the village elder, who declares that they should fight, by hiring samurai to help defend the village. Some of the villagers are troubled by this suggestion, thinking that samurai are expensive to enlist and believed to lust after young farm women, but realize they have no choice. Since villagers have nothing to offer any prospective samurai except food, the village elder tells them to "find hungry samurai."

The men go into the city, but initially are unsuccessful, being turned away by every samurai they ask — sometimes rudely. Just as all seems lost, they happen to witness a samurai, Kambei, rescuing a young boy taken hostage by a thief. As Kambei walks towards town, a young samurai, Katsushirō, asks to become his acolyte. Kambei insists that he walk with him as a friend. Then the farmers ask Kambei to help defend their village; to their great joy, he accepts. Kambei, with Katsushirō's assistance, then recruits four more masterless samurai (rōnin), each with distinctive skills and personality traits. Although Kambei had initially decided that seven samurai would be necessary, he plans to leave for the village with only the four that he has chosen because time is running short. The villagers beg him to take Katsushirō also and, with some prodding by the others, he agrees. A clownish man named Kikuchiyo, whom Kambei had rejected for the mission, follows them to the village at a distance, ignoring their protestations and attempts to drive him away.

When the samurai arrive the villagers cower in their homes in fear, hoping to protect their daughters and themselves from these supposedly dangerous warriors. The samurai are insulted not to be greeted warmly and seek an explanation from the village elder. Suddenly, an alarm is raised; the villagers, fearing that the bandits have returned, rush from their hiding places begging to be defended by the newly-arrived samurai. It turns out that Kikuchiyo has raised a false alarm. He rebukes the panicked villagers for running to the samurai for aid after first failing to welcome them to the village. It is here that Kikuchiyo demonstrates that there exists a certain intelligence behind his boorish demeanour. The six samurai symbolically accept him as belonging with them, truly completing the group of wanderers as the "seven samurai."

As they prepare for the siege, the villagers and their hired warriors slowly come to trust each other. However, when the samurai discover that the villagers have murdered and robbed fleeing samurai in the past, they are shocked and angry, and Kyūzō even comments that he would like to kill everyone in the village. Kikuchiyo passionately castigates the other samurai for ignoring the hardships that the farmers face in order to survive and make a living despite the intimidation and harassment from the warrior class. This reveals his origins as a farmer's son to Kambei. "But who made them like this?" he asks. "You did!" The anger the samurai had felt turns to shame, and when the village elder, alerted by the clamor that this revelation instigates, asks if anything is the matter, Kambei humbly responds that there is not.

The preparations for the defense of the village continue apace, including the construction of fortifications and the training of the farmers for battle. Katsushirō, the youngest samurai, begins a relationship with Shino, the daughter of one of the villagers. Shino had been forced to masquerade as a boy by her father who hoped the deception would protect her from the supposedly lustful samurai warriors.

As the time for the raid approaches, two bandit scouts are killed, and one is captured and reveals the location of the bandit camp. Three of the samurai, along with a guide from the village, decide to carry out a pre-emptive strike. Many bandits are killed, but one of the samurai, Heihachi, is slain by gunfire. When the bandits arrive in force, they are confounded by the fortifications put in place by the samurai, and several are killed attempting to scale the barricades or cross moats. However, the bandits possess three muskets, and are able to hold their own. Kyūzō decides to conduct a raid on his own to retrieve one of the muskets and returns with one several hours later. Kikuchiyo, jealous of the praise and respect Kyūzō earns, particularly from Katsushirō, later abandons his post to retrieve another musket, leaving his contingent of farmers in charge. Although he succeeds, the bandits attack the post, overwhelming and killing some of the farmers. Kambei is forced to provide reinforcements from the main post to drive the bandits out, leaving it undermanned when the bandit leader charges this position. Although they are driven off, Gorobei is shot and killed and it is revealed that Yohei, Kikuchiyo's friend, was killed at his post.

Apart from defense, the initial strategy of the samurai is to allow the bandits to enter a gap in the fortifications one at a time through the use of a closing "wall" of spears, and to then kill the lone enemy. This is repeated several times with success. On the second night, Kambei instructs them to prepare for a final, decisive battle. During the night, Katsushirō's affair is revealed, and after an initial uproar, his amorous adventures provide comic relief to the embattled militia.

