Complete Guide to Red Harvest/Yojimbo Adaptations/Remakes
There are plots which are adapted often... And then there's this, a basic structure which was re-used in such a big number of movies it could easily qualify as a genre.
Also some people admit similarities with "Il servitore di due padroni" (The Servant of Two Masters), a 1745 play by Carlo Goldoni, the plot is first seen in its entirety in Dashiell Hammett's novel "Red Harvest" (1929). The basic outline - a skilled man with no name arrives in the small city, torn by rivaling gangs and, being employed in both of these gangs manages to destroy them completely.
Akira Kurosawa adapted Hammett's novel (also using some portions of another novel of Hammett's - "The Glass Key") as "Yojimbo", a samurai movie which itself was remade a lot, both legally and illegally.
This list tries to compile titles which used the Red Harvest/Yojimbo premise, even partially. I keep updating the list with new examples, which I still keep finding after nearly five years of research.
If you have time for weird videos, here's my YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/PictureProductStudio http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWkcL-G3OwVvVb1B94bH5hQ
Also some people admit similarities with "Il servitore di due padroni" (The Servant of Two Masters), a 1745 play by Carlo Goldoni, the plot is first seen in its entirety in Dashiell Hammett's novel "Red Harvest" (1929). The basic outline - a skilled man with no name arrives in the small city, torn by rivaling gangs and, being employed in both of these gangs manages to destroy them completely.
Akira Kurosawa adapted Hammett's novel (also using some portions of another novel of Hammett's - "The Glass Key") as "Yojimbo", a samurai movie which itself was remade a lot, both legally and illegally.
This list tries to compile titles which used the Red Harvest/Yojimbo premise, even partially. I keep updating the list with new examples, which I still keep finding after nearly five years of research.
If you have time for weird videos, here's my YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/PictureProductStudio http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWkcL-G3OwVvVb1B94bH5hQ
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- DirectorHobart HenleyStarsHelen MorganCharles RugglesFred KohlerA boozing newsman (Charles Ruggles) woos a singer (Helen Morgan) while spying on her bootlegger boyfriend (Fred Kohler).Ironically enough, first and only official adaptation of Hammett's novel bears nearly no resemblance to source material.
- DirectorDwain EsperStarsBill WoodsHorace B. CarpenterTed EdwardsA former vaudevillian gifted at impersonation assists a mad scientist in reanimating corpses and soon goes mad himself.There is a rather hilarious spin on that kind of plot in the climax of this movie.
- DirectorBudd BoetticherStarsRandolph ScottCraig StevensBarry KelleyTexan Tom Buchanan is heading back home with enough money to start his own ranch, but when he stops in the crooked town of Agry, he's robbed and framed for murder.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneEijirô TônoTatsuya NakadaiA crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town.
- DirectorSergio LeoneStarsClint EastwoodGian Maria VolontèMarianne KochA wandering gunfighter plays two rival families against each other in a town torn apart by greed, pride, and revenge.
- DirectorSergio CorbucciStarsFranco NeroJosé CanalejasJosé BódaloA coffin-dragging gunslinger and a prostitute become embroiled in a bitter feud between a Klan of Southern racists and a band of Mexican Revolutionaries.
- DirectorLuigi VanziStarsTony AnthonyLloyd BattistaHitoshi ÔmaeAn American gunfighter is tasked with delivering a valuable scroll to a feudal lord in Japan, and becomes embroiled in a feud between the lord and his rival cousin over ownership of land owed to a young princess in their care.
- DirectorKihachi OkamotoStarsToshirô MifuneShintarô KatsuAyako WakaoZatoichi tries to unrest the mob rule over a small village all while the gang leader's bodyguard is actually the Yojimbo, secretly taking the gang down from the inside. Will the two heroes realize in time that they are on the same side?
- DirectorAndrea BianchiStarsHenry SilvaBarbara BouchetFausto TozziA reformed prostitute joins forces with a paid assassin to end an Italian gang war.
- DirectorKazuhiko YamaguchiStarsShin'ichi ChibaAkane KawasakiYayoi WatanabeA karate fighter and a samurai join opposing gangs to take them down from the inside.
- DirectorJuan BoschStarsChet BakonDiana LorysRoberto CamardielA murder-mystery set in the old wild-west. A wandering gunman/lawman comes to a town in the old west where lawlessness and crime roam.
- DirectorGeorges LautnerStarsJean-Paul BelmondoGeorges GéretJean-François BalmerCommissaire Stanislas Borowitz is going undercover as gangster Antonio Cerutti in order to expose corrupted policemen.
- DirectorGeorge MillerStarsMel GibsonBruce SpenceMichael PrestonIn the post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland, a cynical drifter agrees to help a small, gasoline-rich community get rid of a horde of bandits.Second half of the movie bears quite a resemblance to "Yojimbo".
- DirectorJohn C. BroderickStarsDavid CarradineLuke AskewMaría SocasA fearsome swordsman, Kain, crosses the barren wastelands and comes upon a town where two arch enemies fight incessantly for control of the town's only well.
- DirectorHrafn GunnlaugssonStarsJakob Þór EinarssonEdda BjörgvinsdóttirHelgi SkúlasonAn Irish man seeks vengeance against the vikings who killed his parents.
- DirectorsGeorge MillerGeorge OgilvieStarsMel GibsonTina TurnerBruce SpenceAfter being exiled from the most advanced town in post-apocalyptic Australia, a drifter travels with a group of abandoned children to rebel against the town's queen.This time resemblance is more evident in the first half of the movie.
- DirectorJ. Lee ThompsonStarsCharles BronsonKay LenzJohn P. RyanArchitect/vigilante Paul Kersey takes on the members of a vicious Los Angeles drug cartel to stop the flow of drugs after his girlfriend's daughter dies from an overdose.
- DirectorsSteve ClarkJohn WalkerBob CurtisStarsLorenzo MusicThom HugeHoward MorrisThe Lasagna Zone: Jon brings home a new satellite dish with an unusual warning which Garfield doesn't notice and as a result, winds up in the TV. Sleepytime Pig: The Sandman missed the farm and Orson didn't sleep all night so his friends try to make him tired. Yojumbo: Jon and Liz are mugged on a date, so Jon goes for martial art lessons while Garfield becomes 'Yojumbo', a Samauri warrior cat to protect Jon.Segment "Yojumbo".
- DirectorsJoel CoenEthan CoenStarsGabriel ByrneAlbert FinneyJohn TurturroTom Reagan, an advisor to a Prohibition-era crime boss, tries to keep the peace between warring mobs but gets caught in divided loyalties.
- DirectorMasamitsu HidakaStarsRikako AikawaMadeleine BlausteinMegumi HayashibaraThe gang arrive in a place called Dark City to find that two rival gyms have been terrorizing the place with their feud.
- DirectorAaron NorrisStarsChuck NorrisMichael ParksAl WaxmanA Cop goes undercover as a Hitman to bring down a criminal organization.
- DirectorRobert RodriguezStarsCarlos GallardoConsuelo GómezJaime de HoyosA traveling mariachi is mistaken for a murderous criminal and must hide from a gang bent on killing him.
- DirectorRajiv RaiStarsAkshay KumarSuniel ShettyRaveena TandonA journalist comes to the aid of a murderer with a life sentence when she makes an appeal in court and although he is given his freedom, they soon discover that there is a grim reason behind his release.An unofficial (at times - shot-for-shot) remake of "Death Wish 4: The Crackdown".
- DirectorBoaz YakinStarsSean NelsonGiancarlo EspositoSamuel L. JacksonDeath and violence anger a twelve-year-old drug courier, who sets his employers against each other.
