Tsubaki Sanjûrô

Plot synopsis:
Nine young samurai, including his nephew, believe that the lord chamberlain, Mutsuta, is corrupt after he tore up their petition against organised crime and argued that maybe he himself was behind the crimes. One of them tells the superintendent of this and he agrees to intervene. As the nine meet secretly at a shrine and discuss their problem, a ronin (Mifune) emerges from another room where he has been resting. The ronin has overheard their plans, and suggests that the superintendent is in fact the real corrupt official. While at first the samurai are insulted by his claims, they soon find themselves surrounded by the superintendent's men, proving that he was correct. Initially, the samurai want to fight, but the odds are overwhelming, so the ronin hides the samurai, confronts and hits a few of the attackers and bluffs their leader into leaving. The grateful samurai ask what they can do for the ronin and he asks for only a small amount of money to buy food because he is starving; however, after realizing that Mutsuta and his family must now be in danger, he decides to help the samurai bring down the corrupt officials.
When the samurai go to Mutsuta's house, they find that he has been abducted and his wife (played by Takako Irie) and daughter (Reiko Dan) are imprisoned in the house. Following the ronin's suggestion, a servant from the house gets the guards drunk, allowing the samurai to free the women. The group hide in a house next door to the superintendent's compound, which contains a large number of (camellia) trees. Mutsuta's wife asks the ronin's name; looking out of the window at the 椿 tsubaki (camellia) trees, which he can see over the fence separating the two properties, he declares his name to be 椿三十郎 Tsubaki Sanjūrō, adopting (just as he had done in Yojimbo) something he sees close by as a pseudonymous surname. The lady chastises Sanjuro for using his sword too frequently and insists that he refrain from unnecessary killing, noting that the best swordsmen keep their weapons in their sheaths.
The Superintendent's henchman, Muroto Hanbei (Tatsuya Nakadai), and several other corrupt officials address a plan to outsmart the chamberlain's followers. First they post an open notice that the chamberlain has been arrested and charged with being involved in organized crime. Afterwards, they try to lure out the samurai by sending out the officials' empty palanquins, assuming that the samurai will think the corrupt officials are in them and attack. This backfires on them, however, when a posse of people from the town, inflamed by the open notice, ride out to protect the palanquins, just as the samurai are preparing to attack. The samurai then retreat to their hideout.
Sanjuro decides to get closer to Hanbei's master by going undercover as his henchman. Mistrust causes several of the samurai to believe he is switching sides. The samurai agree that four of them will follow him: two who believe in him and two who do not. However, Sanjuro realizes he is being followed and the four are easily captured by Hanbei. When Hanbei leaves to request reinforcements, Sanjuro frees the four captured samurai, at the expense of having to kill all their guards. He demands that the four tie him up, and is found in that situation by Hanbei. Sanjuro tells Hanbei that they were attacked by a large number of samurai, so Hanbei declares Sanjuro cannot be hired after being defeated. To make amends, Sanjuro insincerely promises to find the attackers.
The next day, Mutsuta's wife and daughter find a piece of a petition in the small stream that flows from the superintendent's compound to their hideout. The samurai realise that this could only have come from Mutsuta, who must therefore be imprisoned in the compound. While at first they consider a full-on attack on the officials, they soon realize that the compound is full of the superintendent's forces, so that such an attack would be futile.
Sanjuro hatches a plan to get the army out of the compound, by telling Hanbei that he saw the rebellious samurai at a temple where he was sleeping. He says he will then send a signal for the samurai to attack by floating large numbers of camellias down the stream. The first part of the plan works, with the superintendent's forces rushing off to the temple; however, Hanbei becomes suspicious after catching Sanjuro trying to drop the camellias into the stream, and ties him up. Just as Hanbei is preparing to kill Sanjuro, the remaining corrupt officials realize that Sanjuro has tricked them - his description of the temple was incorrect. They convince Hanbei not to waste any further time over Sanjuro and instead to catch up with the superintendent's forces and have them return to the compound as soon as possible. In a comedic scene, Sanjuro tricks the officials into making the signal for the samurai to attack. It works and they manage to rescue Sanjuro and Mutsuta. Hanbei returns later to find he has been made a fool once again.