When morning breaks and the bandits make their attack, Kambei orders his forces to allow the remaining bandits in at once. In the ensuing confrontation, most of the bandits are killed, but the leader takes refuge in a hut unseen. In what is portrayed as dishonorable act, he shoots Kyūzō from the safety of the hut, killing him. A despondent Katsushirō seeks to avenge his hero, but an enraged Kikuchiyo charges ahead of him, only to be shot himself. Although mortally wounded, Kikuchiyo kills the bandit chief before dying. Dazed and exhausted, Kambei and Shichirōji sadly observe "we've survived once again," while Katsushirō wails over his fallen comrades. The battle is ultimately won for the villagers.

The three surviving samurai are left to observe the villagers happily planting the next rice crop. The samurai reflect on the relationship between the warrior and farming classes: though they have won the battle for the farmers, they have lost their friends with little to show for it. "Again we are defeated," Kambei muses. "The farmers have won. Not us."

Cast of characters

The Seven Samurai

The villagers

The bandits

Production

The film was the first 'samurai picture' Akira Kurosawa had ever directed. He had originally wanted to direct a film about a single day in the life of a samurai but discovered a story about samurai defending farmers in his research. According to actor Toshirō Mifune, the film was originally going to be called 'Six Samurai' with Mifune playing the role of Kyuzo, but during the six-week scriptwriting process Kurosawa and his screenwriters realized that "six sober samurai were a bore--they needed a character that was more off-the-wall." [3] Kurosawa recast Mifune as Kikuchiyo and gave him creative license to improvise actions in his performance. After three months of preproduction, the film had 148 shooting days spread out over a year--four times the span covered in the original budget, which eventually came to almost half a million dollars. Toho Studios closed down production at least twice, but each time Kurosawa would calmly go fishing, reasoning that the studio had already heavily invested in the production and would have to allow him to complete the picture. The film's final battle, originally scheduled to be shot at the end of summer, was shot in February in near-freezing temperatures. Mifune would recall later that he had never been so cold in his life. [4]

Kurosawa refused to shoot the peasant village at Toho Studios and had a complete set constructed on the Izu Peninsula. Although the studio protested the increased production costs, Kurosawa was adamant that "the quality of the set influences the quality of the actors' performances...For this reason, I have the sets made exactly like the real thing. It restricts the shooting but encourages that feeling of authenticity."[5] He also began using multiple cameras to shoot his scenes in order to capture action sequences from various angles, a practice he would continue to utilize for the rest of his career.

Structural innovations

According to Michael Jeck's DVD commentary, 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 The Guns of Navarone, Ocean's Eleven, The Dirty Dozen, and the western remake The Magnificent Seven. Film critic Roger Ebert speculates in his review that the sequence introducing the leader Kambei (in which the samurai shaves off his topknot, a sign of honor among samurai, in order to pose as a priest to rescue a boy from a kidnapper) could be the origin of the practice, now common in action movies, of introducing the main hero with an undertaking unrelated to the main plot.[6] Other plot devices such as the reluctant hero, romance between a local woman and the youngest hero, and the nervousness of the common citizenry had appeared in other films before this but were combined together in this film.

Legacy

The single largest undertaking by a Japanese filmmaker at the time, Seven Samurai was a technical and creative watershed that became Japan's highest-grossing movie and set a new standard for the industry. Its influence can be most strongly felt in the western The Magnificent Seven (1960), a film specifically adapted from Seven Samurai. Director John Sturges took Seven Samurai and adapted it to the Old West, with the Samurai replaced by gunslingers. Many of The Magnificent Seven's scenes mirror those of Seven Samurai and the final line of dialogue is nearly identical: "The old man was right. Only the farmers won. We lost. We always lose." The film spawned several sequels and there was also a short-lived 1998 television series.

The Indian film Sholay (1975) borrowed its basic premise from Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven. The film was declared BBC India's "Film of the Millennium" and is the highest-grossing Indian film of all time.

A science fiction reworking is found in the Roger Corman release Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) which not only pays homage to the plot of Seven Samurai, it also employs one of the actors from the American remake The Magnificent Seven, Robert Vaughn.

The film Zatoichi contains a fight sequence in the rain that is, according to Takeshi Kitano, a nod to Seven Samurai.[7]

Samurai 7 is an anime remake of Seven Samurai. It was produced by GONZO and provides an alternate steampunk-themed retelling.

The game Throne of Darkness gives the player control of seven samurai (four at a time) who all closely resemble Kurosawa's characters in role, style of combat and appearance.

Stephen King's Wolves of the Calla borrows elements from this film as well as The Magnificent Seven, as is stated in his following novel Song of Susannah.

