A classic Samurai Western!. Review on Yojimbo Movie

Yojimbo (aka The Bodyguard), released in 1961, is based on the Dashiell Hammett novel Red Desert. Yojimbo, which inspired Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars and more recently the Bruce Willis starrer Last Man Standing, is darkly humorous and full of sharp wit, keeping you entertained from first frame to last.

THE STORY

Due to the rise of the middle class, the Royal class crumbles and the Samurai class has fallen on hard times. Samurais have to work as bodyguards in order to make a living.

The very first scene of the movie shows a wandering samurai. Only his back is seen. Scratching his neck and shrugging his shoulders (mannerisms unorthodox to trademark Samurais), he walks on till he sees his path dividing into two. He follows the direction which a nonchalantly thrown stick points to. Meet Sanjuro Kuwabatake, wandering Samurai, aimless drifter, the protagonist.

The path leads to a town. In the town, one of the very first sights he sees is that of a dog trotting along happily, it's tail wagging, carrying a severed human hand in its mouth. Sanjuro learns from a tavern keeper that the town is suffering at the hands of two rival gangs, one headed by Seibei, a brothel owner, and the other, by Ushitora, owner of the town brewery. The tavern keeper warns Sanjuro to leave the town and not get involved in the mess but Sanjuro decides to stick on, aiming to get rid of both gangs.

Now, to better understand the things that are about to happen, it is first important to mentally visualize the town. The town is one stretch of road, with houses on both sides. One end of the road is where Seibei's gang lives. The other end belongs to Ushitora's gang. The tavern is somewhere in the center, between Seibei's and Ushitora's territories.

Sanjuro first goes to Seibei, tells him that he would work for him as a bodyguard, and then offers to demonstrate his skills. As Seibei and his men watch, Sanjuro walks over to Ushitora's end, amputates and kills a few of Ushitora's men and comes back in a few minutes, unscathed. Ushitora's men watch open-mouthed in awe. Seibei, thrilled by what he has just seen, agrees to make Sanjuro his bodyguard and gives him a huge advance payment of 50 Ryu. Sanjuro then overhears Seibei talking to his wife about attacking Ushitora's men immediately and killing Sanjuro once the deed is done, so that they get back the 50 Ryu they have paid Sanjuro.

The attack is planned. Seibei's men assemble on the road, ready to attack Ushitora's gang, with Sanjuro about to spearhead the attack. Ushitora's men are ready for battle too, and they too have lined up on their end of the road, waiting to attack. As the fight is about to begin, Sanjuro suddenly tells Seibei them that he has overheard them talking about how they plan to kill him after the attack, and that he cannot risk his life for so less a price. Saying this, he throws the 50 Ryu on the ground, walks over to the middle and shouts to Ushitora that he is no longer Seibei's bodyguard.

Saying this, he climbs up a tall observation post in the middle, between the gangs, where he gets a good view of the proceedings about to take place. He sits there, laughing loudly, enjoying heartily the sights of the two gangs walking towards each other, their faces full of foolish courage, about to attack and destroy each other. But as the two gangs get within fighting range, a messenger on horse arrives and announces that a government inspector has come to town. The gangs walk away to their respective ends. Sanjuro is most disappointed at the sudden turn of events as the gangs were on the verge of destroying each other and cleansing the town of themselves.

Unosuke, the gunslinger, comes to town. Unosuke is Ushitora's brother and is the brain of their gang. He is the only person in the town to possess a gun and doesn't leave any opportunity to show it off. He even boasts to Sanjuro that a samurai's sword is no match for a gun.

The rest of Yojimbo traces the way in which Sanjuro works for both gangs, surviving solely on his wits, and ultimately gets rid of Unosuke and both gangs. It is full of incidents like the one described above.

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The story is tightly wound. The direction is flawless. The end result clearly shows us Kurosawa's mastery of the medium. Technically, this movie is brilliant. The visual style of this movie is outstanding, with images of empty streets, a lone warrior and a lot of dust flying about, a clear influence of the American Western. The dark humor is maintained throughout the movie. Though essentially an action flick, Sanjuro's clever strategies overshadow the action.

Toshiro Mifune, with his booming voice and impeccable body language, executes an unflawed performance as Sanjuro. He doesn't show sorrow or happiness, only cynicism. The background score is very catchy, and lingers in your mind long after the movie is over (it's playing in my head even now, as I write this review.)

Best of all, it's a classic Brain vs. Brawn movie. What better entertainment would one want?

If I had to suggest a Kurosawa movie to a person who's never seen one before, this would be it.

PS: I've put up a few pictures from Yojimbo at the following URL:

https://geocities.com/gurusmaran/yojimbo/yoj.htm

PPS: Do comment on this review. If possible.