Mutsuta is restored to his position as chamberlain, and the superintendent commits hara-kiri, much to the chamberlain's chagrin as he wished to avoid such a public affair, instead wishing only to force the corrupt officials to retire. As Mutsuta, his family and the loyal samurai are celebrating they discover that Sanjuro has slipped away. The nine samurai race off and find him with Hanbei, about to duel.
Sanjuro is reluctant to fight and tries to dissuade Hanbei, saying that if they fight, one of them will surely die and nothing will be gained by that. However, Hanbei is obdurate, saying his dignity has been soiled and that killing Sanjuro is the only way to restore it.
The two face off at each other and remain unmoving for almost half a minute. Finally, as Hanbei draws his sword, Sanjuro kills him by drawing and cutting in a single, faster action. A fountain of blood gushes from Hanbei and he falls dead. When the young samurai cheer his victory, Sanjuro becomes angry, saying that his dead adversary was exactly like him. He now has a fuller understanding of Lady Mutsuta's earlier admonition that the best swords are the ones that are kept in their scabbards. Sanjuro then stalks off in annoyance after warning the worshipful young men not to follow him.

Tags: comedy, cult, violence, atmospheric, humor, satire

Review:
Not a few Japanese actually prefer the former to the latter, and it's easy to see why: It is stylistically more polished and smarter than Yojimbo and Mifune is 'cooler' as well - he shows a brilliant leadership and every Mifune fan would be really delighted to see how his young, naive disciples run after him like chicks following the mother duck.And while Yojinbo's female main character, Orin, is an evil and crafty woman, Lady Mutsuta in Tsubaki Sanjuro is 'irritatingly light-hearted'.
An excellent character, and, in fact, she is the only person in Tsubaki Sanjuro AND Yojinbo to whom Sanjuro/Mifune speaks in a polite form (in Japanese).Tsubaki Sanjuro is, so to speak, a 'concentrate' of Kurosawa's cinematography and one sees in it every aspect of his greatness in a very compact form.
This is also the first on-screen collaboration between Toshiro Mifune and the young Yuzo Kayama, before they costared to such memorable effect on Redbeard.Nobody spoofs Kurosawa better than the man himself: this is without a doubt his funniest film, yet he never treats it as a second-class product.
No slouch, the director peppers this light romp with unforgettable visual flourishes, enraptured homages to the American Westerns that so inspired him, and an end-note of surprising violence, the likes of which Tarantino could only dream of.At a fast-paced 96 minutes, this is probably a great entry point into the cinema of Akira Kurosawa, and a film that would be much more highly regarded had it not come from such an established filmmaker..
Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune combined their abilities in numerous fine movies, and while "Sanjuro", for its part, is lighter than most of the others, it is certainly one of the most entertaining of the movies that either of the two has made.
Sanjuro is the sequel to Yojimbo (1961) and see's our unnamed ronin friend once again defending the innocent under the guise of his own desires.Toshirô Mifune returns as the grumpy samurai and delivers a strong performance yet again.
This time however it's more strategy and action than Yojimbos intricate mind games.Truth be told Sanjuro is a weaker Toho movie than Yojimbo, it isn't as clever and certainly lacks the same level of charm.
Kurosawa's pinnacle was Seven Samurai (1954) and from what I've seen thus far I doubt it'll be beaten.Very watchable Japanese samurai cinema, but hardly groundbreaking.The Good:Toshirô MifuneHas real charmThe Bad:Sworddplay is still terribleInferior to YojimboThings I Learnt From This Movie:In fuedal Japan, barns were regular love nests.
Sanuro, the sequel (or prequel, more likely a sequel though) to Akira Kurosawa's 1961 classic Yojimbo, brings us Toshiro Mifune to one of his most memorable characters, as he helps out (begrudgingly but, for the audience, funny way of help) with a group of would-be samurai trying to fight a corrupt man trying to gain power.
With this film, Kurosawa delivers if not more than the same amount of violence (with one of his finest scenes of which towards the very end), and Mifune along with co-stars are believable and make for an entertaining ride.
