Seven Samurai

[jmb2891]

Just watched Seven Samurai on TCM, a Japanese movie directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring Toshiro Mifune (at the time of this writing, TCM is having a marathon of Akira Kurosawa & Toshiro Mifune movies, for anyone interested).

The movie is about a group of peasants hiring seven samurai to protect them from a group of bandits. It is considered one of the greatest movies of all time and was remade in America into a Western called The Magnificent Seven, which was successful in its own right. It, along with The Magnificent 7, inspired the 5th book in Stephen King's Dark Tower series, The Wolves of the Calla.

Has anyone else seen it? If so, what did you think of it? It was pretty good and had plenty of action scenes, several funny ones (such as Mifune's character trying to ride a farmer's shoddy horse:lol , and a love interest for the youngest character.

[jeffbert]

I watched it yesterday, & have seen it before. If you really want to appreciate this film, get the CRITERION DVD, & run the commentary audio; I had no idea of the importance of topknots until running that commentary. It makes mention of another samurai film, in which topknots are central to the plot, but until you run the commentary, I will defer further comment on them.

BTW, I also ran the commentary on the MAG-- 7; INTERESTING STUFF!

Also, RASHOMON was the inspiration for OUTRAGE, though the latter was nowhere near the quality of the former.

[jmb2891]

I watched it yesterday, & have seen it before. If you really want to appreciate this film, get the CRITERION DVD, & run the commentary audio; I had no idea of the importance of topknots until running that commentary. It makes mention of another samurai film, in which topknots are central to the plot, but until you run the commentary, I will defer further comment on them.

I'll have to check that out. I also want to watch The Magnificent Seven and was disappointed to learn that my dad, a big fan of Westerns, does not own it, so I'll have to find it.

I'm in the last book of the Dark Tower series, and in the author's note of Wolves of the Calla, Stephen King talked about both movies, so when I saw it on TCM I had to watch it.

[jeffbert]

You might also like YOJIMBO & its Western & gangster versions, FIST FULL OF $$ & LAST MAN STANDING, respectively. If you enjoy that story, watch CLINT EASTWOOD: OUT OF THE SHADOWS; it has an amusing comparison between YOJIMBO & FIST FULL OF $$.

[jmb2891]

^Thanks for the suggestions. A couple years back, Dad bought a boxed set of every Clint Eastwood movie. There are a few in there I've been wanting to see, but haven't yet.
I believe Yojimbo was shown on theTCM marathon, but I had to work later and wouldn't have had time to watch it if I had really wanted to (at the time).

A few years back, I downloaded from Limewire a samurai movie, which I wanna say was Lone Wolf and Cub (one of them, at least), but am not sure, for a reason I cannot remember (likely b/c I read it was an inspiration for Kill Bill or something). I have long since deleted the file for room, but I remember a scene that stands out where the main character cut a would-be assassin's throat, and his last thoughts were how much his blood gushing sounded like a river running. Wouldn't mind seeing that again.

[jeffbert]

I have seen all the LW&C movies, but cannot recall such a scene, though I likely forgot. I can say that there was blood & lots of it. Perhaps Cybotron can say for certain, as he loves LW&C.

[jmb2891]

Yeah, it was 3 or 4 (or more) years back. It has to be one of them b/c I remember what the kid looked like and when I looked it up after posting, I saw his picture.
Btw, I ordered The Magnificent Seven on Amazon earlier today and am eagerly awaiting its arrival. Interestingly, the Special Edition was cheaper than the single disc version . I also looked through Dad's Eastwood box set and discovered it lacks the Dollars trilogy. It's the 35 Films, 35 Years set, and I suspect that it's only the movies either Eastwood himself owns the rights to or the ones Warner Bros. owns the rights to. So I'll be looking for those, too.
I looked up the Criterion Seven Samurai DVD on Amazon and it's a lot more expensive than I thought it'd be.

[cybotron]

I have seen all the LW&C movies, but cannot recall such a scene, though I likely forgot. I can say that there was blood & lots of it. Perhaps Cybotron can say for certain, as he loves LW&C.

Hmmm I remember that scene It's LW&C. But Kurasawa as the immediate Kukuro of the Samurai based Isa'Nami Ninja would not be proper. Honda should be the focus. The Mysterians... Or is the discussion closed to counter Kurasawa thought?

[jmb2891]

^I know little about Kurosawa, so say whatever you want . The rest of what you said went completely over my head, though. Admittedly, I know very little about samurai films, or Japanese films at all for that matter. I only watched Seven Samurai (and was not disappointed) b/c King referenced it as inspiration and I'm the kind of guy who likes to see what inspired a work I thoroughly enjoy (such as The Dark Tower).

[jeffbert]

You are not alone in being mystified by Cybotron's post, I have rarely understood these sayings.

BTW, since you live in the USA, you can enroll in NETFLIX; I have borrowed many hundreds of discs from NF, & usually reserve actually buying titles to region 2 discs & others unavailable from NF.