The game Mount&Blade features a Seven Samurai-inspired scenario where the player's band of soldiers can train villagers to fight bandits and help them fight off the bandits during their next raid.

The Weinstein Company is planning a remake of the Seven Samurai starring George Clooney, due to be released in 2011.[8] The screenwriter for this remake will be John Fusco, best known for having written the screenplay for Hidalgo. It will be set in the present day, involving paramilitary mercenaries defending a village in northern Thailand.[9]

The 17th episode of the second season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars is dedicated to Kurosawa, and the storyline is a free adaptation of Seven Samurai. In the episode, the seven warriors are represented by Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padawan Ahsoka Tano and four bounty hunters.

Ranked #1 in Empire magazines "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010.[10]

Edited versions and DVD releases

At three hours, twenty-seven minutes Seven Samurai would be the longest picture of Kurosawa's career.

Toho Studios originally cut fifty minutes off the film when screening it for American distributors for fear that no American audience would be willing to sit through the entire picture. [11]

A re-release version of 190 minutes was shown in the UK in 1991 and a near-complete 203 minute version was re-released in the U.S. in 2002. A Criterion DVD version of the film is currently available containing the complete original version of the film (207 minutes) on one disc, and a second, more expansive Criterion DVD released in 2006 also contains the digitally-remastered, complete film on two discs, as well as an additional disc of extra material. In addition, a region 4 DVD of the full 207 minute cut was released in 2004 by Madman Entertainment under its Eastern Eye label. According to amazon.com a Blu-Ray edition is planned for release by the Criterion Collection in late 2010.[12]

Awards and nominations

Venice Film Festival (1954)
Mainichi Film Award (1955)
British Academy Film Awards (1956)
Academy Awards (1957)
Award Person
Nominated:[13]
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White So Matsuyama
Best Costume Design, Black-and-White Kôhei Ezaki
Jussi Awards (1959)

See also

Films considered the greatest ever

References

  1. ↑ Because the Japanese language has no definite article, the question arises as to whether the proper English translation of the title is Seven Samurai or The Seven Samurai. While the former is the literal translation, either may be considered idiomatically correct.
  2. ↑ Fujiwara, Chris (2002-08-29). "Canon fodder - What it means to call Seven Samurai a great film". The Boston Phoenix. http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/movies/documents/02413162.htm. 
  3. ↑ Toshiro Mifune interview, August 25, 1993. Criterion Collection DVD pamphlet
  4. ↑ http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article/?cid=191474&rss=mrqe
  5. ↑ http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article/?cid=191474&rss=mrqe
  6. ↑ Ebert, Roger (2001-08-19). "The Seven Samurai (1954)". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20010819/REVIEWS08/401010356/1023. Retrieved 2008-10-17. 
  7. ↑ Midnight Eye interview: Takeshi Kitano
  8. ↑ Weinsteins remaking Seven Samurai?
  9. ↑ Seven Samurai Remake is About Mercs, a Thai Village, and Machineguns
  10. ↑ "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema". Empire. http://www.empireonline.com/features/100-greatest-world-cinema-films/default.asp?film=1. 
  11. ↑ http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/442-the-hours-and-times-kurosawa-and-the-art-of-epic-storytelling
  12. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Samurai-Criterion-Collection-Blu-ray/dp/B003KGBISY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1276382774&sr=1-1
  13. ↑ "NY Times: Seven Samurai". NY Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/43855/Seven-Samurai/details. Retrieved 2008-12-22. 

External links

Films directed by Akira Kurosawa
1940s
Sanshiro Sugata (1943) · The Most Beautiful (1944) · Sanshiro Sugata Part II (1945) · The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1945) · No Regrets for Our Youth (1946) · One Wonderful Sunday (1947) · Drunken Angel (1948) · The Quiet Duel (1949) · Stray Dog (1949)
1950s
Scandal (1950) · Rashomon (1950) · The Idiot (1951) · Ikiru (1952) · Seven Samurai (1954) · I Live in Fear (1955) · Throne of Blood (1957) · The Lower Depths (1957) · The Hidden Fortress (1958)
1960s
The Bad Sleep Well (1960) · Yojimbo (1961) · Sanjuro (1962) · High and Low (1963) · Red Beard (1965)
1970s
Dodesukaden (1970) · Dersu Uzala (1975)
1980s
Kagemusha (1980) · Ran (1985)
1990s
Dreams (1990) · Rhapsody in August (1991) · Madadayo (1993)