YOJIMBO

When a screenwriter straps a sword on nearly every character in a small town, it’s pretty evident that there’s going to be some fighting. But when the screenwriter is Akira Kurosawa (with Ryuzo Kikushima), you can also count on the fact that there’s going to be a whole lot of heart as well.

‘Yojimbo’ begins as a simple story of an out of work samurai warrior who in his travels comes across a town where his help is sorely needed. Two rival businessmen in town are at odds, and both have hired a small army of thugs to do battle. As a master swordsman, our loner hero finds himself in great demand. That’s just fine with him, as his skills demand an ever-growing price from the men on both sides of the feud.

As the feud is brought to a head, the complexities of violence, loyalty, and friendship rear their ugly heads and attempt to bite their owners. The town leaders and hired thugs reveal themselves to be exactly what we expected. The samurai warrior, however, lets slip a few surprise glimpses into his character he’d rather we not know.

‘Yojimbo’ is Japanese, subtitled, and ridden with swords, but damn if it isn’t one of the better Westerns Hollywood never created (though Clint Eastwood made a remake in ‘A Fistful of Dollars’). While those who shudder at that description should probably stay away, others who know that Westerns can be more than pistols and spittoons will be glad to find that samurai films, in the hands of Akira Kurosawa, can be more than swordfights and stoicism.

MAYBE SO (7/10)