Yojimbo -- What Makes This Movie Great? (Episode 40)
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
- It's one of the great male-warrior movies. It's Akira Kurosawa's "Yojimbo."
Yojimbo is about a wandering samurai who deals with a corrupt town. That town has two clans that are terrorizing the locals via a never-ending cold war between then. What will Sanjuro the samurai do?
This video gives a little bit of analysis and interpretation about Yojimbo. It discusses why the movie still matters and why it is great.
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Kurosawa loved Dashiell Hammett and took some elements of Red Harvest and implemented into this movie. Red Harvest is about the Continental Detective going to Personville (aka Poisonville) which was run by a corrupt businessman but is now own by three gangsters, whom he hired to stop protestors, and a corrupt police chief. Basically the Dick manipulates every to kill each other much like Yojimbo.
thank you.
I've watched this movie at least once a year since I discovered it as a teen on the BRAVO channel back when they played worth while content.
this is an excellent movie to make an annual watch. Its themes are timeless, going back to Homer's Odyssey (e.g., the purging of Ithaca).
I watched this yesterday and I never watched a samurai movie before so this was pretty cool stuff!
absolutely, and there are many more great ones. enjoy!
In which case you MUST watch Seven Samurai. It’s magnificent.
I just received my Yojimbo pressure washer. Was looking for tips on how to use. Maybe I can use the water jet like a samurai sword and cut through the grunge on my patio.
wouldn't Yojimbo shun a pressure washer for a rag or something?
@@LearningaboutMovies Maybe your thinking of Karate Kid
So many anime protagonists owe their entire persona to this movie. As someone who grew up with anime, I don't know if a single live action film has influenced the general vibe of shonen anime more.
Short answer, everything!
Great video !
Thank you.
You look like the guy who stole the chipmunks🤣 great vid
haven't seen that movie, but I knew you were talking about David Cross before I looked it up. Check him out in "She's the Man." The spitting image.
XD
:)
;)
Just watched this movie for the first time, and I was shocked to see the seeds of so many other future movies. Obviously, this is a very seminal film. Even the shot of the little dog with the severed hand in its mouth was recycled by David Lynch in "Wild at Heart." I can definitely see the Rambo influence, too. And clearly Tarantino recycled some bits in "Kill Bill."
good suggestions for Yojimbo quotes!
What makes this movie great is the Mifuni shoulder shrug!!!!
one of the greatest flics of the genre and of all time... the combination of Kurosawa and Mifune is exceptional! Thanks for explanations and description!
you're welcome.
Sanjurō is my favorite fictional character
Has a lot of swag, personality, charisma and he's deadly as a black mamba.
New to this channel; definitely gets a subscribe
thank you.
Really happy to see someone reviewing this classic. I have watched this movie for at least twenty times, but not fed up a bit! The uniqueness of great films is that they create characters and persona, rather than building huge set pieces and CGI gimmicks.
The legendary Toshiro Mifune embodied the true personality of a Samurai. Watch him being thrashed about. Watch how he falls with the coffin in the graveyard. He demonstrated the vulnerability of a tough man.
Thanks again for reviewing this movie.
Please review Sanjuro
Sanjuro is worthy of it. I'll get to it eventually. thank you.
I have always loved this movie, even though I didn’t understand it. Thanks for explaining.
OTHER Films "inspired" by YOJIMBO: A FIST FULL OF DOLLARS (1964); CRY OF A PROSTITUTE (1974); STAR WARS (cantina duel -- 1977); THE USUAL SUSPECTS ((1995) + 1950's RASHOMON 😉); and LAST MAN STANDING (as you previously mentioned -- 1996) 😎👍
why didn't they just rip this off and make an obi-wan film?
Mifune could have had sir Alec Guinness's part of obi wan Kenobi in starwars...he was offered the role before sir Alec... very interesting to think about... would mifune have worked as old ben?...i think he would have...i wonder if he regretted not taking the offer?
that would be completely bizarre. I cannot imagine it.
@@LearningaboutMovies The scene in the cantina where Obi-Wan slices off the arm of the bandit is the EXACT SAME SCENE from YOJIMBO. The bandits are even BRAGGING in the same stupid way as in YOJIMBO before Obi takes 'em out 😉 ...so YEAH, that part was originally written FOR Mifune 😁👍
S&W Model 2 .38 Blackpowder. 1876, making this movie around 1878 at least because the revolver had to travel from USA to Japan.
The bruce willis flick is called "Last Man Standing" and it actually is pretty awesome
haven't seen it since it came out.
I rank it as No 4 of the 5 versions I have seen.
Cuz Walter Hill makes BADASS films!!! 🥳🎉😎👍
Wow I just watched yojimbo and I searched this.❤️
thank you.
