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Seven Samurai (Criterion Collection) (1954)

Director: Akira Kurosawa  Starring: Takashi Shimura  Toshir Mifune  
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Product Summary
Publisher: Image
Format: DVD
UPC: 00715515019927
Buy.com Sku: 202784485
Item#: V2DWQM
Buy.com Sales Rank: 27473
Category Keywords: Action  Adventure  Classic  Classic Fight Scenes  Drama  Essential Cinema  Period Piece  Recommended  Samurai  Theatrical Release 
Rating: NR
 
A film by Akira Kurosawa.
 
 
Features: DVD
 
"One of the most beloved movie epics of all time, Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai) tells the story of a sixteenth-century village whose desperate inhabits hire the eponymous warriors to protect them from invading bandits. This three-hour ride - featuring legendary actors Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura - seamlessly weaves philosophy and entertainment, delicate human emotions and relentless action into a rich, evocative, and unforgettable tale of courage and hope."
 
""The greatest action movie ever made.""  Desson Thornson, Washington post
 


Editor's Note

Set in 16th Century Japan, Akira Kurosawa's epic SEVEN SAMURAI follows the plight of a defenseless farming village that lives in constant fear of marauding bandits. The farmers know that when their crops are harvested, the thugs will attack, so four men go to town in hopes of employing samurai to fight for them. However, the poor villagers can merely offer payment in the form of shelter and a daily bowl of rice, and initially only Kambei (Takashi Shimura), a brave elder samurai, and his eager young apprentice, Katsushiro (Isao Kimura), take up their cause. Encountering various nomadic warriors on the streets, they slowly put together his team of swordsmen, recruiting Shichiroji (Daisuke Kat), Gorobei (Yoshio Inaba), Heihachi (Minoru Chiaki), and Kyuzo (Seiji Miyaguchi). Finally, Kikuchiyo (Toshir Mifune), a scruffy wanderer who has been trailing them, completes the small band of ronin. However, upon reaching the village, the samurai learn that the farmers fear them as much the enemy. Despite the tensions, Kambei and his men slowly train the peasants to defend their village. Eventually the warriors launch a preemptive strike against the bandits, and begin a series of intense conflicts that culminates in a rain-soaked final battle--without a doubt, one of the most stunning sequences in cinema history.

Widely considered to be the greatest Japanese film ever made, Kurosawa's SEVEN SAMURAI is also credited with pioneering the modern action movie. This notion is especially evident in thrilling scenes such as Kambei's rescue of a kidnapped child, Kyuzo's duel, and Kikuchiyo's intensive theft of an enemy gun. Although the film clocks in at more than three hours, the story remains consistently engaging and slowly heightens the tension while providing action, drama, comic relief, and character development. Gleefully running amuck, Mifune gives one of his most renowned performances, imbuing the often comical Kikuchiyo with a surprising streak of melancholy and introspection. However, it is Shimura that anchors the entire film as the thoughtful and courageous Kambei, who stoically takes on the leadership of an almost impossible task. A monumental achievement in filmmaking, Kurosawa's SEVEN SAMURAI is cinematic perfection in nearly every aspect, giving the production its much-deserved status as one of the best films ever created.

 

Features
50-Minute Making-Of Documentary: Akira Kurosawa - It Is Wonderful To Create
All-New Restored, High-Definition Digital Transfer
Audio Commentary By Japanese Film Expert Michael Jeck
Audio Commentary By Scholars David Desser, Joan Mellen, Donald Richie & Stephen Prince
Audio: Japanese Dolby Digital Mono
Essays By Peter Cowie, Philip Kemp, Kenneth Turan & Sidney Lumet
Interactive Menus
New & Improved English Subtitle Translation
New Documentary: Seven Samurai - Origins & Influences
Scene Selection
Subtitles: English
Theatrical Trailers & Teaser
Two-Hour Conversation Between Kurosawa & Nagisa Oshima
 
Technical Info

Release Information
Studio: Image
Release Date: 9/5/2006
Running Time: 207 minutes
Original Release Date: 1954
Catalog ID: 1649
UPC: 00715515019927
Number of Discs: 3

Audio & Video
Original Language: Japanese
Available Audio Tracks: Japanese
Available Subtitles: English
Video: B&W

Aspect Ratio
Standard  1.33:1 [4:3]

 
Cast & Crew
Seiji Miyaguchi
Takashi Shimura
Toshiro Mifune
Yoshio Inaba
Akira Kurosawa - Director
Akira Kurosawa - Editor
Akira Kurosawa, et. al. - Screenplay
Asakazu Nakai - Cinematographer
Fumio Hayasaka - Original Music By
Sojiro Motoki - Producer
"Akira Kurosawa, et. al." - Screenplay

 
Awards

Nominee (1957)
   Oscar, So Matsuyama , Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White
   Oscar, Kohei Ezaki, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White

Nominee (1956)
   British Academy Awards, Seven Samurai, Best Film from any Source
   British Academy Awards, Toshiro Mifune, Best Foreign Actor
   British Academy Awards, Takashi Shimura, Best Foreign Actor

Winner (1954)
   Venice Film Festival, Akira Kurosawa, Silver Lion Award

 
Professional Reviews
Los Angeles Times
"...Witty and surprisingly reflective....The result is a good little action picture with plenty of smarts and a nonchalant air..." 04/26/1988 p.C2

Chicago Sun-Times
"...Akira Kurosawa's THE SEVEN SAMURAI is not only a great film in its own right, but the source of a genre that would flow through the rest of the century..." 08/19/2001 p.4

USA Today
"...THE SEVEN SAMURAI is still a movie that matters..." 05/11/2001 p.12E

Premiere
"...[A] forceful action movie, perhaps most startling because its heroes never lose sight of their honor and humanity..." 12/01/2003 p.9

New York Times
"[S]till one of the most stirring adventure stories in the movies..." 09/05/2006 p.E3

Rolling Stone
4 stars out of 4 -- "[A]n adventure film with a complex emotional core -- that Hollywood has been imitating for years." 09/21/2006 95

TV Guide 10 of 10
"Much imitated, still unsurpassed. By critical consensus one of the best movies ever made, The Seven Samurai covers so much emotional, historical, and cinematic ground that that it demands to be viewed over and over again."
 
Village Voice 9 of 10
"Rich in detail, vivid in characterization, leisurely in exposition, this 207-minute epic is bravura filmmaking -- a brilliant yet facile synthesis of Hollywood pictorialism, Soviet montage, and Japanese theatricality that could be a B western transposed to Mars." - J. Hoberman
 

 
Product Image

Customer Reviews
Cinematography 5
Plot 4
Acting 5
Overall Satisfaction 5
Write a Review


 
5 of 5 worth the big price tag Wednesday, November 08, 2006
A Viewer from Baltimore, Maryland  

Stunning print, classic movie that bears repeated showings and apparently very good extras (which I have not yet had the opportunity to check out). Nice to follow a viewing of "Seven Samurai" with "The Magnificent Seven." If you have a good big screen TV, this iteration is a noticeable improvement from the previous and now superseded Criterion edition.
 
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