Basis for The Magnificent Seven
MacDara from Galway, 24 Feb 2008
A splendid film, Kurosawa's masterpiece. Slow-paced (and all the better for it) it gives a great insight into the medieval Japanese culture (if you want to have a better understanding, read James Clavell's Shogun first). It's the film The Magnificent Seven was based on (and also Roger Corman's unfortunate Battle Beyond The Stars) - the basic plot being the same: a besieged village hires seven Ronin (masterless Samurai) to protect their homes from an imminent bandit attack.
Essential viewing.
mud and guts
Philip from Dublin, 30 Jun 2009
One of the true high points in world film making - Kurosawa's epic is funny, thrilling, heart rending and astounding. The action adventure film has never been done better. And more than that, it is a meditation on class, militarism, philosophy, ethics and history. Kurosawa takes his time to let us know the characters, the geography of the village and slowly builds up to the shattering climax - a bloody battle to the death in the mud.
Yul Brynner on top form!
Niall from Dublin, 26 Oct 2007
A really great film, the diskincludes a short documentary that explains the context in which the film was released, post-war Japan. It's about shame and honour and hope. Just brilliant!
Brilliant film
Eibhleann from Clare, 17 May 2010
This is a fantastic film. It's funny, tragic, and most of all about honour. Quite long though, you need to plan ahead and reserve over 3 hours to watch it.
A compelling classic film
Killian from Dublin, 03 Jul 2007
This is cowboys and indians samurai style. It is quite an old film, but dont let this fool you as it is a great timless story well told.