Yojimbo
UW Cinematheque 821 University Ave., UW Vilas Hall, Room 4070, Madison, Wisconsin
press release: Japan | 1961 | 35mm | 110 min. | Japanese with English subtitles
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Cast: Toshiro Mifune, Eijiro Tono, Takashi Shimura
A wandering, samurai-for-hire (Mifune, in his quintessential role) arrives in a village eager to earn money through his thug-skewering skills. Disturbed by the grotesque corruption of the town’s two powerful rival gangs, he endeavors to exterminate them both. Kurosawa’s action-packed swordplay epic owes a debt to Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest and American westerns, and Yojimbo in turn inspired Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars. “The samurai could be a gunslinger, and the local characters could have been lifted from John Ford’s gallery of supporting actors” (Roger Ebert).
All summer screenings take place at 4070 Vilas Hall, 821 University Avenue. Admission free for all screenings, seating limited. No admission 15 minutes after scheduled start times. Please visit our website for a complete listing of programs and descriptions.