Written by: Ryuzo Kikushima & Akira Kurosawa

Directed by: Akira Kurosawa

BBD Comments:

I was thrilled by this selection.

‘Yojimbo’ is much less familiar to me than Kurosawa’s ‘The Seven Samurai,’ but in the end it is a far more personal epic than the better known classic. The methodical unfolding of the film allows for character development rather than exposition to drive the story. Every last extra seems fleshed out by the story’s conclusion, and as we learn about them all we are spirited away to this cloying environment of almost charming vendetta.

The whole town is either killed or changed by it’s encounter with the mysterious Ronin. And though he changes little, if at all, in terms of wealth and circumstance, this lost and purposeless Samurai shows his nobility so grudgingly that you cannot help but realize he is a man of great character. Toshirô Mifune delivers an affecting and effective performance as this darkly heroic victim of changing times.

Kurosawa carefully sets up the environment and story line, creating stirring imagery that is almost painterly in its power.

The film’s set up of the warring factions told through the windows of the Old Man’s restaurant was reminiscent of ‘Rear Window’ in it’s cleverness and efficiency. Mr. Wiener has cut to the quick of the Movienight penchant for Anti-Heroes by selecting this prototypical example of the form. As he and I discussed, save the rugged Everymen of Film Noir, ‘Yojimbo’ is the earliest and purest incarnation of the rogue hero in cinema history.

Kurosawa’s Japanese Bodyguard set the bar for Seventies Cinema protagonist 6 years before ‘Bonnie and Clyde.’

It’s unique score also presages the later era as it’s discordant melodies and jaunty anthems distance the audience from the horrific carnage while it connects them deeply to Kurosawa’s delicate storytelling tone.

I am delighted this film has joined our canon, and envy the library Wiener has started for Coolbaugh.

Coolbaugh Comments:

“Watch this. You’ll see how many films have been touched by this.”

Enter the most obscure Movienight title to date: ‘Yojimbo,’ directed by Akira Kurosawa. It was my first Kurosawa experience. It was, needless to say, a completely new and refreshing experience. I had never even heard of Kurosawa.

This distinctly old world Japanese dark comedy commands your respect immediately. Kurosawa’s vision and goal is so crystal clear, that you’d be hard pressed to find one frame that you could cut. When Toshirô Mifune rolls into town, you can’t help but think of Alan Ladd in ‘Shane:’ the old school “gunfighter” who appears to be looking to turn over a new leaf in a new era. It is then that the first of many twists and turns takes you by surprise. Completely unaffected by the madness that has captivated this insanity-stricken spot on the earth (which might as well be the dark side of the moon) our Samurai quickly analyzes the situation and begins to unfold a very careful plot in which he uses the town’s paranoia and madness to his own advantage.

The conflict seemed beyond comprehension at times. I kept asking myself, “who’s that guy?” and “is that the dude from the beginning?” I felt as if I were falling behind. And just when I was ready to give up, my questions were addressed - almost on cue – with the coolness and calmness of our Samurai character himself.

It’s a meticulously crafted journey through the madness of one man’s imagination. You sense you’re being led through by the hand of Kurosawa himself. You can almost see him looking back at you, smiling and enjoying every furrow in your brow as if he planted it there himself. My advice: forget about what you think a movie should or shouldn’t be – just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.

You know, it wasn’t too far into the film that a cloud of melancholy appeared above my head. Could I ever select a film for this crowd again? Obviously, the days of ‘Fast Times’ and ‘Rocky’ are gone. They’ve joined the time-worn ways of learning to walk, pre-pubescent hairless balls and thinking Stephen King books were cool.

Thank you Wiener, for the most challenging selection to date. Thank you for pushing the envelope with the confidence that enables me to sit back and know that I’m going to be treated to something I wish happened years ago. And last, but not least, thanks for making my selection next week a virtual guaranteed flop.  It was well worth it.

Maybe I’ll bring nachos.

Until then. Onward.

Nubs Comments:

Controversial SELECTOR, Wiener, has brought us something of a gem this week. The diamond in the rough was Kurosawa's "Yojimbo". It is a priceless gem in that buried under a narrow, deliberate plot, hardly recognizable characters, and tedious pace is a film that launched genres and style for film eternity. It is an important, important film that Davis has already illustrated in his review and post-game comments. It definitely adds credibility to our repertoire and I appreciate that the forum forces me to watch this movie in a setting too cold to fall asleep.

