Seven Samurai

Seven Samurai (1954) starring Takashi Shimura, Toshiro Mifune. Directed by Akira Kurosawa. During the time of civil wars in Japan, frightened farmers try to hire samurai warriors to defend their village from bandits. They find one who is willing (Shimura), and he helps them find six others. Soon the planning begins for the battle ahead. The fight scenes, which make up most of the second half of the movie, are well staged and exciting. Although the film's length, at three and a half hours, works against it, it is well worth seeing the full-length version. Great Japanese movie was remade in 1960 in America as The Magnificent Seven, about Western gunslingers hired to guard a Mexican town from banditos. Seven Samurai is in Japanese, with English subtitles. Grade: A