The four films in this section are the work of one man—Akira Kurosawa. It is completely unfair to limit one country's contribution to the genre to so narrow a cross section, but Kurosawa's films are the most widely known and available of the serious Japanese war films. And he always had an international audience in mind, even when it made his life and work difficult at home. I…
Kakushi Toride No San Akunin • Three Rascals in the Hidden Fortress • Three Bad Men in the Hidden Fortress 1958 Akira Kurosawa Akira Kurosawa's lighthearted adventure is best known in the West as an inspiration for George Lucas's Star Wars. Lucas translates characters, situations, themes, and even landscapes from feudal Japan to a galaxy far far away, but Kurosawa wasn…
1985 Akira Kurosawa Akira Kurosawa's mature masterpiece is an adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear, with strong elements of his own Throne of Blood, itself a version of Macbeth. Such comparisons apply only to specific plot elements. In every respect this is one of the most significant achievements of world cinema—an epic of war, betrayal, madness and family. As an old man, L…
Shichinin No Samurai The Magnificent Seven 1954 Akira Kurosawa Ignore labels. Call it a war film, an adventure, a period piece—Akira Kurosawa's early masterpiece is one of the few films that genuinely deserves to be called “great.” Though the setting is 16th century rural Japan, the film's emotions and conflicts are universal. Like so many of Kurosawa's w…
1961 Akira Kurosawa Though some sources give mystery writer Dashiell Hammett partial credit for the script to this seminal adventure tale, it really belongs to Akira Kurosawa. He may have borrowed the concept of a lone man playing two opposing forces off against each other, but he simplified and streamlined the story so effectively that it owes little to Hammett. Variations on the theme show up i…