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Comments 1 - 7 of 7

Siskoid's avatar

Siskoid

The Hidden Fortress may just have jumped to #1 on my list of favorite Kurosawa films. I knew it was a major inspiration for Star Wars in how it told the story mostly through the POV of the clowns (and I swear you could put the SW soundtrack on the early scenes and it would work), but I wasn't expecting it to be so funny. Like, uproariously funny. I knew Kurosawa had it in him from Sanjuro, certainly, but in that film Toshiro Mifune's character was a clever kind of funny, a trickster character who spoofed the samurai code. In Hidden Fortress, you don't laugh with the protagonists, but at them. They're stupid, greedy, foolish, cowardly, and suffer constant reversals of fortune as a result. You want them to pay for their sins, but also to survive so they can get into trouble again. The slapstick is excellent too - I could watch two hours of these two guys trying to climb a slippery slope. Kurosawa somehow also makes this an epic story about getting a princess to safety across enemy lines, with some "cast of thousands" moments and a brilliant spear fight between the real hero of the story, again played by Mifune, and a respected enemy. The tomboy princess stradles the drama/comedy divide in the film, by not taking Mifune's crap AND allowing her experiences while disguised as a commoner turn her into an empathetic and wise leader. It's a very rich and satisfying film that smoothly changes tone to suit whatever characters are on screen.
8 years 9 months ago
withrowd's avatar

withrowd

Toshiro Mifune at his best.
12 years 5 months ago
Zeuxippe's avatar

Zeuxippe

dat spear duel.
12 years ago
JosteinAsk's avatar

JosteinAsk

without this....Star Wars might have been different
12 years 10 months ago
Groovy09's avatar

Groovy09

Out of all the films from Akira Kurosawa that i have seen, The Hidden Fortress might acturlly be my favorite. Kurosawa proves once again that he was one of the best storytellers in cinema. Fun characters, great story and great performances, not to mention the beautiful cinematography and locations. It may not be as deep as his other films like Seven Samurai and Rashomon, but it is without a doubt one of his most entertaining.

This film was acturlly one of George Lucas' biggest inspirations for Star Wars and you will definitely notice the similarities between the two films while watching it, in terms of it's storystructure. But for me, that might have explained why i find this film so fun and entertaining, since i love these kinds of stories.

But yeah, great film and in my opnion one of Kurosawa's absolute best.
8 years 5 months ago
SeanMX12's avatar

SeanMX12

My favorite Kurosawa to date.
14 years ago
DisneyStitch's avatar

DisneyStitch

Going into it, if I hadn't known it inspired Star Wars then I don't think I would have ever made the connection naturally. It's a good story, and the characters are really fun to watch. I found it a little slow to watch in some parts, something I didn't feel while watching the much longer Seven Samurai, but it holds the attention well.
3 years 7 months ago
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