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Akira Kurosawa’s three-and-a-half-hour sprawling epic Seven Samurai (七人の侍/Shichinin no samurai) is a masterpiece, a crown jewel in cinema. This film indeed proves the saying, “No good movie is too long.” With a running time that could have induced sleep,Seven Samurai is a lofty and thrilling ride. It is a tour-de-force in filmmaking rarely matched by contemporary films.

Watching Seven Samurai did not make me feel like I was watching an “old” film. It is indeed the very definition of a classic – timeless. The visual imagery, lush cinematography and kinesthetic editing, all of which are Kurosawa’s signature style, are just so powerful that they stunned me. Together these aspects allow Seven Samurai to combine the flamboyance of Kabuki with the serenity of Noh.

This genre of “uniting against a common enemy” was pioneered by this film. It really works since Kurosawa carefully introduced the plight of the farmers and then delicately brought to us the seven samurai one by one – Kambei, Shichirōji, Gorōbei, Heihachi, Katsushirō, Kyūzō and Kikuchiyo. The “gang” was a colorful bunch indeed and the exposition was done with such poetic beauty – contrasting personalities balanced by one goal.

No one is more colorful and flamboyant than Kikuchiyo, played by the magnificent thespian Toshirō Mifune. Kikuchiyo indeed ranks as one of the most memorable characters in film. He was able to incorporate mischief and humor without losing chivalry and gravitas. Mifune’s performance rivals his other entrancing turn in Kurosawa’s Rashômon. The character’s transformation from being a crooked prankster to a valiant warrior is seamless and has been often copied by other films since then.

The battle scenes are equally great. Even in just a small scale, Seven Samurai puts to shame a lot of “epic” war movies and make them look like a joke. Kurosawa incorporated a certain rhythm, a dynamic of cycling tranquility and chaos as if he was choreographing dance. Well, there was indeed a dance as the farmers were planting rice but that is beside the point. Even his composition of poignant mise-en-scène made such an impact that the film’s images remain etched in my mind after viewing. The film really captures the zeitgeist of the era.

Overall, Seven Samurai is a memorable and unbelievable cinematic experience with its exquisite combination – and sometimes oxymoronic juxtaposition – of comedy, romance, action and melodrama. This extensive Kurosawa magnum opus may be endlessly remade, copied and imitated but it remains and will always remain a timeless and true crowning achievement.

Many would not consider Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954) to accurately be a western. But if you were to look at the scope of the picture, it has the similar cinematic structure of filmmaking. But aside from the technical side of the film, many film scholars as the most Western consider it. As I mentioned before the samurai character is equally identical to the persona of a western gunman, each following a code of honor and pride. In the American West, the cowboy or gunslinger would follow the Code of the West that dictated that men can never turn their backs away from the fight and could pursue an opponent in contest, even if it resulted in death. In Japan, the Code of Samurai (or Bushido) meant following the moral values of obedience and self-sacrifice during great acts of conflict.

Like many traditional western stories, this film follows the same construct of humanism, analyzing the human character in crucial thought. The film takes place in Medieval Japan and involves peasants and their village being ravaged by marauding bandits, but eventually it expands to courage and teamwork. They soon make the reluctant decision of hiring samurai to take out the bandits in exchange for their rice. Three of the villagers are sent out and soon encounter the first of the seven samurai, Kambei Shimada (Takashi Shimura). In a symbolic moment, he shaves his hair and dresses as a humble monk as a way to rescue a child from a madman. This crucial moment gives the idea that he is most spiritual or light-hearted samurai of the group.

In response to this act of nobility, the peasants decide to recruit Kambei who becomes the leader of the group; he is considered the wisest and once served as a soldier. The second to follow is Katsushiro Okamoto, a naïve young warrior that becomes Kambei’s disciple. Third is Gorobei Katayama, a clever archer who becomes Kambei’s right-hand man in defense for the village. The fourth member is Schichiroji, who once was Kambei’s lieutenant. Heihanchi Hayashida becomes the fifth member of the group, who was recruited by Gorobei. Kyuzo, the sixth samurai originally refused to join the group, but later changes his mind; he is a skilled swordsman. Finally, the seventh member is the hotheaded and comic relief, Kikuchiyo (played by Toshiro Mifune); he is considered a wannabe samurai and later proves his fighting techniques.

