A nameless ronin finds a fork in the road and, throwing a stick in the air, decides to follow wherever the direction leads him. He reaches an embattled town where two rival gangs skirt around the brink of mutually assured destruction, but neither has the bravery to make a decisive move. The grumpy inn owner who the ronin befriends explains how the impasse has destroyed the town but is enraged when the newcomer decides to stay and investigate. With his own sense of justice – and his unique idea of fun – to the fore, the ronin decides to throw a match in the tinderbox and see what happens.
I love ‘Yojimbo’. I consider it one of the greatest films ever made and I am glad to see that I am not alone. From the opening frames to the triumphant ending, every frame in this work of sublime cinema is an unbridled joy, an ingenious mixture of excitement, character and dry humour. Kurosawa using the wonderful conceit of his hero throwing the stick in the air to find out where life will take him immediately indicates what kind of character this scruffy samurai is – an outsider who flits into drama, stirs up the madness and leaves after cleaning it all up.
‘Yojimbo’ introduced the cinema’s coolest character to the big screen. And it can only work because of a mixture of Toshiro Mifune’s absurd levels of charisma and Akira Kurosawa’s deft touch. The director peppers the film with wit but never at the expense of the tension of the story. Sometimes within two frames, the mood can change from dramatic to humorous and the believability of each is down to just how exceptional the man behind the lens is. Kurosawa is, of course, one of cinema’s greatest film-makers and certainly one of my favourites; rewatching the new 4k Blu-ray reminded me exactly why the Japanese auteur has few peers.
Everything about ‘Yojimbo’ is outstanding: the memorable soundtrack, beautiful cinematography and supreme cast ensure that this is a work of fiction that is of the highest quality. This review is dangerously close to being a gushing sales pitch rather than anything else, but if you haven’t seen ‘Yojimbo’, it is essential that you do so. Flawless.
This year marks twenty-five years of FarEastFilms (formerly DragonsDenUK) and looking back on the vast catalogue of reviews we have accrued, I noticed a few apparent gaps. These were films I thought one of us had provided but, Mandela Effect in operation, I now see were never discussed. Expect to see a few reviews over the next few months that intend to remedy that.
- Yojimbo - November 24, 2025
- The Five Venoms - November 9, 2025
- Shaolin Temple - October 26, 2025
