Seven Samurai (1954)

Edit this Page
Akira Kurosawa Director previously directed Ikiru

Seven Samurai is a 1954 Japanese period drama directed by Akira Kurosawa. It follows the story of seven ronin who are hired to protect a small town of farmers from bandits. It is considered by many as one of the the best and most influential films ever made.

Quote: Gisaku

Find hungry samurai.

8 More Quotes
Writers
Cast
Toshirō Mifune Kikuchiyo
Takashi Shimura Kambei Shimada
Keiko Tsushima Shino
Yukiko Shimazaki Rikichi's Wife
Kamatari Fujiwara Manzô
Daisuke Katô Shichirôji
Isao Kimura Katsushirō Okamoto
Minoru Chiaki Heihachi Hayashida
Seiji Miyaguchi Kyuzo
Yoshio Kosugi Mosuke
See Full Credits

Plot

*Warning Spoilers* 
 
 The bandits plan their attack
 The bandits plan their attack
A pack of bandits look over a small farming village from the overlooking mountain, and decide to come back and ransack it once the harvest comes in. A villager who overheard this goes down and tells the villagers, who panic and try to figure out a solution. One villager, Rikichi wants to fight the bandits off with spears, but the other villagers don't agree with him and go to the village elder Gisaku. Gisaku tells them to find samurai to help defend the village, in exchange for money. Several village men go into the city to find samurai, but have no luck finding any. Many of the samurai balk at their meager offerings, except for an old ronin Kambei (Takashi Shimura). The men first saw Kambei after witnessing him rescue a baby from a thieve by dressing up as a priest. Along with him, they recruit a young, rich samurai Katsushiro (Isao Kimura), who witnessed Kambei rescue the baby and wants to be his acolyte. Kambei tells the men they need at least five more samurai, seven in total. With Katsushiro's willing assistance, Kambei recruits four more ronin: Kyuzo (Seiji Miyaguchi), Gorobei (Yoshio Inaba), Heihachi (Minoru Chiaki), and Shichiroji (Daisuke Kato).
 
 Kikuchiyo tries to join the samurai 
 Kikuchiyo tries to join the samurai 
While they only have six samurai, Kambei decides to go back to the village and prepare, when a drunken ronin demands to go with them. He shows them a scroll that says that he is in a respectable Clan, but the name he chose, Kikuchiyo (Toshirou Mifune), belongs to a 13 year old. He is rejected by Kambei, but he still follows them to the village. After tricking the villagers into thinking the bandits are coming, after they do not greet them to their village, Kikuchiyo is accepted as the seventh samurai. With the seven samurai assembled, the villagers begin training for the coming war. Some of the villagers bring the samurai some stolen armor for the armor, but they are shocked and angered. The warriors begin to build fortifications for the village, and plan to build a moat after the harvest comes in. Shino, a female villager who was dressed as a boy at her father's request, begins to secretly see Katsushiro. Shino's father Manzo forcibly cut her hair, to protect her from the lustful samurai. 
 
The flag of the Samurai 
The flag of the Samurai 
With the raid approaching, three bandit scouts are spotted on the outskirts of the village. Kikuchiyo, Katsushiro, and Kyuzo hunt down the scouts, killing two of them and bringing one back to the village. The samurai find out the location of the bandit's camp and send Kyuzo, Heihachi, Kikuchiyo, and Rikichi head to the camp and light it on fire. Several soldiers burst out, but are immediately slain by the samurai. They retreat, but Rikichi spots his former wife and runs after hur in the burning camp. Heihachi runs to save him, but is shot. the village and samurai give Heihachi a hero's funeral, as Kikuchiyo puts up their samurai flag. On the rooftop, he spots the bandits coming down the mountain, and the army hurry to their positions. Their battle plan is to allow one bandit in the village, and block the rest of the invaders off.  The lone bandit that gets in is attacked by the warriors inside the village. 
 
 Gorobei and Kyuzo rally their soldiers
 Gorobei and Kyuzo rally their soldiers
The attacking bandits don't expect the village's heavy fortifications, and several are killed trying to scale the walls. However, they are able to fight back with the help of three muskets. Kyuzo manages to retrieve one of the muskets, and thinks nothing of it, despite Hatsushiro's fanatic praise. Envious of the Kyuzo's praise, Kikuchiyo retrieves a musket too, along with an bandit suit of armor. Because he left his post, he doesn't get the praise he expected though and Kambei scolds him for going on his own. Because of Kikuchiyo leaving, several bandits are able to get into the village, killing both Gorobei and Yohei, a friend of Kikuchiyo.
 
