Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16856 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-10-06
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Black & White, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: Japanese
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 95 minutes

Synopsis
Due to the huge success of Kurosawa's 1961 epic YOJIMBO, he teamed up with Mifune a year later to make comedy of manners SANJURO. The plot concerns Sanjuro, a man fighting corruption in local government. The director parodies perfectly the conventions of Japanese period action movies and the final scene involves the very briefest of duels.

Customer Reviews

Stupid people are dangerous
The sequel to Akira Kurosawa's classic "Yojimbo" is very different in tone -- rather than a straightforward grizzled-anti-hero-cleans-up-the-town tale, it's a comic story about the grizzled hero getting stuck on a ship of fools. It's a a solid action/drama flick with plenty of comedy sprinkled in -- a brilliant parody of the sort of films that Kurosawa was famed for.
A gang of idealistic young nobles are gathered in a decaying house, talking about how they are trying to battle local corruption. Suddenly a scruffy warrior (Toshirô Mifune) who calls himself Sanjûrô Tsubaki, appears and tells them who is lying and who isn't -- and that after confiding in the treacherous superintendant, they're being set up for an ambush.

After he saves their butts and drags the none-too-bright young men into hiding, he begins concocting a plan to save one young man's uncle, who is being held as a political hostage. After rescuing the lord's wife and daughter, Sanjuro and his band of fools continue with their plots to save him from the evil superintendant -- and he teaches his bumbling co-conspirators that exalted social position isn't what keeps you alive...

Kurosawa isn't known for having made goofball comedies, and as comedies go, this is a pretty subtle one. But there's a definite comic flair to this film, from the pampered prisoner offering nuggets of wisdom to the silent "happy dance" that all the young noblemen do. At the same time, there's a poignant note to Sanjuro's regrets about the men he's killed -- including men much like himself.

Even steeped in comedy, Kurosawa's creativity is still intact -- to give the feel that people are running, he shows short, rapid shots of several young men running down different streets. There are a few flaws (a lot of people get cut down without a speck of blood) but only a really determined nitpicker would let it bug them. And the finale is a shatteringly brutal scene, reminiscent of a western shoot-out, where you almost expect Sanjuro to put on a white cowboy hat and spit.

Mifune is wonderful as the grubby, grumpy samurai who is like an "unsheathed blade," and who has more brains than his little gang. He gives the character a lazy, languid air, sort of like an unexploded land mine. His followers are well-acted, though they don't have much individual personality. And small supporting roles -- like the kindly, prim noblewoman and the friendly prisoner in his little closet -- are very well-drawn.

Lurking under the comic flourishes is an intelligent film with likable characters, solid writing, and plenty of action. "Sanjuro" is as good as the film before it, though in a slightly different way.

Akira Kurosawa spoofs the samurai genre he made famous
It is not often that a master film director spoof the genre that made his reputation, but that is really what we have with Akira Kurosawa's "Sanjûrô." If you see only one samurai film then it would have to be "Shichinin no samurai" ("Seven Samurai"), which has always been on the first hand I use when I start listing the greatest movies ever made. But this is also the director who introduced Japanese cinema to the world with "Rashômon," and made the classic films "Kumonosu jô" ("Throne of Blood"), "Kakushi toride no san akunin" ("The Hidden Fortress"), and "Ran."

Once again Toshirô Mifune returns as the same arrogant hero he played in "Yojimbo" (which means "Bodyguard"). The name he gives, when forced to do so, is Sanjûrô Tsubaki. It was Sanjûrô Kuwabatake in the first film, which told the story of a crafty and cynical wandering ronin who comes to town being fought over by rival gangs and exploits one against the other to make some money and free the town. "Yojimbo" was based on Dashiell Hammett's novel "Red Harvest," although it is uncredited in Kurosawa's film. "Yojimbo" was remade in the West several times, most notably by Sergio Leone in "Per un pugno di dollari" ("A Fistful of Dollars") and most recently in the Bruce Willis film "Last Man Standing."

There were certainly moments of grim humor in "Yojimbo" (such as when Mifune kills two samurai and cuts the arm off of a third and tells the Cooper "Two coffins...No, maybe three"). But in "Sanjûrô" Kurosawa has fun with just about everyone and everything from the start. Mifune's samurai is highly skilled but relentleslly crude, even when he is forced to deal with genteel ladies. His sleep at a shrine is interrupted by nine young samurai who are trying to rescue the uncle of their leader, who has been taken by a corrupt official. These young samurai are hopelessly idealistic and totally naive (they mistakenly think they know who the corrupt official is because he is the one who is not good looking). Sanjûrô decides to help them, not just because their cause is right, but because these kids are going to get slaughtered if he lets them run off to save the day.

Sanjûrô keeps heaping scorn and contempt on the young samurai who show a collective inability to do the right thing and usually to make things worse. It does not help that Sanjûrô rarely explains his plans to his young allies, which makes it easier for these kids to interfere with his plan. Meanwhile, our hero makes an impression on Muroto (Tasuya Nakadai, in a role similar to what he played in "Yojimbo"), the chief samurai of the corrupt officials, which allows him to do a little inside work to help move things along in the desired direction. You would think that Muroto would catch on that the young samurai are not good enough to keep defeating our hero and tying him up, but that just serves to reinforce the idea that Kurosawa is playing this one for laughs.

That being said, in the end "Sanjûrô" is memorable because of the final scene, which offs a shocking and bloody contrast with the rest of the film with one of the most unforgettable duels in all of samurai films. Talk about putting an exclamation point at the end of a film. Kurosawa might have been having fun with his characters and the genre, but in the end he certainly reminds us he is a master.

There are those who argue that it does not matter which in which order you see these two films and since I first came across them in the wrong order I can honestly say that I sort of prefer seeing them backwards simply on the basis of the way Mifune's character arcs from one film to the next. But in terms of going from the known to the unknown, watching this classic 1962 film after "Yojimbo" would be the way to go. Seeing both of them, along with Kurosawa's other masterworks, is what is ultimately important.

An original display of artistic talents!
Akira Kurosawa continues what can only be described as a laid back epic, where a lone Samurai, played by Mifun, again stumbles upon a matter of crisis, where he may offer his services to put things right again, for his own benefit of course. This Samurai takes money and food for his talents, and does so with side-splitting character, that leaves your eyes watering long after laughing, and this 'character' is brought to life through the amazing talents of Mifune.

After a number of mistakes made by the foolish chamberlain's supporters ( A man involved in politics, who was going to rid the system of the corrupt leaders, but proved to be too ugly to gain favour, and so was kidnapped) to find and rescue him, it ends up taking the simplest of minds to prove the most tactile and reasonable, and the from experience, the Samurai can offer victory. A very engaging, well polished and entertaining watch, worthy of any DVD collection, and of course it would be, its Akira Kurosawa!