Sanjuro
Call Number: JAPFFDVDS8.1
Alternate Title: Tsubaki Sanjûrô, 椿三十郎
Year: 1962
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Duration: 96 mins
Language(s): Japanese
Subtitle Language(s): English
A crafty samurai helps a young man and his fellow clansmen trying to save his uncle, who has been framed and imprisoned by a corrupt superintendent.
Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Akira Kurosawa’s tightly paced, beautifully composed Sanjuro. In this sly 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. Less brazen in tone than its predecessor but equally entertaining, this classic character’s return is a masterpiece in its own right.