Guide Note

Released in 1961, Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo is a comedic Samurai film with its inspirational roots in American John Ford Westerns and Dashiell Hammett noir detective novels. Yojimbo has likewise influenced, been imitated, and remade by Western filmmakers.

Fast Facts

1. Release Date: April 25, 1961
2. Producers:
   1. Ryuzo Kikushima
   2. Akira Kurosawa
   3. Tomoyuki Tanaka
3. Director: Akira Kurosawa
4. Screenplay:
   1. Ryuzo Kikushima
   2. Akira Kurosawa
5. Distributor: Toho Company Ltd.
6. Cast:
   1. Toshirō Mifune
   2. Tatsuya Nakadai
   3. Yôko Tsukasa
   4. Isuzu Yamada
7. Running Time: 110 minutes

Akira Kurosawa received criticism from his peers that too many of his films drew heavily from Western influences. In response, Kurosawa deliberately borrowed cinematic techniques from America Westerns and took major elements of the plot of Yojimbo from film noir. In return, the Spanish director Sergio Leone created an unauthorized remake of Yojimbo with A Fistful of Dollars. Many elements in George Lucas's original Star Wars borrow from Yojimbo and another Kurosawa classic, The Seven Samurai. The 1996 Walter Hill film Last Man Standing, starring Bruce Willis, is an authorized remake of Yojimbo.