Jackson Cynthia Williams Karen Lopez Carol
Mifune is great as is Nakadai Tatsuya best looking villain of all time a great actor would have been considered the best if not for Mifune. You mentioned Last Man Standing which is also a great telling of this story. Thanks I really liked Bruce Willis and setting of this movie, being a prohibition and depression baby I really related to this version of this classic
On another note would you considered doing a segment on “The Godless Girl” directed by Cecil B Demille.
A great movie caught between the silents and talkies. Starred an actress caught in between also Lina Basquette who made many enemies of the wrong people in Hollywood. She never gave up and in the end she was much loved and respected in the show business of dog shows as a breeder ,handler, and judge. Great channel will watch for more.
thank you. good suggestion, which I have not seen. I will put that on my watchlist.
Thank you. Before I was a Fugitive From The Chain Gang was the Godless Girl which brought attention to reform schools in the US, like the Fugitive from Chain Gang did to the southern penal system. Lina.was the Older Half Sister of Marge Champion who just went at 101 to the great dancehall in the sky three months ago. Lina also danced at sixteen in the Ziegfeld Follies in 1923 and 1925 before marrying Sam Warner which was the beginning of her career problems when Sam died in 1927 a day before the Jazz Singer Premierd
Garcia Christopher Lee Sharon Wilson Melissa
"Yo jeem bo." One of my father's favorite movies. Great movie. Fistful of Dollars was a kind of remake I think. Eastwood was very familiar with Kurosawa and seemed to admire him.
FIST FULL OF DOLLARS wasn't a "kind of remake" -- it was a full-blown RIP-OFF. Kurosawa SUED Leoné ... and WON! 😎👍
Taylor Carol Anderson Dorothy Jones Sarah
As I have said before it is a great film which outshines those later made remakes.
Anyway, I love the film. I love it more than its decent remakes the Italian one and the US Last man standing, and even more than Magnificient Seven, although I love all of its 3 versions done through the last 4 decades, the last one being made in 2016 if I recall it well.
What makes Kurosawa's masterpiece is timeless and a classic and a forever intriguing and loveable film is the fact that it has everything in it to the level of perfection.
There is an excellent story. There are amazing and interesting characters, all of them are really different. It has wonderful dialogues and an easy humour. The humour of the film is really marked. It gives a whole new dimension to an otherwise dark tale with bloodshed. It is witty.
The story is both a moral one and a demonstration of the changing times and the changes in the Japanese society. It is also a criticism of the Japanese way.
The ronin is walking offence to the system. The samurai is let go of their jobs and livelihoods and they become many times homelss and unemployed which forces them to become wanderers and at times assassins/bandits in search of food. It is a heavy criticism on a society that makes thousands of men homeless and unemployed. Kurosawa was acutely aware and very vocal about the problems of his country and he often choose to tell his opinion in his films.
Then let me tell you some other things: the music is just perfect, each frame is, and the direction and acting down to the last details are awesome and perfect. I deliberately overuse this word because there is not a better word than: perfect, to describe this movie.
The acting is sublime to use another superlative and it is expected with those Kurosawa chose to act in his film. He is a director of meticulous design. He knows what he wants, down to the look that he wants to see on someone's face, I mean everyhing. Literally, everything is in his control. You cannot find a flaw, even if you are searching for it with a magnifying glass, for hours. That is Kurosawa.
Mifune Toshiro is ..yes, I ran out of words to describe him and his acting. I can only say that this is one of the many pairing with Nakadai Tatsuyaand it works superbly. They are great togehter. And of course as in most films, he cuts him down. It seems ot be Nakadai's fate in nearly all the films they are together with Mifune Toshiro. There were notably only 3 films where Mifune did nto cut him down.
In summary, Yojimbo is a great film, it is a must see.
excellent comment, thank you.
@@LearningaboutMovies Thank you. I love Mifune, I appreciate Kurosawa a great deal and I like Nakadai too. More than anything else I love Mifune in any film, but if it is a Kurosawa, Okamoto, Inagaki or Kobayashi film it is even better. I love those masters. I love the 4 directors that made Dai Chusingura 1971 series of one the greatest Japanese historical event, that was suprerbly documented. It is the story of the 47 loyal ronin and that is its best adaptaion, ever.
Magnificent Seven is a remake of Seven Samurai, not Yojimbo.
@@danieldavalos3562 Yes, did I make that mistake? Okay, I will edit it, dunno sometimes I just make mistakes. Thank you for notifying me.
@@42kellys Also; "A Fistfull Of Dollars" is the Sergio Leone adaptation. A film that almost captures the soul of "Yojimbo" but falls just short, at least to me. And that was only because you don't get the feeling that Clint is ever really unsure of his victory. Sanjuro is more fallible and more human. He seems to accept that his life could end at any step, but the man with no name seems too confident. Even when they capture him and beat him. I believe it's because the western sensibility doesn't allow for our heroes to be anything but infallible in the end! Even our anti-heroes!
