Cult Movie- "Seven Samurai" (1954)

Today we're liking....

"Samurai Seven" (1954) by Akira Kurosawa

I've had a couple of days of downtime lately, enough time to hit the couch and watch some DVDs. One I've had in my collection for a while is Seven Samurai. This movie has been regarded as one of the best epics ever to come out of Japan. Well, it certainly is epic...with a 3hrs and 28mins run time it's a movie for people that have a well stocked bar fridge at their side and a lot of patience....but it has moments of brilliance that make it all worth while. Akira had great skill behind the camera in his ability to visually tell a story and the fight scenes are incredibly well shot, given the equipment of the era.

The story itself might be familiar for many, surprisingly, because this movie was remade in 1960 by the American film maker John Sturges as "The Magnificent Seven", a classic in it's own right. But the storyline, for those that have seen neither flows along the lines of; a poor community, at the mercy of a band of bullies, pulls together and hires a group of fighters to defend them... the odds are stacked against them, there are the usual pitfalls and triumphs along the way and the happy, yet tragic ending that befits most classic epics. This is a movie for those that love japanese culture, swordfighting and samurai.... it is also an interesting watch for those that loved the cowboy version of events portrayed in The Magnificent Seven and want to compare the two story lines. The Hollywood producers always tend to miss something when adapting foreign movies to their own market and the same can be said here, but the two movies have great action sequences and strong storylines with Seven Samurai winning out in the end, mostly because it is the original.....

A good movie if you have a few hours..... 4/5