The term 'yojimbo' means a bouncer or a bodyguard. Sanjuro Kuwabatake (Toshiro Mifune) arrives at a small Japanese village with two warring factions looking for a means to thoroughly defeat the opposition once and for all. Seeing an opportunity to turn his samurai talent into cash, Sanjuro seeks out the leaders of both factions in an attempt to up the stakes with each one. In that regard, Sanjuro has no particular loyalty, and can be swayed by the highest bidder. Or can he?
I had to laugh the first time the clans of Seibei and Ushitora first opposed each other in the street. Both sides proved equally cowardly in their failure to engage the enemy, it bordered on the comical. I was impressed though by the size of Kannuki the Giant, the guy was massive. He reminded me a bit of Japanese wrestler Shohei Baba, better known in this country as Baba the Giant, active around the time this film came out in the early Sixties.
There was a bit of a disconnect in the story for me when the opposing clans felt they had to break from their fighting when the inspector from Edo came to the village. My question was 'why'? What kind of penalty was the inspector going to impose if clan members wound up killing each other? There's really no satisfactory answer to that, that I can think of, and there was none offered in the story. It just seemed irrational to me.
I think what I might have to do here is revisit this film once again later on as I did with Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai", which I didn't find that compelling the first time around but gained a greater appreciation for it with a second look. I did like Toshiro Mifune in this one though, consistently going back and forth between the warring leaders to constantly confound them by contradicting his prior intentions. Had the opposition leaders had any smarts at all, they would have gotten together to take him out first.
I had to laugh the first time the clans of Seibei and Ushitora first opposed each other in the street. Both sides proved equally cowardly in their failure to engage the enemy, it bordered on the comical. I was impressed though by the size of Kannuki the Giant, the guy was massive. He reminded me a bit of Japanese wrestler Shohei Baba, better known in this country as Baba the Giant, active around the time this film came out in the early Sixties.
There was a bit of a disconnect in the story for me when the opposing clans felt they had to break from their fighting when the inspector from Edo came to the village. My question was 'why'? What kind of penalty was the inspector going to impose if clan members wound up killing each other? There's really no satisfactory answer to that, that I can think of, and there was none offered in the story. It just seemed irrational to me.
I think what I might have to do here is revisit this film once again later on as I did with Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai", which I didn't find that compelling the first time around but gained a greater appreciation for it with a second look. I did like Toshiro Mifune in this one though, consistently going back and forth between the warring leaders to constantly confound them by contradicting his prior intentions. Had the opposition leaders had any smarts at all, they would have gotten together to take him out first.