From the opening sequence, you are immediately drawn in toward these characters. It is a question of why risking their lives for peasants? I think from a certain point of view that the samurai warrior must follow his primal nature, which is matched by keeping their peace in mind and follow their steadfastness of how Roger Ebert describes the film as “imposing society in complex social achievements.” It is about the duty and social roles of defense. Every character and backdrop stays in focus; the characters are in shots together, obviously in groups, but helps of how they all respond to each other as opposed to one at time, very similar to certain characteristics from John Ford’s Stagecoach (1939). Kurosawa was greatly influenced by the mastery of Ford. Both directors use long lenses that create this canvas-like scope that makes a picture more much elaborate. More importantly an audience identifies the similarities between the samurai and the cowboy. Though separate countries, both follow a code of honor. It is also the structure of morality as well. Kurosawa uses the standard question of “why can’t anyone be happy?” and then extends on conflicting human virtues. I think Seven Samurai is lesson to be learn, about how to stand up for your fears and how to reform a person’s delayed bravery, so as a loosely based western it also becomes a lifelong lesson.

Seven Samurai is a masterpiece, there’s no doubt about it. While it’s not necessarily my favorite film by Akira Kurosawa, it is definitely his most powerful work. Toshiro Mifune steals the entire movie, Kikuchiyo is a character that no one can forget. He has a great deal of character development and has the most investment in the battle. The conclusion of his life is nothing short of heroic. The style Kurosawa brings to this, like all of his films, is outstanding. Everything is extremely well planned and precise. The look of the film is utterly beautiful, the final battle is perfectly dark and tragic. There is an incredible sense of imagery that cannot be forgotten as well. I think it’s a movie that everyone should sit down and see at least once. It is truly an epic, clocking in at 3 1/2 hours, but it goes by so fast that you don’t even notice it.

Seven Samurai, the 1954 Akira Kurosawa masterpiece, is considered by many to be one of the greatest films ever made, and with good cause. It is recognized as one of the greatest achievements in cinema and is considered to be the Japanese equivalent to Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane. This movie centers around seven ronin (master-less samurai) who band together to protect a village of poor farmers from ruthless bandits. This epic was directed and co-written by master director Akira Kurosawa, the first true visionary of Japanese filmmaking, including his 1950 film, Rashomon, which opened the world to Japan as a film-making nation. His other accomplishments include Ran, Throne of Blood and Yojimbo. It stars Takashi Shimura, who takes a leading role as an honorable samurai named Kambei, the hero of the story. It also has a scene-stealing role from Toshirô Mifune, who plays a samurai whose origins are unclear and must prove himself time and time again. Mifune perfectly nails his role as Kikuchiyo, who is a mix of the strongest character, a lone wolf, but who also is often the light-hearted, silly character, providing comic relief.

This movie was influential for many reasons, especially considering it was the first movie to show a group of people banding together to accomplish a single goal. It was also the first movie credited as stylizing violence, a technique used often now, and the first movie to show a young warrior falling in love before going to battle. It is also often credited as the first movie to use slow motion for dramatic flair and to have a continually reluctant hero. Furthermore, what makes this film an enduring, entertaining and wonderful piece of art comes through in its simplistic story, with an extreme amount of emotional resonance and distinct visual style employed by Kurosawa. The story is a rather simple concept that is often used, but what makes this film stand head and shoulders above other films is the character development and themes involved with those characters. This movie, using a myriad of well-developed characters, helps define the nature of honor and discusses deep concepts such as man’s need to strive for goals he will never achieve. Another reason this movie is memorable getting to see this amazing story through the eyes of Akira Kurosawa. He shows all that happens in a distinct manner, which often tells more than any character could say through words. This movie runs at an admittedly long three and a half hours but no one would describe this as “long-winded”, using great editing, humor and amazing action sequences to make the running time briskly move along.

All in all, Seven Samurai is an amazing character study, an epic of great proportions, and an action movie with a romance sub-plot, which still finds time to teach the viewer universal lessons that all humans need to learn. This movie was remade for America, like many Kurosawa pictures, into the famous and well made, yet inferior, western, staring Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen, The Magnificent Seven (1960). Seven Samurai is currently ranked as the 15th best movie of all time, as voted on by users, on IMDB.com and is tied for the 5th highest rated movie on Rottentomatoes.com, a movie review aggregate. This is undoubtedly one of the best made films I’ve ever seen and I recommend it to all. If it wasn’t obvious, I give this movie a ten out of ten and would consider this a must-see for anyone who enjoys watching movies. This is the best example of why everyone should watch movies.