Kambei's plan for the final battle is to enclose all of the bandits in the village. Most are killed, but Kyuzo is shot dishonorably by the bandit leader hiding in a hut. Kikuchiyo rushes in and is shot, but still hunts down the leader and kills him before dying. The battle is won and the villagers happily plant their crops, as the three remaining samurai mourn the loss of their fallen samurai.  

Production

Writing
Akira Kurosawa's original conception for the film was a day in the life of a samurai, chronicling him from waking up to ultimate suicide. He didn't have enough factual information for the script, and decided to go with an anecdote he heard about a village hiring samurai to defend their village. Every character was given a dossier, written by Kurosawa, with details on their favorite foods, history, habits, and other various details. Six samurai were conceptualized by Kurosawa, leaving out Kikuchiyo. Toshirou Mifune originally played Kyuzo. However, it was decided to add a more relatable character that wasn't a full-fledged samurai. Mifune was give creative license with his character, because he was recast.    

Filming

The filming ran into several problems. Toho, the studio behind Seven Samurai, stopped the production several times due to increasing budget. Kurosawa himself had to convince the studio to continue production. While filming, Kurosawa used multiple cameras, a first for his films. Seiji Miyaguchi, who plays the skilled swordsman, never held a sword at the time of shooting. Editing and cinematography were used to make him appear to be the master his character was.  Yoshio Inaba did not get along well with Kurosawa, and limited hi slater film work because it was so stressful. 
 
Shooting was done at a constructed set on Izu Peninsula. Kurosawa refused to shoot in the Toho studios. For the final battle sequence, several horse were needed, but filming had to be stopped several times because there was a shortage of them. While the final battle was planned to be shot in summer, it ended up getting filmed in near freezing February. Mifune claimed he's never been that cold in his entire life while filming. Seven Samurai was finished after 148 days shootings, and three months pre-production.

Reception and Legacy

While initially not received very well by Japanese critics, Seven Samurai is often considered part of the Japanese Golden Age of cinema, and Akira Kurosawa's greatest film. Now, it is routinely voted one of the greatest films of all time, and one of the most innovative films ever. It is often credited as the first action movie, and started trends like the a reluctant hero, characters being recruited to a group, dramatic slow-motion use, and romance between a young hero and a villager.  Seven Samurai was adapted to an American western film, The Magnificent Seven. Samurai 7 is a anime, steam-punk retelling of Seven Samurai. Seven Samurai has become Japan's highest grossing movie, and is a technical and creative innovation in filmmaking. 

1 AWARD NOMINATION

Seven Samurai 90 images
If You Like Seven Samurai...

Rorie discusses some of his favorite samurai movies that you might like also if you enjoy Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai.
blog Editing and Akira Kurosawa: Seven Samurai (1954) - Samurai Beauty MrMazz
news Remaking Kurosawa: What Deserves Another Look? matthew_floratis
news The Weinsteins Are Going to Remake Seven Samurai Whether You Like It or Not Alex
forum The Weinsteins Are Going to Remake Seven Samurai Whether You Like It or Not Alex
review One of the greatest films ever made (5 out of 5) ZanzibarBreeze
blog Looking for a good starting point with Kurosawa films matthew_floratis
forum If You Like Seven Samurai... JoeyF
review Seven Samurai (4 out of 5) Adrenaline
Write a Review
104 votes, 4.8 avg.

  • 99

  • 4.1
General Information Edit
Name Seven Samurai
US Release Jan. 1, 1954
UK Release
AUS Release
Runtime 207
Language(s)
Add a new language
Japanese
Genre(s)
Add a new genre
Drama
Action
Theme(s)
Add a new theme
martial arts
period piece
samurai
redemption
Rating
Alias(es) Shichinin no Samurai
Top Rated Lists
Films I love... in no order whatsoever! a list of 151 items by Mistress_Redhead
Favorite Films Made Before I Was Born a list of 308 items by TearsInRain
All-Time Faves a list of 9 items by Rorie
Similar Movies Edit
Related Pages Edit
  • edit Box Office

    We're missing box office info for Seven Samurai. Help fill it in.

    Domestic $0
    Foreign +$0
  • - a reported budget of $0
  • activity & ranking
    265 people have watched this item.
    Rank This Week
    Rank This Month
    6 All-Time Rank
  • By Rating
    5/5
    4/4
    3/3
    2/2
    1/1
    0/0
  • edit Links Around the Web
Top Editors
help  |  terms and conditions  |  privacy  |  advertise  |  rss
Mandatory Network

Submissions can take several hours to be approved.

Save ChangesCancel