It is becoming apparent that consciously or sub-consciously SELECTORs are weaving themes and individual styles with their picks. I find it ironic after Davis's ‘Network’ incident and subsequent apology we move right back into film class this week. I disagreed with Davis apology for ‘Network,’ because it was a very personal favorite that he has always shared with his friends. I refused to apologize for ‘Meaning of Life,’ or any of my selections, cause at the end of the day its always an enjoyable evening had by all, er, most. Justine will start to be labeled, “Cotton Candy,” and Coolbaugh likes everything.

So let us call Wiener, “The Professor.” He is excellent at criticism and gives us a much needed obscure and intellectually historic arsenal for our list. He makes us appreciate the first rule of Movienight because, though I need to see these movies in my life, if I saw ‘Yojimbo’ or ‘Papillon’ on the syllabus, i'd be tempted to skip class to avoid napping in front of my peers. "Psst, Coolbaugh, want to skip Wiener's class tonight, smoke a fatty and watch ‘Rocky.’ Its fuckin Wednesday night, its late, and we're young - is that so wrong?"

SELECTOR Comments:

I see ‘Yojimbo’ and ‘First Blood’ as bookends to the American cinema of alienation that dominated serious moviemaking for the better part of two decades.  In ‘Yojimbo,’ we see the themes that go on to define the Anti-Westerns of Leone and Peckinpah, but also the morally ambiguous crime and cop stories of De Palma and others.  The crisis of authority, it is either absent or corrupt, is central to ‘Yojimbo’ and defines moviemaking in the 1960s and 1970s around the world.  It's not until a post-First Blood America with faith and optimism restored through Ronald Reagan that government returns as a positive force, patriotic ideals get restored, and the good guys win.

‘Yojimbo’ riffs on the classic Western and the Gangster genres.  And while a lot of the imagery is familiar to us, the brothel, the showdown at noon, the empty streets and slamming shutters, we have to remember that the classic Westerns of the 40s and 50s were unequivocally moral.  The good guy always won.  The bad guy got what was coming to him.  The hero made it home for supper with his loving wife.  Or got elected sheriff.  Contrast Gary Cooper or John Wayne with Mifune and you see the difference.  Even more typically, the traditional Western would have the hero being beseeched by town officials to help them.  In ‘Yojimbo,’ the town officer acts as Yojimbo's pimp, and the mayor is cowardly and corrupt.  Even in film noir and its pulp origins (and Red Harvest, the source material for this film), clear moral judgements are made. Sexually transgressive females are appropriately punished.  The loner finds love and acceptance at the end.  Or if the lead character dies, it's because he's been offered redemption and has foolishly rejected it.

By contextualizing and historicizing ‘Yojimbo,’ it's easy to lose sight of a couple of things.  First, it's pretty damn funny.  Second, Kurosawa may be the last century’s greatest visual storyteller.  Sorry, Hitchcock.  Allow me a horrible racist generalization that asserts a Japanese painterly sensibility and painstaking attention to detail defines the shot composition.  Some shots look right out of an Ukiyo-e print.  But there are other shots where both the composition and the lighting seem like reverent references to Caravaggio and the height of Renaissance chiaroscurro.

Anyway, I was excited and nervous to share ‘Yojimbo.’  It's not the kind of thing anyone's going to watch on TV.  So Movienight was the only place some of us were ever going to see it again.  I have to confess it's not my favorite Kurosawa, but it's the most accessible film he's made that fits our time limitation.   I also think it's time to move on from explorations of alienation and the failure of authority.  ‘Network,’ ‘Papillon,’ ‘First Blood,’ ‘Yojimbo,’ ‘Midnight Express,’ and ‘The French Connection’ offer us no heroes.  They show us a world where every individual must ruthlessly accept self-responsibility because the institutions that are supposed to protect us are corrupt or gone.  Yojimbo represents the beginning of this school of filmmaking, but for me, the end of the exploration of this idea in my Movienight selections.

Over the next year, I look forward to reintroducing our group to the under-appreciated comedies of Shelly Long.  If we want to laugh, reaffirm our belief in the triumph of the human spirit, and restore our faith in authority, we need look no further than ‘Troop Beverly Hills.’

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