Yojimbo (1961)

Réalisateur:

Akira Kurosawa

Scénaristes:

Akira Kurosawa (story)
Akira Kurosawa (screenplay) ...

Date de sortie:

13 septembre 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedie | Crime | Drame | Thriller

Intrigue:

A crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town.

Plot Keywords:

Samurai | Bodyguard | Escape | Ronin | Dark Humor

Récompenses:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 wins & 1 nomination

Avis des utilisateurs:

"You don't mind if I kill all of you?" "What? Kill me if you can!" "It'll hurt."

Ensemble

Toshirô Mifune	...	Sanjuro Kuwabatake / The Samurai
Tatsuya Nakadai	...	Unosuke, gunfighter
Yôko Tsukasa	...	Nui
Isuzu Yamada	...	Orin
Daisuke Katô	...	Inokichi, Ushitora's rotund brother
Seizaburô Kawazu	...	Seibei, brothel operator
Takashi Shimura	...	Tokuemon, sake brewer
Hiroshi Tachikawa	...	Yoichiro
Yosuke Natsuki	...	Kohei's Son
Eijirô Tôno	...	Gonji, tavern keeper
Kamatari Fujiwara	...	Tazaemon
Ikio Sawamura	...	Hansuke
Atsushi Watanabe	...	The Cooper (Coffin-Maker)
Susumu Fujita	...	Homma, instructor who skips town
Kyû Sazanka	...	Ushitora

Autre(s) titre(s):

Yojimbo (UK) (USA)
The Bodyguard (International: English title) (literal title)
Yôjinbô (International) (modified Hepburn romanization)
Yojimbo the Bodyguard (USA)

Durée:

110 min | USA:75 min

Pays:

Japan

Langue:

Japonais

Couleur:

Noir et Blanc

Rapport de forme:

2,35 : 1

Son:

Perspecta Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Classification:

Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | USA:TV-MA (cable rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | USA:Unrated | UK:PG (video rating) (1993) | UK:A (original rating)

Lieux de tournage:

Toho Studios, Tokyo, Japan

Société:

Kurosawa Production Co.

Anecdotes:

Based on the novel "Red Harvest". George Lucas, a known Kurosawa fan, filmed Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) under the false name "Blue Harvest" to maintain secrecy and to make an inside reference to his favorite director, Akira Kurosawa.

Goofs:

Equipe ou équipement visible: The wire used to pull the Yakuza's cut kimono off can be seen as he gets up from the ground.

Guillemet:

Sanjuro: [after the gamblers have challenged him] No help for fools.
[draws sword and kills two of them]

Connexions De Film:

Référencé sur Feast II: Sloppy Seconds (2008) (V)

"You don't mind if I kill all of you?" "What? Kill me if you can!" "It'll hurt."

Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo is a not too long, not too short action film that uses its action with just the right touches of voracity and excitement, and in the backdrop is also a sense of humor to the process. If I had to recommend a Kurosawa film to someone who's never seen one before (and might be impatient to sit through the three and a half hour Seven Samurai, or might not get the non-linear structure of Rashomon), I'd put this one in their hands to try out.

Kurosawa regular Toshiro Mifune is terrific as Sanjuro Kuwabatake, a drifter of a samurai who stumbles upon a town with an assorted cast of characters, with a split between two gangs. One of the gangsters, Unosuke (Nakadai), is the only one in town; it seems, with a gun. At first Sanjuro plays each side, but when he gets beaten roughly by whom he was "protecting", he realizes the fun's over, and it's time to fight back.

Much has been made about how Sergio Leone took Kurosawa's story and characters (most in particular being a rogue from out of town) and made them into his breakthrough Fistful of Dollars- Kurosawa even sued Leone over the story rights. But to those who wonder whether Yojimbo is 'better' than Fistful or vice versa need to remember one of two things- Kurosawa took the story from Dashiell Hammett's gangster novel Red Harvest, so neither filmmaker is making something really original; and that since each film is made in a different continent, and with the slightest different sensibilities about its characters. For one thing in Yojimbo guns are scarcer than in Fistful, and there's a treatment Kurosawa has with his actors that sets it apart from the small town western scope of Leone's weapons and actors. So each film (noticeably) carries its own kind of visual style while working in a similar plot structure. In other words, it's kind of like comparing apples and oranges picked in the same farm (if that makes at all sense).

Overall, Yojimbo on its own is a lean, cool Japanese crime/action film, helmed by a master, and featuring a number of highlights to look forward to on multiple viewings. Some of those include: the scene inside Seibei's brothel (with the women dancing and singing), Masaru Sato's wonderful musical orchestrations, Mifune's curiously low-key and rough performance (which did and didn't serve as inspiration to Clint), and a climax that is up there with one of Kurosawa's finest battles. A+