Also the final duel is infinitely more in doubt as Sanjuro faces Unosuke and his pistol with only his blades! A situation that could go bad very easily!
I will say that Satos music is perfect for Yojimbo as Morricones is for the Spaghetti adaptation. They are both masterpieces of their milieu!
Thomas Deborah Lewis Jose Jones Ruth
Last Man Standing WAS and IS a good movie.
I'll take your word for it. I remember hating it as a teenage male, and that was when I loved Bruce Willis action movies. However, I have read the Hammett novel since then, so perhaps I should try again.
@@LearningaboutMovies Maybe. You may or may not feel different. There are things I know are quality that I don't like.
Honestly I'd have never known about Yojimbo without Last Man Standing as I hadn't seen Fist Full Of Dollars until many years later and also due to Last Man Standing.
I absolutely love Yojimbo. Is have never known about other asians cinema such as Zatoichi or Lone Wolf and Cub among others if not for Last Man Standing. It opened up an entire new world for me. LMS I has a great ambient score and it's little things I lile about it. In some of the gunfights you can hear when he's off camera the sounds of reloading sometimes. And I liked that it wasn't an action movie that it focused more on the plot. And Christopher Walken, always enjoyable. I suppose nothing beats Yojimbo but you can tell the care that's gone into these remakes of it.
On a side note did you ever realize A Bugs Life is Seven Samurai?
Not clans, they are merchants not samurai. They are like a yakuza, gangsters a big difference from clans. Also, Sanjuro was once samurai but is now unemployed. That is ronin.
I am not sure what you are responding to. forget what's in the video.
@@LearningaboutMovies You were referring to the criminal groups as clans. It is not an accurate word choice as clans in Japanese history were military in nature. In Yojimbo the two criminal gangs are merchant class based criminal organizations. The movie is set at the end of Tokugawa rule in Japan mid to late 1800's after the Boshin Wars and the samurai were loosing their pay and status. Society was in flux and Kurosawa was refrencing his post WWII Japan to this period in Japanese history. Sanjuro, Mifune's character, represents traditional Japanese culture and heritage an unemployed samurai called a ronin. The western influence on modern japan being represented by merchant class criminal gangs. Western values being concerned with money, business and capitalism. The merchant class was the lowest class in feudal Japan because they handled money. Money was beneath the samurai who were one of the higher classes. Honour, justice and truth do not mix with business and money in traditional Japanese thinking. With all of this in mind there is a difference in Yojimbo between a clan, which is something that references tradition, honour and heritage- like Sanjuro and the dirty money lustful yakuza criminal gangs he sets about to destroy.
You made a good review, I was simply pointing out where it could have been stronger. Cheers
thank you. that is very helpful.
@@SatsumaTengu14 Isn’t it ironic how what was beneath them is now above everyone else now?
Saw this in cinema today, great classic, great music.
Loved the tension before the final fight began.
> 2:48 there are two kinds of stories: people go on a quest, or a stranger comes to town
I suspect the fundamental divide is this: do the main characters aim at changing or preserving the status quo? People who go on a quest by the very nature of a quest seek to change the status quo. When a stranger comes to town he or she changes the status quo and the dramatic tension is about preventing the status quo from changing in a bad way.
For example, in Terminator 2, a time-traveling killer robot comes to town aiming to upset the status quo of "John is alive", then John Connor goes on a quest to free Sarah (changing her psychiatric inmate/patient/whatever status), then they go on a quest to blow up Cyberdyne Systems (changing the status quo from it existing to it not existing), then the stranger who came to town is dealt with (restoring the status quo of no time-traveling killer robots existing).
Horror movies are almost always about preserving the status quo of "the main characters are alive" when a shark/ghost/robot/psychopath/xenomorph/predator comes to town. I speculate that movies in general have a darker tone when they're about preservation than when they're about progress/change, but I welcome counterexamples.
excellent, thank you.
Two reasons; Toshiro Mifune and Akira Kurosawa!
There are two films which have left their mark on my imagination. Yojimbo is one of them.
Which version of the subtitles is better -- the early or later version ?
When was the second version introduced ?
Great 😎
You forgot about the fantasy remake from 1984 The Warrior and the Sorceress which is crap and the Islandic Viking movie Hrafinn Flygur (when the raven flies) from the same year. The islandic one is the 2nd best after Yojimbo in my opinion. It is also the one that differs the most from Yojimbos original as the two rival gangs aren't rivals at all. Instead the hero has to spread suspicion and misunderstanding to make them fight eachother. See it if you can, it is a beautiful and brilliant movie.
thank you.
Great film!
yes!
Love it
thank you.
Great video man.
thank you.
As per the comment below, it seems Even the cowboy and gauchos culture of the whole America was happened only after Kurosawa film....🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
No, not true.
What an amazing channel ,love it ,subbed.
thank you very much!