Imdb.com Rating: 8.8/10 (#15 all-time)

Rottentomatoes.com Rating: 100% with a 9.2 average rating (the second highest rating ever given)

My Rating: 10/10-A near perfect, if not perfect, movie

Seven Samurai is nearly impossible to write about. It’s greatness, it’s overwhelming grandness, is beyond words. You could talk about the cinematography, direction, its simple story, the acting but what would any of that say about this movie. Those are only pieces that make up the whole and yet the whole transcends a simple breakdown. To speak of Seven Samurai in those terms would, at the very least, be reductive, if not offensive. The movie is 3 hours of build-up to what in my estimation is the greatest battle scene ever film, the climactic showdown in an unbelievable rainstorm. There are certain images or scenes from movies that stand out through all time, even if the movie itself is forgettable, great, iconic images that say more about the movie than words ever could, but this bloody, muddy, rain-soaked, do-or-die last stand by the samurai and villagers against the invading bandits is something that, once seen, can never be forgotten by the viewer. It’s brutal, exciting, powerful and overwhelmingly moving. Seven Samurai is a movie that when you finish viewing you really feel that THAT is a MOVIE! THAT is why movies exist! THAT is why we watch them and love them and remember them! THAT is why movies are an important and lasting art form. I would rank Seven Samurai among the ten or twelve best movies I’ve ever seen!

Endlessly influential, continually surprising and incredibly enjoyable, Seven Samurai is the absolute pinnacle of Kurosawa’s career. The story of seven itinerant samurai who stoop to help a poor farming town defend itself from bandits, the film is an epic commentary on duty, social roles and the obligation of one human being to another. Filled with astounding characters and directed with such absolute confidence as to defy description, its influence on world cinema is too vast to describe.

I just saw a restored print of this on the big screen with newly translated subtitles. I had forgotten how long it was (with an intermission). It is more about slowly revealing the characters and saving the big action sequences for the end. I really enjoy the outdoor setting as well. I think I’ve mentioned it in other reviews, but there is something so beautiful about the forest. The hills surrounding the small village are magnificently captured, the wind blows, the dust is stirred up, and when it rains, the mud replaces the splatter of blood. The movie starts with a lot of slow steady drum beats for accompaniment and culminates with the rapid patter of sandaled feet and pounding hooves of the attacking bandits’ horses.

The story takes its time as four peasants led by Rikichi (Tsuchiya) go to town to enlist the help of samurai for the defense of their village. Samurai are born into privilege, can read and write and enjoy leisurely arts, and are generally proud of their social standing and skill. They finally find the good-hearted and intelligent Kambei (Shimura). Two other samurai are watching Kambei too. Katsushiro (Kimura) is a young man who immediately has great respect for Kambei and requests to be his disciple. Kikuchiyo (Mifune) is boisterous and intrigued by the more clever man, but expects Kambei to give him respect and acceptance automatically. The other samurai are gathered once Kambei agrees to the peasants’ proposal. Toshiro Mifune is such a treat when he appears again drunk, trying to claim upperclass lineage, and wildly trying to prove some skill to the other six who only laugh. Toshiro’s performance might seem over done, he’s such a ham. I couldn’t accept his wildly different style when I first saw this movie, but I grew to love him. Having seen him in some others pictures by now, I was totally with him during this viewing. He adds much needed humor. The story continues slowly as Kambei leads a careful defense plan to protect the four sides of the village. Meanwhile, the villagers “piss and cry” at every little thing and try to learn from the samurai how to use spears to defend themselves. Katsushiro has a romantic subplot with Shino, one of the peasants’ daughters. Backstories are revealed about a couple of the other peasants and about where Kikuchiyo came from. Finally the bandits attack! And Kambei methodically checks off the chart on his map as they lessen the bandits’ numbers. It’s a very controlled, but impressive, and close battle as the villagers fight for their lives with the strategic leadership of the samurai.

Been a fan of this film since 1993. I had in on VHS and now both DVD versions from Criterion. I’m sure I’ll get it again when/if it’s released on Blu-Ray. This is film is the epitome of genius on every possible level. I probably watch it at least twice a year; however, I still have yet to see it on the big screen. Hopefully one of the repertory theaters around here will screen it on a Sunday afternoon. That would be brilliant.

Its generally the first film that comes to mind when the question of “what is the greatest film of all time” is asked. A film that combines the elements of drama, action, love, humor and tragedy; what more could film goer ask for? Its pure Kurosawa. the film will forever be known not only for being regarded as the greatest samurai film of all time, but for creating character and plot archetypes which would be later reused and recycled in countless films decades after its release. But of course none have come close to topping the cinematic wonder that is Seven Samurai. Even with the help of million dollar special effects and shaky camera shots could reinvent the epic final battle sequence. The story is so simple, yet genius: “a sixteenth-century village whose desperate inhabitants hire the eponymous warriors to protect them from invading bandits” (The Criterion Collection). It also doesn’t hurt that it features two of the greatest performances from Japan’s greatest screen actors (and Kurosawa regulars) Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura, plus a good list of supporting performances from the rest of the cast. But when it comes down to it, it works because Kurosawa is behind the camera. No other director could have crafted such a masterpiece and have it hold up as well as it does today. This remains Kurosawa’s seminal work, and since this is the same man who gave us works of art like Rashomon, Drunk Angel, Ran, Ikiru, and Yojimbo, its saying something.

