The Ultimate in Epic Samurai Tales

Rating: 8/10 (23 April 2016)

A petty thief with an utter resemblance to a samurai warlord is hired as the lord's double. When the warlord later dies the thief is forced to take up arms in his place.
George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola are credited at the end of the film as executive producers in the international version. This is because they convinced 20th Century Fox to make up a shortfall in the film's budget when the original producers, Toho Studios, could not afford to complete the film. In return, 20th Century Fox received the international distribution rights to the film.
According to Lucas, Kurosawa used 5000 extras for the final battle sequence, filming for a whole day, then he cut it down to 90 seconds in the final release. Many beautiful special effects, and a number of scenes that filled holes in the story, landed on the "cutting-room floor." The version I watched was edited for international distribution. Now, if there is an even longer version than the Japanese version, this is one heck of a samurai epic. That would be what, four hours? And definitely among the best -- if not the very best -- of Kurosawa's later work. Holy moley, those colors! Again, the version I saw seemed to be in standard definition. If Criterion released this in 4K, it would blow minds. (Maybe they have, I don't know.) An absolute must-see for Kurosawa fans or fans of the samurai film (two groups that I presume have plenty of overlap).