Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.
- Nominated for 2 Oscars
- 5 wins & 9 nominations total
Toshirô Mifune
- Kikuchiyo
- (as Toshiro Mifune)
Yukiko Shimazaki
- Wife
- (as Yukio Shimazaki)
Isao Kimura
- Katsushiro
- (as Ko Kimura)
Kokuten Kôdô
- Old Man Gisaku
- (as Kuninori Todo)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAkira Kurosawa's original idea for the film was to make it about a day in the life of a samurai, beginning with him rising from bed, eat breakfast, go to his master's castle and ending with him making some mistake that required him to go home and kill himself to save face. Despite a good deal of research, he did not feel he had enough solid factual information to make the movie. He then pitched the idea of a film that would cover a series of five samurai battles, based on the lives of famous Japanese swordsmen. Hashimoto went off to write that script, but Kurosawa ultimately scrapped that idea as well, worrying that a film that was just "a series of climaxes" wouldn't work. Then, producer Sôjirô Motoki found, through historical research, that samurai in the "Warring States" period of Japanese history would often volunteer to stand guard at peasant villages overnight in exchange for food and lodging. Kurosawa then came across an anecdote about a village hiring samurai to protect them and decided to use that idea. Kurosawa wrote a complete dossier for each character with a speaking role. In it were details about what they wore, their favourite foods, their past history, their speaking habits, their reaction to battle and every other detail he could think of about them. No other Japanese director had ever done this before.
- GoofsIn the closing moments of the final battle, the bandits fire two musket shots only seconds apart. It is clear from the plot that at that point they possess only one musket. The black powder muskets of the age required much more time to reload. This error was pointed out in the commentary of the deluxe DVD edition.
- Quotes
Kambei Shimada: This is the nature of war: By protecting others, you save yourselves. If you only think of yourself, you'll only destroy yourself.
- Alternate versionsThe film's original Japanese release version runs 207 minutes, plus intermission, which includes four minutes of entr'acte music against a blank screen. This is the version that has been generally shown worldwide since the 1980s, though sometimes it is shown without the intermission and entr'acte, resulting in a listed running time of 203 minutes. The initial U.S.A. release was re-titled 'The Magnificent Seven' and released November 1956, with English subtitles, and ran 158 minutes. Some European releases were even further shortened to 141 minutes. Landmark Films re-released the film in the U.S. in December 1982, the first time outside Japan the film saw a major release with its running time intact (although the intermission and entr'acte were removed). Later U.S.A. releases by Avco-Embassy Pictures, Janus Films, and Films Incorporated, and by BFI in the UK, are also the full original version of the film.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Objective 500 Million (1966)
Featured review
This film can be described in one word...Awesome!!
This is my favorite Kurosawa film, the man was a true master of the cinematic arts. If you have never seen a Kurosawa film definetly make this your first. Though extremely long at about 3 1/2 hours it is well worth the time spent.
To quickly summarize, a poor Japanese village hires 7 Samurai to protect it from being raided by bandits. Don't get me wrong there is way more to it than that, I just dont want to give anything away. This is an intense and emotional movie that hooks you from the first scene and keeps you on the line till it is all over. The battle scene at the end is in true Kurosawa form. The acting is outstanding by everyone involved from the main characters all the way down to the very last extra. Of course the best way to see any film, especially a Kurosawa film is on the big screen if you are able to. Beautifully filmed, in black and white, anyone familiar with Kurosawa's work has to wonder visually how much more gorgeous it could have been had Kurosawa had the option of color in 1954.
The camera use is brilliant and every scene is balanced visually. This film is also the first one to use "the wipe" as a way of changing from one scene to another. This technique was later used by George Lucas in his Star Wars movies. I would also recommend the DVD version that has the commentary option by the Japanese cinema expert if anyone is interested in a deeper understanding of the "hows" and "whys" of Kurosawa's film making. Any man, woman, boy or girl who just wants to see a really, really great movie, THIS IS THE ONE! An A+++ in my book.
To quickly summarize, a poor Japanese village hires 7 Samurai to protect it from being raided by bandits. Don't get me wrong there is way more to it than that, I just dont want to give anything away. This is an intense and emotional movie that hooks you from the first scene and keeps you on the line till it is all over. The battle scene at the end is in true Kurosawa form. The acting is outstanding by everyone involved from the main characters all the way down to the very last extra. Of course the best way to see any film, especially a Kurosawa film is on the big screen if you are able to. Beautifully filmed, in black and white, anyone familiar with Kurosawa's work has to wonder visually how much more gorgeous it could have been had Kurosawa had the option of color in 1954.
The camera use is brilliant and every scene is balanced visually. This film is also the first one to use "the wipe" as a way of changing from one scene to another. This technique was later used by George Lucas in his Star Wars movies. I would also recommend the DVD version that has the commentary option by the Japanese cinema expert if anyone is interested in a deeper understanding of the "hows" and "whys" of Kurosawa's film making. Any man, woman, boy or girl who just wants to see a really, really great movie, THIS IS THE ONE! An A+++ in my book.
helpful•15955
- Kool_Joker
- Sep 30, 2002
Reboots & Remakes
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- The Magnificent Seven
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- ¥125,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $318,649
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $15,942
- Jul 28, 2002
- Gross worldwide
- $346,258
- Runtime3 hours 27 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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