The story at the center of Seven Samurai has been told many times since the film’s release: a small village continually hounded by evil bandits sends men to the City to hire defenders. The defenders will seem to be not up to the task and the villagers will learn to find strength within themselves. The story has been repeated in The Magnificent Seven, a remake of this film, The Three Amigos, and A Bug’s Life to name a few favorites. It’s a strong core story and works because the looming threat of the bandits’ return and the questionable strength of the defenders make for surefire suspense.

Samurai, like our previous entry Grand Illusion, also examines a rigid class structure and how conflict can temporarily throw this structure out of alignment. The Samurai, the honored warrior class, do not socialize with the relatively low on the totem pole farmers. They serve noble families and are paid well, but an ongoing civil war has destabilized 16th century China and increased the likelihood that there will be samurai looking for work and food. The uncertain times bring the noble mercenaries and lowly farmer temporarily together.

Young samurai apprentice Katsushiro will not surprisingly have a romance with the farmer’s daughter. We expect as much. They will hide this romance from the girl’s father, but not merely because he will disapprove of his daughter’s indiscretion, but because it is an insult to the sacrosanct class structure. When the samurai is discovered, is his shame merely that of a man caught in a hidden affair or is it also due to his being caught in a dalliance below his station?

Preparation for the coming fight makes up a large portion of the film. Director Kurosawa does an excellent job of laying out the geography of the village as the samurai survey the land they will defend and attempt to discover its weak points. These scenes give the viewer a sense of geography and allow us to participate fully in the film’s epic closing battle. We are right in the thick of the action and have a grasp of the strategy taking place.

The care taken in preparing the viewer for the battle is refreshing. Modern action filmmaking more often than not give an impression of tense battle with quick cuts of explosions or swords clashing accompanied by a heroic theme. We understand that chaos is taking place on an epic scope, but have no sense of what exactly is happening. Kurosawa carefully orients the viewer and never loses you in the mayhem. The skirmish at the climax of this film is very small in size, but Kurosawa still manages to create the sense of an epic battle. Forty armored bandits, a few with firearms, will take on about a hundred villagers. But the stakes are high. The villagers if they lose will surely die. They are not trained warriors and there are not nearly enough samurai to defend the village.

The final battle is one of the best ever filmed. Deaths are sudden and brutal, but Kurosawa does not linger over them. He rushes us on to the next heated skirmish. The unskilled villagers fight badly, but fight with intense hatred. They swarm in large groups and thrust wildly and clumsily with their makeshift spears. Terrorized for years by the bandits, they act out with great fury when in battle. Cutting between wide shots of the village and close ups of hooves falling and spears thrusting, Kurosawa places us in the midst of the battle. The entire effect is thrilling and frequently disturbing. All of this is accomplished with no visible bloodshed.

Kurosawa like Renoir also employs long takes and deep focus to great effect. In early scenes when the villagers are trying to recruit samurai,the director uses a combination of deep focus and forced perspective to underline the villagers’ poverty. (Forced perspective is utilized in The Lord of the Rings films to make the actors playing hobbits appear much smaller than others onscreen.) The villagers can only pay their potential saviors in rice and their small, but essential, container of rice frequently dwarfs the villagers. Every shot in the film is carefully composed and full of meaning. We wonder at Kurosawa’s camera that both serves story, but also moves with grace and agility. He films movement with such urgency and clarity.

The film is not only notable for the prowess of Kurosawa’s direction, but also for the performances. Toshiro Mifune—the inspiration behind Jon Belushi’s choleric Saturday Night Live samurai—first appears to be the film’s comic relief. He desires to be a samurai, but lacks the necessary refinement and bearing. But he proves to be a valuable morale booster. As the story continues, Mifune develops a darker side to his character as the reasons for his lack of refinement emerge. Takashi Shimura, playing the samurai leader Kambei Shimada, lends his character the necessary gravity while at the same time providing the film’s moral center. He is a great leader, but also a humanitarian willing to work for food in defense of the needy.

Seven Samurai is a black and white film and features subtitles which have kept it from reaching a broader audience. It has also been done the honor and disservice of being labeled a masterpiece which lends it the impression of being stuffy and humorless. The film is, however, is an extremely enjoyable and engrossing action film. Some would say it is The Action Film. It is sure to please both the film snob and average viewer.