05-08-2020, 10:31 AM
Early into this, I thought, Oh yeah, I've seen this before, where Mifune ventures into a town terrorized by two villainous factions, and he ends up playing them against each other to rid the town of their ilk.
But then it became very apparent that I hadn't seen it before, because there's so many vivid characters and unforgettable scenes, and so many surprises, and certainly I couldn't have forgotten all that. So I think it was A Fistful of Dollars that I actually saw (released in 1964 after a "remake rights" lawsuit was settled out of court), or maybe Django, starring Franco Nero. Whichever (or maybe both), I recall Eastwood (or Nero) being more smug, in control of the situation throughout, with only minor difficulties. In Yojimbo, Mifune is certainly smug, but he's also dealing with a lot of uncertainties and surprises, and he's not in control; and it seems much more fleshed out, humanized, where he's not the superhero having his way with all.
Then again, maybe I'm misremembering whatever I saw.
Anyway, yes, this is Mifune at his most appealing -- smug, brusque, brooding and bullying, but also showing uncertainty, worry, surprise, panic, even fear.
Takashi Shimura is present, but only in a small role (he's starting to show his age). Tatsuya Nakadai is great as the gun-toting main villain, young and handsome and with a childish smirk as he sadistically abuses all.
There's also Kamatari Fujiwara, who is impressing the hell out of me. He first caught my attention in The Hidden Fortress as one of the two hapless fools roped into helping the Princess and her bodyguard Mifune. Fujiwara is the skinnier one, the Laurel to the other's Hardy, with some Gollum mixed in, very spidery, almost brainless with a vacant gaze. In Yojimbo, he is again one of two hapless fools hired to kill someone, eventually to become an important bargaining chip.
Very colorful in so many ways.
But then it became very apparent that I hadn't seen it before, because there's so many vivid characters and unforgettable scenes, and so many surprises, and certainly I couldn't have forgotten all that. So I think it was A Fistful of Dollars that I actually saw (released in 1964 after a "remake rights" lawsuit was settled out of court), or maybe Django, starring Franco Nero. Whichever (or maybe both), I recall Eastwood (or Nero) being more smug, in control of the situation throughout, with only minor difficulties. In Yojimbo, Mifune is certainly smug, but he's also dealing with a lot of uncertainties and surprises, and he's not in control; and it seems much more fleshed out, humanized, where he's not the superhero having his way with all.
Then again, maybe I'm misremembering whatever I saw.
Anyway, yes, this is Mifune at his most appealing -- smug, brusque, brooding and bullying, but also showing uncertainty, worry, surprise, panic, even fear.
Takashi Shimura is present, but only in a small role (he's starting to show his age). Tatsuya Nakadai is great as the gun-toting main villain, young and handsome and with a childish smirk as he sadistically abuses all.
There's also Kamatari Fujiwara, who is impressing the hell out of me. He first caught my attention in The Hidden Fortress as one of the two hapless fools roped into helping the Princess and her bodyguard Mifune. Fujiwara is the skinnier one, the Laurel to the other's Hardy, with some Gollum mixed in, very spidery, almost brainless with a vacant gaze. In Yojimbo, he is again one of two hapless fools hired to kill someone, eventually to become an important bargaining chip.
Very colorful in so many ways.
