It's the great Japanese director's 100th birthday today so at the risk of someone telling me in caps I'm out of my area I thought I'd post this very short clip of an action scene in his last historical epic 'Ran'. If you don't know Kurosawa try and track down one of his Samurai movies. Great is too small a word for them.
For those unfamiliar with Kurosawa's films, "The Magnificent Seven" was essentially a copy of his "Seven Samurai".
ReplyDelete-- Jeff
and Yojimbo inspired the Dollars trilogy with Clint Eastwood
ReplyDeleteRalphus,
ReplyDeleteTo be technically accurate, "A Fistful of Dollars" was almost a line-by-line uncredited copy, for which Kurasawa successfully sued Sergio Leone. The movie was then remade again set in the Great Depression starring Bruce Willis in yet another almost line-by-line copy as "The Last Man Standing", but this one did credit Kurosawa.
The other two movies of Leone's "Dollars" trilogy were heavily influenced by Kurosawa's staging and the already well-defined characters, but were entirely Italian creations.
He also heavily influenced George Lucas, who has said that much of Star Wars, Episodes IV and VI were an homage to Kurosawa, particularly in their use of lighting, color symbolism, and the whole "epic journey/saga" theme.
Bill
and then there is Throne of Blood
ReplyDeleteIronic that you mention copying: "Ran" takes its plot from Shakespeare's "King Lear."
ReplyDeleteAnd above all the others there is Kagemusha, with its wonderful impression of Nagashino in the final minutes.
ReplyDelete