Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, and he gathers six other samurai to join him.Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, and he gathers six other samurai to join him.Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, and he gathers six other samurai to join him.
- Nominated for 2 Oscars
- 5 wins & 9 nominations total
Toshirô Mifune
- Kikuchiyo
- (as Toshiro Mifune)
Yukiko Shimazaki
- Wife
- (as Yukio Shimazaki)
Isao Kimura
- Katsushiro
- (as Ko Kimura)
Kokuten Kôdô
- Old Man Gisaku
- (as Kuninori Todo)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAkira Kurosawa's original idea for the film was to make it about a day in the life of a samurai, beginning with him rising from bed, eat breakfast, go to his master's castle and ending with him making some mistake that required him to go home and kill himself to save face. Despite a good deal of research, he did not feel he had enough solid factual information to make the movie. He then pitched the idea of a film that would cover a series of five samurai battles, based on the lives of famous Japanese swordsmen. Hashimoto went off to write that script, but Kurosawa ultimately scrapped that idea as well, worrying that a film that was just "a series of climaxes" wouldn't work. Then, producer Sôjirô Motoki found, through historical research, that samurai in the "Warring States" period of Japanese history would often volunteer to stand guard at peasant villages overnight in exchange for food and lodging. Kurosawa then came across an anecdote about a village hiring samurai to protect them and decided to use that idea. Kurosawa wrote a complete dossier for each character with a speaking role. In it were details about what they wore, their favourite foods, their past history, their speaking habits, their reaction to battle and every other detail he could think of about them. No other Japanese director had ever done this before.
- GoofsIn the closing moments of the final battle, the bandits fire two musket shots only seconds apart. It is clear from the plot that at that point they possess only one musket. The black powder muskets of the age required much more time to reload. This error was pointed out in the commentary of the deluxe DVD edition.
- Quotes
Kambei Shimada: This is the nature of war: By protecting others, you save yourselves. If you only think of yourself, you'll only destroy yourself.
- Alternate versionsThe film's original Japanese release version runs 207 minutes, plus intermission, which includes four minutes of entr'acte music against a blank screen. This is the version that has been generally shown worldwide since the 1980s, though sometimes it is shown without the intermission and entr'acte, resulting in a listed running time of 203 minutes. The initial U.S.A. release was re-titled 'The Magnificent Seven' and released November 1956, with English subtitles, and ran 158 minutes. Some European releases were even further shortened to 141 minutes. Landmark Films re-released the film in the U.S. in December 1982, the first time outside Japan the film saw a major release with its running time intact (although the intermission and entr'acte were removed). Later U.S.A. releases by Avco-Embassy Pictures, Janus Films, and Films Incorporated, and by BFI in the UK, are also the full original version of the film.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Objective 500 Million (1966)
Featured review
Story-telling at its finest, "Seven Samurai" is a terrific film not because of a handful of memorable scenes or lines, but rather because scene-by-scene, frame-by-frame, it tells an interesting story as well as it is possible to tell it. The story and characters are developed carefully, and everything about the movie, from the settings and props to the musical score, is done carefully and expertly.
Mifune grabs the attention in most of his scenes, and Shimura's more restrained character is a nice balance. Those two have the best parts, but all seven of the samurai are memorable characters. The sequence of events that collects the seven together occupies the first part of the movie, and forms a perfect foundation for the rest. A few of the villagers are also portrayed nicely, although they are naturally overshadowed when the samurai are around.
The story always moves along nicely, with many ups and downs. It has enough unpredictability to keep you interested the whole time, without ever losing its credibility. There is plenty of action, but there is also substance behind the action to give it more significance. The only possible drawback is the long running time (you can always split it up into two installments, but it's more satisfying if you can watch the whole story through at once), but there is little that you could cut out, even if you wanted to. It holds your attention the entire time with a good story and great technique, not by resorting to sensational or sordid details.
This movie well deserves its reputation for excellence, and is one that everyone who appreciates classic cinema will want to see and enjoy.
Mifune grabs the attention in most of his scenes, and Shimura's more restrained character is a nice balance. Those two have the best parts, but all seven of the samurai are memorable characters. The sequence of events that collects the seven together occupies the first part of the movie, and forms a perfect foundation for the rest. A few of the villagers are also portrayed nicely, although they are naturally overshadowed when the samurai are around.
The story always moves along nicely, with many ups and downs. It has enough unpredictability to keep you interested the whole time, without ever losing its credibility. There is plenty of action, but there is also substance behind the action to give it more significance. The only possible drawback is the long running time (you can always split it up into two installments, but it's more satisfying if you can watch the whole story through at once), but there is little that you could cut out, even if you wanted to. It holds your attention the entire time with a good story and great technique, not by resorting to sensational or sordid details.
This movie well deserves its reputation for excellence, and is one that everyone who appreciates classic cinema will want to see and enjoy.
- Snow Leopard
- Nov 27, 2001
- Permalink
Details
Box office
- Budget
- ¥125,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $820,278
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $15,942
- Jul 28, 2002
- Gross worldwide
- $1,070,079
- Runtime3 hours 27 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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