Akira Kurosawa: Four Samurai Classics (Seven Samurai / The Hidden Fortress / Yojimbo / Sanjuro) (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

Seven Samurai 1954 unanimously hailed as one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of the motion picture It was the inspiration for countless films modeled after its basic premise but has never been surpassed in terms of sheer power of emotion kinetic energy and dynamic character development The story is set in the 1600s when the residents of a small Japanese village seek protection against repeated attacks by a band of marauding thieves and hire seven unemployed ronin masterless samurai including a boastful swordsman Toshiro Mifune who is actually a farmer's son desperately seeking glory and acceptance The climactic battle remains one of the most breathtaking sequences ever filmed and one of Kurosawa's crowning cinematic achievements In another of the many Kurosawa-Mifune collaborations The Hidden Fortress 1958 tells the story of a warrior and a princess trying against all odds to return to their homeland with their fortune Along the way they are simultaneously assisted and thwarted by two itinerant and not-too-bright farmers with their own designs on the treasure Frequently cited for its thematic influences on Star Wars The Hidden Fortress combines an epic tale of struggle and honor with modern comic sensibilities Yojimbo 1961 was inspired by the American Western genre Mifune plays a drifting samurai for hire who plays both ends against the middle with two warring factions surviving on his wits and his ability to outrun his own bad luck