Sanjuro is not one of Kurosawa's great films, but it shows him relaxed and having fun, deconstructing the jidai-geki (samurai film) genre with tongue firmly in cheek.The film lacks the meticulous visual style of Yojimbo, but it is very well photographed, with some extremely fluid cinematography and those effortlessly artful group compositions that only Kurosawa seems to be able to do.
Thus we are faced with a critic of war - men, scared like cattle battle under the flag of corrupt leaders, and those that may love them must kill them, if they are not to die by sword, or become slaves to tyrants."stupid friends are worse than enemies" For you know who your enemies are, and that they wish to destroy you.In Sanjuro we also see the soldier, so long in battle that he is unable to live a normal life.
The story has great action scenes and jokes, excellent cinematography and performances, I like it but it is not among my favorite movies of Kurosawa.
In Akira Kurosawa's highly underrated sequel to the much revered Yojimbo, Toshiro Mifune reprises his role as the titular master-less samurai, this time having the arduous task of cleaning up the mess created by the younger generation of a ruling clan, whose misplaced trust leaves them vulnerable to the clan's true enemy.
The fact that Sanjuro is played by none other than the grunting, swashbuckling Toshiro Mifune makes the movie thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end.
He guides the narrative mostly for laughs, but when the action kicks in the sword fighting is brutal and memorable.Sanjuro may not be Akira Kurosawa's most celebrated work, but you will find his witty paw prints all over the snappy dialogue, unique characters and intriguing plot – an effort that I personally rank higher than Yojimbo!.
He had his protagonist claim in the end- "I am just like him (the dead antagonist), he was like a sword that should have a sheath" Yojimbo and Sanjuro are both essentially comedies, but they evoke different senses of humor.
This sequel to Kurosawa's brilliant Yojimbo is entertaining and amusing, but it's also kinda dumb, something that seems to have been missed by all the user reviews I've read here.The premise is set up quickly and rather abruptly, as a group of samurai talk about their attempt to find an authority figure to rid their clan of corruption.
Akira Kurosawa's directional style is evident, but this is a light-hearted film compared to his serious works like Seven Samurai, and Rashomon.Toshiro Mifune is the other reason to watch Sanjuro (besides this being a Kurosawa work); he snarls to perfection here.
Aside from the painfully obvious facts that the character with the same first name, style, look, vernacular and way of conjuring a family name from what ever he spies around him suggests this to be a sequel , there's also the constant lodging within temples that could point toward the penniless ronins true return to film, as well as the clever usage of the number 30 ( sanjuro) that shares his name throughout both films.
Kurosawa did nothing without thought, and this film was very much more thoughtful than the first ( yojimbo).To put it simply: the first film was almost all comedy and farce, whereas the second film this review is primarily concerned with is much more a tale of the times it takes place in; a political intrigue period piece, filled with action, better set design, props, extras galore, moxy if you will.
However the Chamberlain who can help expose them is kidnapped and, while the rebel leader tries to force a fake confession of out him, Sanjûrô plans how to achieve his rescue with so few (and so hapless) resources available to him.So, in catching up on Akira Kurosawa I have gradually gone through many of his films and have hit a few I had never heard of.
As such he is the heart of the film and much of the entertainment comes from watching him.As is so often the case, Mifune is perfect in this sort of role and wears his lazy manner well along side cunning and a certain amount of dislike for the reality (death) of his life as much as he seems to revel in the challenge of it.
Kurosawa keeps it moving and does some exciting and sudden action sequences that will not impress those looking for wonderful choreography but they do work because they fit the pace and tone of the film.I was ignorant of Sanjûrô until recently and it was only chance that I rented it.
Although it is a diminution from its marvelous action-packed predecessor, "Yojimbo", Akira Kurosawa's "Sanjuro" is nothing short of ecstatic entertainment.
And just like before, we have ecstatic excitement, lots of action scenes with surprisingly commendable saber duels, fantastic performances, witty dialogue, and a truly thunderous climax at the end."Sanjuro" is just one step below "Yojimbo" perhaps because Kurosawa did not originally intend to make a sequel to the said film and it is a very difficult challenge to build the second piece of the saga puzzle and make it equal to the first, let alone better.
