Movie #36: Seven Samurai

Movie #: 36
Movie Title: Seven Samurai
Year Released: 1954

Director: Akira Kurosawa
Notable Cast: Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, Isao Kimura, Daisuke Katō, Seiji Miyaguchi, Yoshio Inaba, Minoru Chiaki, Kamatari Fujiwara, Kokuten Kōdō, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Yukiko Shimazaki, Eijirō Tōno, Bokuzen Hidari

Short Description: A poor village under attack by bandits recruits seven unemployed samurai to help them defend themselves. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: #17
Ranker.com: N/A
Lifed.com: #7
Empire.com: #50
FilmCrave.com: #86
FlickChart.com: #20



Date Watched: 10/22/2016

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good)
Adjusted Grade: 4 out of 5 (Excellent)

Rationale: Any film that has an intermission is probably longer than it needs to be, but Akira Kurosawa uses every minute of Seven Samurai to craft an exquisitely detailed and thoughtful story. The cast features familiar faces from other Kurosawa films I've watched and both Takashi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune are at the top of their game as always. I particularly enjoyed Mifune as the goofball of the group of samurai because that was a side of him I don't recall seeing in other Kurosawa films and he excelled at it. The memorial scene in the very last minutes of the film is sad, but quite powerful.