The Seven Samurai (1954)

"When you think you are safe, that is when there is greatest danger." -Kambei Shimada
"I am Hayashida Heihachi of the wood chop school." -Heihachi Hayashida

If you are going to watch just one Akira Kurosawa film I recommend The Seven Samurai. It is awesome! In my mind it sets most of the standards for battle sequences, tactic explanation, and battle thematic development. You can see its effect in such diverse films as Zulu, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Great Escape, Midway, and many more.

I will say that while I am enthralled with this film, I can understand that someone younger or with different tastes would find this movie long, dull, boring, and slow.  The entire film is almost 3.5 hours and contains an intermission. ( I kind of wonder why intermissions went away? It gives the theater owners a second chance to sell concessions.)

But, if you are willing to spend a long evening engrossed in the tale of 7 ronin samurai and a small village vs. 40 murderous bandits, this film is a wonder.

On technical elements, The Seven Samurai goes to great lengths to make sure the audience understands exactly where all the parts of the battle are taking place.  It goes so far as to actually have a map that they cut to with a hand outlining the different gates.  This same map is then cut back to to keep count of the bandits. It emphasizes the kind of mathematical macabre that the samurai employ to take on 40 bandits.

Secondarily, Akira Kurosawa uses wipes and fade to black far more often and effectively than we see in more recent cinema. George Lucas loves Kurosawa movies and all of his Star Wars movies employ wipes and fades in much the same manner. I am not sure why this type of editing has fallen out of favor? It can look hokey, but it can also be very effective.

The soul of the film, The Seven Samurai, is (with no surprise) the samurai:  There's their commander Kambei Shimada, his second in command Gorobei Katayama, his lieutenant Shichiroji, and his pupil Katsuhiro Okamoto: rounded out by extreme badass Kuyou, the happy and inspiring Heihachi Hayashida, and the comical/wise ronin of dubious status Kikuchiyo. Each of them is important and brings something special to the film. It is hard to get great performances out of 2 actors, let alone 7. Also basically any film that has to "assemble a crew" be it in a Bug's Life, or Ocean's 11, owes The Seven Samurai a debt of gratitude.

I encourage all of you without hesitation to watch The Seven Samurai.

On a scale of lone cowboys to ronin, I give The Seven Samurai, 4.5 out of 5 stars.