Seven Samurai [Criterion Collection] [2 Discs] [Blu-ray]

Director: Akira Kurosawa Akira Kurosawa

Overview

Akira Kurosawa's epic tale concerns honor and duty during a time when the old traditional order is breaking down. The film opens with master samurai Kambei (Takashi Shimura) posing as a monk to save a kidnapped farmer's child. Impressed by his selflessness and bravery, a group of farmers begs him to defend their terrorized village from bandits. Kambei agrees, although there is no material gain or honor to be had in the endeavor. Soon he attracts a pair of followers: a young samurai named Katsushiro (Isao Kimura), who quickly becomes Kambei's disciple, and boisterous Kikuchiyo (Toshiro Mifune), who poses as a samurai but is later revealed to be the son of a farmer. Kambei assembles four other samurais, including Kyuzo (Seiji Miyaguchi), a master swordsman, to round out the group. Together they consolidate the village's defenses and shape the villagers into a militia, while the bandits loom menacingly nearby. Soon raids and counter-raids build to a final bloody heart-wrenching battle.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/19/2010
UPC:	0715515054911
Original Release:	1954
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[B&W]
Language:	English
Time:	3:27:00
Sales rank:	57

Special Features

Disc one:; Two audio commentaries, one featuring film scholars David Desser, Joan Mellen, Stephen Prince, Tony Rayns, and Donald Richie, and the other japanese film expert Michael Jeck; Disc two:; Fifty-minute documentary on the making of Seven Samurai, created as part of the toho masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: it is wonderful to create; My life cinema, a two-hour video conversation from 1993 between directors Akira Kurosawa and Nagisa Oshima; "Seven Samurai"; origins and influences, a documentary looking at the Samurai traditions and films that helped shape Kurosawa's masterpiece; Theatrical trailers and teaser; Gallery of rare posters, behind-the-scenes photos, and production stills

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Takashi Shimura	Kambei
Yoshio Inaba	Gorobei
Seiji Miyaguchi	Kyuzo
Minoru Chiaki	Heihachi
Daisuke Kato	Shichiroji
Ko Kimura	Katsushiro,Katsushiro, young samurai
Kuninori Kodo	Gisaku,Actor
Kamatari Fujiwara	Manzo
Yoshio Tsuchiya	Rikichi
Bokuzen Hidari	Yohei
Yoshio Kosugi	Mosuke
Keiji Sakakida	Gosaku
Jiro Kumagai	Gisaku's Son
Haruko Toyama	Gisaku's Daughter-in-Law
Fumiko Homma	Peasant Woman
Ichiro Chiba	Priest
Tsuneo Katagiri	Peasant
Yasuhisa Tsutsumi	Peasant
Keiko Tsushima	Shino
Toranosuke Ogawa	Grandfather
Noriko Sengoku	Wife from Burned House
Yu Akitsu	Husband from Burned House
Gen Shimizu	Masterless Samurai
Jun Tasaki	Big Samurai
Isao Yamagata	Samurai
Jun Tatari	Laborer
Atsushi Watanabe	Vendor
Yukiko Shimazaki	Rikichi's Wife
Sojin Jr.	Minstrel
Shimpei Takagi	Bandit Chief
Eijiro Higashino	Bandit
Kichijiro Ueda	Bandit
Akira Tani	Bandit
Haruo Nakajima	Bandit
Takashi Narita	Bandit
Senkichi Omura	Bandit
Shuno Takahara	Bandit
Masanobu Okubo	Bandit
Eijiro Tono	Bandit
Toshirô Mifune	Kikuchiyo
Fumio Hayasaka	Composer

Technical Credits

Akira Kurosawa

Hideo Oguni

Shinobu Hashimoto

Akira Kurosawa	Director,Screenwriter
Hideo Oguni	Screenwriter
Shojiro Motoki	Producer
Shinobu Hashimoto	Screenwriter
Yoshio Sugino	Stunts

Editorial Reviews

Director Akira Kurosawa's 1954 masterwork simultaneously works as an action-packed "western," an engrossing character study of individuals in crisis, and a profound examination of the social ties that bind people within communities. The basic story is simple: A beleaguered village decides to face down marauding brigands by hiring the titular mercenaries. These seven men (or The Magnificent Seven, as the hit American remake dubbed them) unite the villagers and fend off the bandits. One of Kurosawa's greatest achievements here is the way he imbues the film's many characters with such distinctive personalities that we come to care deeply for them. Among a slew of memorable performances, both Takashi Shimura as the sage samurai leader and Toshiro Mifune as the uncouth warrior who evolves into a hero, are particularly affecting. The celebrated climactic battle in the rain is a thrilling set piece that has rarely been equaled, thanks to Kurosawa's unique brilliance for conveying motion onscreen. The Seven Samurai stands as a superbly human epic and a glorious celebration of the cinematic experience.

Barnes & Noble - Steve Futterman

Widely considered one of the greatest films ever made, Seven Samurai was both the apex of Akira Kurosawa's long career and the high-water mark of the Japanese period drama. The film's action rivets the viewer in spite of the three-hour-plus running time: the battle sequences, among the best ever filmed, are immediate and visceral; and the characters are complex and so well-rendered that the viewer grieves when one dies. Like few other historical films, it captures not only the physical look of the time but also its essence. Like Jean Renoir's masterpieces Grand Illusion (1937) and The Rules of the Game (1939), Seven Samurai illustrates the collapse of social distinctions and the growing irrelevance of old traditions in dangerous and chaotic times. Kurosawa questions the division between samurai and bandit, between good and evil. In one scene, peasant-born Kikuchiyo heatedly argues that the samurai have been abusing and exploiting the peasants for centuries. In this framework, the samurais' acts of bravery, selflessness, and honor seem absurd, if not pointless. The peasants' choice of the samurai over the bandits is merely one of a lesser evil. Once the bandits are gone, the samurai will no longer be needed. This is underscored in the film's poignant end, when the surviving three samurai leave the village, receiving neither acclaim nor reward, as the villagers plant rice. American audiences were so impressed with Kurosawa's epic masterpiece that it was remade into John Sturges' Magnificent Seven (1960).

All Movie Guide - Jonathan Crow