Toshiro Mifune's flawless acting coupled with Akira Kurosawa's one-of-a-kind direction takes a story that might otherwise seem kind of silly and makes it into an entirely plausible period piece as far as the human mind is concerned.
At the beginning of Yojimbo, you don't know where you're going, and at the end you're wondering 'how'd I get here?' But at the start of Sanjuro, there's a real sense that we know where much of what follows is leading us, even though there are surprising twists in the road along the way, and by the time Mifune makes his final remarks on not becoming a killer, we've been expecting something like that for a while, which is why Kurosawa and Mifune can keep the remarks so brief and to the point.The two films share the same leading character, but they are in many ways different and need to be enjoyed differently.
The sequel to Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo may not be as engrossing as the original but it is still a very polished piece of work that presents the legendary filmmaker in splendid form and is powered by another smashing lead show from Toshiro Mifune whose magnetic screen presence once again overshadows all in its vicinity.The story of Sanjuro follows a wandering samurai who's drawn into the local politics after overhearing a clan of young samurais and decides to help them save their lord chamberlain who's been framed & imprisoned by a corrupt superintendent.
The rest of the cast provide good support but none of them exhibit same energy & demeanour as Mifune.On an overall scale, Sanjuro is another quality feature from Akira Kurosawa and is a worthy follow-up to Yojimbo by all means.
I do love Akira Kurasawa's movies, especially Seven Samurai, Ran, Ikiru, Rashomon, Yojimbo, The Hidden Fortress and Throne of Blood.
:-) Sanjuro came out just one year after Yojimbo, and features Toshirô Mifune as Sanjûrô Tsubaki / The Samurai.
SANJURO is action drama and it is a sequel to Kurosawa's 1961 YOJIMBO.Nine young samurai has decided to oppose corruption in their clan.
However, a chamberlain who can help expose them is kidnapped and his wife and daughter are imprisoned in the house...Mr. Kurosawa did not offer a kind of wild samurai action in this movie.
The dumb samurais at all times acting as a group is great visual comedy, while the way they manage to ruin Sanjuro's plans time and time again is timeless.
Having just watched SANJURO for the first time, I can report that it's my favourite Akira Kurosawa-directed movie yet, and that comes from somebody who's watched SEVEN SAMURAI, RASHOMON, and THRONE OF BLOOD.
The reason I loved SANJURO so much is that it's pure entertainment: funny, fast-paced, with an intricate little storyline and some fantastic performances.Inevitably at this stage in his career, Toshiro Mifune headlines the cast, playing what I consider to be his greatest character: he's a rude, stubborn and unruly samurai, scruffy in appearance but exceptionally smart and worldly-wise.
In SANJURO, Kurosawa invented the classic Japanese blood spray later adopted by dozens of Samurai movie-makers; the action, when it happens, is brief, but it's superbly shot and adds to a generally brilliant movie all round..
Sanjuro (1962) *** (out of 4) Akira Kurosawa's sequel to Yojimbo has the title character (Toshiro Mifune) trying to take care of nine men who find themselves in a battle with an army.
This thing here is pretty good on the action and Mifune is terrific again but it's still a major step down from Yojimbo and the other Kurosawa films I've seen.Even with this being a step down for Kurosawa, that just tells you how many great films he's made..
The conception of the eternal weakness of the human nature characterized all the adventure films by Akira Kurosawa: The Hidden Fortress (1958), Yojimbo (1961) and Sanjuro (1962).
Like all of Kurosawa's samurai-films so does Sanjuro happen in the Wild East; in the violent history of Japan: The Edo period (1603-1868) which ended to the removal of the samurai class (before 1868 it was a class of its own, even though samurais were servants).
Played with great style by Toshiro Mifune, Sanjuro aims to help a group of young samurai rescue their kidnapped uncle from corrupt leaders in the village.
I was very lucky to see this film because Kurosawa and actor Mifune made so many great black and white films, which this was one of them.Life even during chaos of feudal japan did not seemingly change much for a true samurai.
