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Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9780780022492
Format: Black & White, Dolby, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 0780022491
Label: Criterion
Manufacturer: Criterion
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Letterbox
Publisher: Criterion
Region Code: 1
Release Date: September 14, 1999
Running Time: 96 minutes
Sales Rank: 46964
Studio: Criterion
Theatrical Release Date: May 07, 1963
Editorial Review:
Description:
Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Kurosawa's tightly paced, beautifully composed Sanjuro. In this companion piece to Yojimbo, jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan's evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a 'proper' samurai on its ear. Criterion is proud to present Sanjuro in a gorgeous Tohoscope transfer.
Amazon.com:
Akira Kurosawa's sequel to Yojimbo is more lighthearted and less cynical, a rousing adventure with Toshirô Mifune reprising his role as the scruffy mercenary who becomes an unlikely big brother to a troupe of nine naive samurai. Shuffling into a secret meeting where the proud young men discuss the graft choking their clan, Mifune's Sanjuro scratches his scraggly beard and distractedly rubs his neck like some common peasant while giving them advice on appearances and truths: 'People aren't what they seem,' he warns the dubious lads. 'Be careful.' Naturally they aren't, and Sanjuro grudgingly adopts the well-meaning but hopelessly ill-equipped heroes, giving the starry-eyed youths a series of lessons in real-world honor and respect while saving their skins from reckless attacks and impulsive plans. It isn't the subtlest of Kurosawa's films--the repetitious lessons and speeches delivered to the thickheaded samurai are rather obvious--but it's one of his most entertaining. Mifune, gruffly at ease with the boys, is hilariously discomforted in the presence of a cultured lady, who sees through his shaggy exterior and imparts a little wisdom of her own. Mifune bounds into action in a number of impressive sword fights--wonderfully choreographed lightning-quick battles in which Mifune leaps all over the widescreen image--but an increasing sense of waste, of futility, hangs over the action scenes, culminating in a tense but meaningless duel of honor. The accompanying trailer on the DVD features brief behind-the-scenes glimpses of Kurosawa directing Mifune through an action sequence. --Sean Axmaker
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Trust and Death
Sanjuro is a vastly entertaining action film with all the elements of that genre: fast pace, surprising plot turns, and a justly famous samurai showdown.
But the central theme of the film is the difficulty of properly assessing trust and mistrust, and how the ability to do so is an essential feature of maturing from idealistic youth to seasoned adult.
The plot setup is straightforward: nine idealistic samurai youths band together to clean their clan of corruption. The ... Read More
Rating:  - One of the Best!
Toshiro Mifume acted in a series of Samurai movies that made him famous including his debout seven samurais! His serious control and masterful use of the samurai blade distinguished him among the best in the world with Kendo! This is an awesome movies about the Ero period of Japan and their Ronin. Highly recommended, full of action, and very realistic series of combat!
Rating: - Another Kurosawa gem
An absolutely delightful film about samurai's fight for honor. It is smart and funny. We learn about a group of young samurai who want to stop corruption in their clan. In preparation for their uprising they run into an outcast, seemingly unkept and not very polite samurai. For exchange of food, saki and a little bit of money, he offers this group of rebels his warrior help. While this group of young rebels has a fire in their belly to fight for the right cause, they are not particularly smart. ... Read More
Rating: - Sanjuro
"Sanjuro" may not match its predecessor in sheer virtuosity, but it's actually more fun, thanks to Mifune's comic scenery-chewing, and the innately humorous contrast between the clean, proper youths and their unlikely, unkempt protector. Sanjuro's savvy counsel to the virtuous but impulsive youths ("Things are not always what they seem") gets repeated and borne out through various developments which eventually help restore justice to the land. Bottom-line: In this entry, Mifune himself really warms to ... Read More
Rating: - Great Film
The sequel to Kurosawa's 1961 Yojimbo, Sanjuro picks up with our nameless hero in a new town helping to solve another family argument turned violent. Sanjuro in many ways has more happening in it than Yojimbo. Sure there are the great fighting sequences and some truly beautiful landscape shots but there's more direct humor reminiscent of Toshiro in Seven Samurai. Likewise, women have more of an emphasized role in this film and the women's nature of traditional Japanese attitudes juxtaposed with the samurai ... Read More
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