Event

Weekend Theater February
- Kurosawa Akira's Samurai Films -

Seven Samurai
(Shichinin No Samurai)
Black & White / 16 mm. / 1954 / 207 mins.

	Producers:	Motoki Shojiro
	Director:	Kurosawa Akira
	Scriptwriter:	Kurosawa Akira, Hashimoto Shinobu, Oguni Hideo
	Director of Photography:	Nakai Choichi
	Music:	Hayasaka Fumio
	Cast:	Shimura Takeshi as Kanbei, Mifune Toshiro as Kikuchiyo, Tsushima Keiko as Shino
Silver Lion Prize at the International Venice Film Festival (Italy, 1954)
Synopsis A village in the mountain is robbed every year of its wheat crop harvest by a group of plundering bandits who hide out in a mountain fortress. Realizing that there is no way to prevent this other than by hiring samurai to fight for them, Rikichi and Mosaku are delegated to go into town to search for samurai. They witness a ronin (an unemployed samurai) named Kanbei defeat a band of disorderly bandits by courage and strategy, and request his assistance. Kanbei agrees to help and as a result of testing out candidates, selects Kyuzo, Gorobei, Shichiroji, Heihachi, and Katsushiro. Another fellow, Kikuchiyo, a roughneck orphan born of a farmer couple, insists on being included in the group. Under the direction of Kanbei, the village defenses are set up and the villagers undergo combat training. When the wheat crops are harvested, the bandits begin their attack. The first patrol of three men are killed by Kyuzo and Kikuchiyo, and with Rikichi acting as guide, counter attack the bandit's hideout. At night they kill ten, but Heihachi is killed in action. At dawn, the bandits conduct an all-out attack, but the villagers defend the positions. On the following day, the bandits whose numbers have been cut down to thirteen, challenge the village for a final assault in a heavy downpour of rain. After several hours of bitter fighting, the villagers and samurai annihilate the bandits, but four of the samurai and several villagers are killed in this battle. Notes This is a masterpiece in which Kurosawa Akira has unleashed his most dynamic ability and talent to the utmost. The portion of the film starting with the decision of the farmers to hire samurai to where they begin with Kanbei, a seasoned veteran of many battles, and his testing out other samurai one after another each with a differing and unique talent and personality makes the film extremely interesting. The final combat scene in heavy rainfall is of such forcefulness and magnitude that it is without peer in previous Japanese films of this type. Because combat scenes can not be filmed over again, cameras in several different positions with varying camera angles were set up. Kurosawa's films after this one, have relied on this system of shooting.