This is not Kurosawa's best samurai movie, but it is a good place to start.
In this story the outsider finds a clan troubled by corruption among the powerful older authorities and the young samurai must confront the problem with little or no experience.The close observer of Kurosawa's samurai movies should look to see where Western views and influence tend to marginalize direction and performance.
So, being forced to use it in order to deliver a product, he takes away all of the rich visual composition of "Yojimbo", and in its place he films an elaborate joke - a joke on everyone who thought the plot and characters were the points to fixate on in his movies.
The climax was more like an anticlimax - i just didn't care about the outcome.Overall, "Sanjuro" is not a bad movie by any means, but it felt like i have already seen this story made much better in other movies by a legendary Akira Kurosawa.
You can see how Kurosawa's samurai movies and Mifune's acting influenced westerns (esp.
A crafty samurai helps a young man and his fellow clansmen save his uncle, who has been framed and imprisoned by a corrupt superintendent.Toshiro Mifune's sword fighting in the film was used in an extensive illustrated example of "samurai virtuosity with his sword" in "This is Kendo", a kendo manual published in English.
This is seen as a more light-hearted sequel to "Yojimbo", and indeed it is one of the few films I am aware of where samurai dance around in joyful glee.
With this picture Akira Kurosawa, one of the most respected and influential film directors the world has ever known, did what is now something of a dirty word in cineaste circles – a sequel, in this instance a follow-up to his hit Samurai action movie Yojinbo.
However he does not appear to have worked as hard at making each example unique and distinctive as he did in the earlier picture, and the half-dozen sword fights in this one start to become a bit tedious.One of the biggest draws in Sanjuro's predecessor was the presence of its star Toshiro Mifune, who won several awards for his performance as the grudgingly moral ronin.
...but the movie is great fun even when you know what's going to happen.I'd like to call it the B-side of Yojimbo, mainly because it revisits the same character that that movie is based on, Sanjuro, but in other respects as well, being it much less renown than that movie, not that it is any less good, making it sort of the movie that a real Kurosawa fan would know about.
Together, they are just terrific and feature Toshiro Mifune as the amazingly skilled and clever wandering swordsman who is out to right wrongs and make the world a better place (much like the character "Zatoichi" in the long series of samurai films that debuted the same year SANJURO was released).In this case, there is a corrupt local official and a very naive group of young and energetic but STUPID young men are about to expose his corruption to his boss--expecting the boss to act and restore justice.
Here he develops and expands the character, confounding the audiences expectations by mixing in both comedy and a greater level of cynicism, and ending it in true tragedy - the hero recognising so much of himself in the supposed bad guy.So much of this movie seems to be Kurosawa's sly little joke at the Japanese film industry - its hard not to see Sanjuro as a stand in for the lone film maker, trying to maintain his integrity in a world of well meaning idiots and cynical philistines.
"Yojimbo" was exciting and amusing; "Sanjuro", alas, is overlong, repetitive and inferior.The story is about a group of samurai meeting in a shrine, one of whom is the nephew of the region's Chamberlain, who had laughed off the nephew's exposure of corruption in the local government.
Originally its own thing, but due to the success of Kurosawa's "Yojimbo" (1961) the script was reworked to feature the return of "Kuwabatake Sanjuro" (Toshiro Mifune).
This sequel to 'Yojimbo' sees the ronin samurai helping a group of men.
It won't be easy though as those he is trying to help don't fully trust him and many of their actions end up making matters worse for them all.It was good to see Toshirô Mifune return as the lone samurai; he is great in the roll as he brings an enjoyable mix of humour and roughness to the part.
I watched "Yojimbo" and "Sanjuro" back to back and couldn't help feeling I liked the follow up sequel just a bit better, even though the earlier film is the one that's much higher regarded and better known.
The action, like much of Kurosawa's samurai films, is theatrical and overly-dramatic, so much so in Sanjuro that it almost seems like he is parodying his own style.
Sanjuro, which is also in a way a sequel to Yojimbo, is quite different from his usual films because not only it packs exciting comedy but it has more intelligence than what you would expect from a classic B&W film.