|
Yojimbo is a
1961 film by
Akira Kurosawa, in which a
samurai arrives at a small town with competing crime lords making
their money from gambling, and convinces each crime lord to hire him as
protection from the other. The film
parodies many conventions of
western films, including the canonical taciturn gunslinger, and the
helpless townsfolk. Its cinematography mimics conventional shots in
western films including that of the lone hero in a wideshot, facing an
enemy or enemies from a distance when the wind kicks up dust between the
two. Much of the music is also clearly "Western". Kurosawa nevertheless
brings to the mix a clearly Japanese attention to visual texture and
composition.
Yojimbo was later
remade as
A Fistful of Dollars, a
spaghetti western directed by
Sergio Leone and starring
Clint Eastwood, and remade, yet again, in a 20th century "gangster"
genre, as
Last Man Standing, starring
Bruce Willis. Arguably A Fistful of Dollars was a ripoff,
rather than a remake, since, unlike Last Man Standing, it gave no
credit to Kurosawa's film.
|
