I’ll get paid for killing, and this town is full of people who deserve to die.
March 23, 2010 marked the 100th anniversary of Akira Kurosawa – a brilliant filmmaker.
Let me say it simply, Kurosawa was my Master.
Martin Scorsese
Fortunately the ladies of the household were headed out on a shopping trip, so Billy and I treated ourselves to a double feature of Yojimbo and Sanjuro. Both of these films were new to us. Billy had not seen them only because he was waiting for a time to see them both together. Well, now we had our chance – on the birthday of a giant.
The films were brilliant, and I’m sure others can review them better than I. In addition to a brilliant film, I was intrigued by its place in movie history. The film is clearly inspired by American westerns yet it also had an influence on many films which would follow it. This is one of the earliest films to highlight the kind of main character we’ve grown accustomed to in American films – an amoral antihero who is driven mostly by his own concerns. Our “hero” is the kind of man we shouldn’t really care about at all. He is the kind of man who really does not deserve our respect or admiration, yet somehow we are on his side.
If you’ve not seen either of these films, do yourself a favor and check them out. As is my normal practice, I’ve linked to a Blu-ray on Amazon. I happened to notice in this case that the reviews of this version were not very good. I don’t think there is a better version available but if I learn of one, I’ll update the links.