Toshiro Mifune

Kurosawa, In Order #22 – High and Low

HIGH AND LOW (1963) Salvatore Albert Lombino, aka Evan Hunter, inspired by Jack Webb, wrote around fifty 87th Precinct police procedural novels under the pen name Ed McBain. The 87th Precinct novels were the  preeminent police procedural novels for close to half a century.  Akira Kurosawa was a fan. A combination of fandom and growing …

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Kurosawa, In Order #21 – Sanjuro

SANJURO (1962) Kurosawa had wanted to make a film based on Shuguro Yamamoto’s story “Peaceful Days” before he made Yojimbo. With the massive success of Yojimbo, the screenplay adaptation of “Peaceful Days” was reworked to be Sanjuro, the continuing adventures of Toshiro Mifune’s wandering ronin. Kurosawa, ultimately took over the job of directing the film, …

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Kurosawa, In Order #18 – The Hidden Fortress

THE HIDDEN FORTRESS (1958) Kurosawa had signed a three picture deal with Toho Studios and Throne of Blood and The Lower Depths were box office disappointments, so for his third movie Kurosawa turned to more commercial grounds, a big, sweeping samurai film. But The Hidden Fortress bears little similarity to Seven Samurai, and even less …

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Kurosawa, In Order #17 – The Lower Depths

THE LOWER DEPTHS (1957) Maxim Gorky wrote The Lower Depths in 1902, focusing on a group of Russia’s impoverished making do in a flophouse. With a theme of hard truth vs. comforting lies, it’s little wonder that it appealed to the director of Rashomon.  Not that Kurosawa needed much encouragement in his fandom towards Russian …

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