{"id":82637,"date":"2022-04-01T21:06:52","date_gmt":"2022-04-02T04:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=82637"},"modified":"2024-05-28T23:05:41","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T06:05:41","slug":"seven-samurai-the-magnificent-seven-the-1954","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=82637","title":{"rendered":"Seven Samurai, The \/ Magnificent Seven, The (1954)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;When you think you&#8217;re safe is precisely when you&#8217;re most vulnerable.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Poster-212x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"212\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-82638\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Poster-212x300.png 212w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Poster-91x128.png 91w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Poster-191x270.png 191w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Poster.png 591w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 212px) 100vw, 212px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nIn 16th century Japan, a group of farmers offer food to an aging samurai (Takashi Shimura) in exchange for protection against an impending raid by bandits, and Shimura soon gathers six other men to assist him: an old friend (Daisuke Kat\u014d), the son (Isao Kimura) of a wealthy samurai, a good-humored fighter (Minoru Chiaki), a skilled swordsman (Seiji Miyaguchi), a skilled archer (Yoshio Inaba), and an untrained wanderer (Toshir\u00f4 Mifune).\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Akira Kurosawa Films<\/li>\n<li>Japanese Films<\/li>\n<li>Medieval Times<\/li>\n<li>Samurai<\/li>\n<li>Toshiro Mifune Films<\/li>\n<li>Village Life<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nIn his overview of this &#8220;tremendous achievement by Akira Kurosawa, regarded by most everyone as one of the all-time great films,&#8221; Peary points out that  each of the samurai join the rag-tag group of defenders for different reasons, ranging from Shimura being &#8220;touched that [the farmers] would sacrifice their rice and be stuck eating millet&#8221; in order gain protection, to Inaba &#8220;who joins because Shimura&#8217;s personality intrigues him,&#8221; to Chiaki being welcome &#8220;because his sense of humor will more than compensate for him being just an average fighter.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Men2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Men2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-82651\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Men2.png 960w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Men2-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Men2-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Men2-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Men2-360x270.png 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Peary notes that the final battle &#8212; which &#8220;takes place in the day during a hard rain, with the men racing back and forth through the mud to block off the road into the village and to battle the horsemen who get through the lines&#8221; &#8212; is &#8220;one of the greatest action sequences in the history of cinema:&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Battle.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Battle.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-82640\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Battle.png 960w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Battle-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Battle-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Battle-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Battle-360x270.png 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8230; but he adds that &#8220;since Kurosawa&#8217;s epic&#8230; is peerless as action-adventure, one tends to forget that it&#8217;s also a remarkably poignant human drama&#8221; &#8212; a &#8220;brilliant character study where we come to understand that each of the seven samurai takes part in the defense of the village for a personal reason.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Baby.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Baby.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-82641\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Baby.png 960w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Baby-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Baby-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Baby-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Baby-360x270.png 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Peary points out that &#8220;in addition to dealing with the samurai as individuals and as a group&#8221;: <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/vlcsnap-2022-04-01-19h59m11s832.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/vlcsnap-2022-04-01-19h59m11s832.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-82644\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/vlcsnap-2022-04-01-19h59m11s832.png 960w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/vlcsnap-2022-04-01-19h59m11s832-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/vlcsnap-2022-04-01-19h59m11s832-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/vlcsnap-2022-04-01-19h59m11s832-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/vlcsnap-2022-04-01-19h59m11s832-360x270.png 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8230; &#8220;Kurosawa takes time to probe the nature of farmers, as individuals and as a group,&#8221; leading us to understand &#8220;that they are selfish, cruel, and cowardly&#8221; but have become that way due to, as Mifune&#8217;s character points out, &#8220;the looting, raping, enslaving samurai of Japan.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Farmers.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Farmers.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-82647\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Farmers.png 960w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Farmers-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Farmers-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Farmers-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Farmers-360x270.png 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Peary writes that the &#8220;best known directorial element&#8221; of this &#8220;visual tour-de-force&#8221; is that &#8220;there is always movement within the frame&#8221;; indeed, it&#8217;s challenging to capture the film&#8217;s essence with stills for this very reason. Ultimately, it&#8217;s a movie that needs to be seen to be appreciated &#8212; and given how much has already been written about it by others, I humbly defer interested readers to any of the many links below, and\/or the Criterion disc&#8217;s notable extras. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Takashi Shimura as Kambei Shimada<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Shimura.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Shimura.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-82649\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Shimura.png 960w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Shimura-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Shimura-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Shimura-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Shimura-360x270.png 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Gorgeous cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Fire.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Fire.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-82642\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Fire.png 960w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Fire-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Fire-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Fire-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Fire-360x270.png 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Many memorable sequences<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Bandit.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Bandit.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-82654\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Bandit.png 960w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Bandit-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Bandit-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Bandit-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Seven-Samurai-Bandit-360x270.png 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as a masterful classic. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Foreign Gem<\/li>\n<li>Genuine Classic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> (<span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">Listed in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?page_id=1458\"><em>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die<\/em><\/a><\/span>) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0047478\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.qnetwork.com\/review\/1698\">Q Network Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s3320samu.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/seven-samurai-1\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1956\/11\/20\/archives\/screen-japanese-import.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/89649\/the-seven-samurai#articles-reviews\">TCM Articles<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;When you think you&#8217;re safe is precisely when you&#8217;re most vulnerable.&#8221; Synopsis: In 16th century Japan, a group of farmers offer food to an aging samurai (Takashi Shimura) in exchange for protection against an impending raid by bandits, and Shimura soon gathers six other men to assist him: an old friend (Daisuke Kat\u014d), the son (Isao Kimura) of a wealthy samurai, a good-humored fighter (Minoru Chiaki), a skilled swordsman (Seiji Miyaguchi), a skilled archer (Yoshio Inaba), and an untrained wanderer&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=82637\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82637"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97178,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82637\/revisions\/97178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}