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western #21, 'the outrage.' [another day, another movie.]

Another punch for punch American adaptation of a Kurosawa movie. It takes the subtle musings about truth in Rashomon and instead works the word ‘truth’ into as many lines as possible to jam the concept down our throat. Most of the writing is pretty weak. Although, Shatner’s last line is pretty great. (That’s right, William Shatner is in this movie!)

The majority of the great moments lost their effect on me because they were just lifted directly out of Rashomon.

So far, Leone is the only guy who could adapt Kurosawa in a way that felt like art in its own right, as opposed to art translated to the big, dumb masses. Adaptation can still be a wonderful artistic medium, even Kurosawa was adapting novels much of the time. The problem is when all you are doing is refilming each scene in a different language with different actors, stealing shots and themes, while never offering anything new, offering nothing of yourself. That is what most filmmakers seemed to be doing when they adapted Kurosawa for America.

Also, Paul Newman was the worst Mexican ever. I love the man, but he should have never, ever played a Mexican. Plus, the decision to make the bandit a Mexican really can’t be seen as anything but racist. If people suspected an innocent man as guilty because he was Mexican, then you would have something, but simply making the infamous, treacherous bandit Mexican is lazy and racist.

Oh yeah, one more thing, that poster at the top of the post, with the line ‘was it an act of violence or an act of love?’… yeah, that wasn’t even kind of  a question asked in the movie. Throughout the course of Hollywood history, I often wonder if those who create ads for films have ever seen the film in question.

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western #8, 'seven samurai.' [another day, another movie.]

Holy shit, this movie was magnificent! Everything about it was nothing short of amazing.

There is no possible hyperbole when praising Kurosawa. This is only my third film from his catalogue, but I am just blown away by his ability to visually tell a story. The stuff he was doing in the 50’s… it’s just unbelievable.

Seven Samurai is poignant, sweet, sentimental, brutal, hilarious, and filled with depth and wisdom. It was absolutely stunning, this story of tender warriors, protecting the innocent, some making the ultimate sacrifice willingly.

The acting was also fantastic. It was brilliant across the board, but none more so than in the case of our old friend Toshiro Mifune. He exhibited an amazing ability to act hilariously insane and unhinged, and then suddenly become the emotional anchor of a moment, sometimes in the same scene.

This movie was spellbinding. I really can’t believe how good it was. I genuinely felt for each character, even though each was developed with a wonderful subtlety. I have no clue as to the backstory of most of the characters, outside of the fact that they were ronin, and yet Kurosawa’s skillful writing and directing, coupled with amazing performances simply worked each character into my heart.

It was around three and a half hours long, and I was sad to see it end. Easily my favorite movie so far.

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western #2, 'a fistful of dollars.' [another day, another movie.]

I wasn’t sure what I was going to think about A Fistful of Dollars. Directly adapting a brilliant film like Yojimbo without ever successfully getting the rights to do so is sketchy at best (Kurosawa sued and won, receiving 15% of the film’s take).

Yet, somehow, Sergio Leone is a good enough director that he made it work. There are certainly scenes and moments that just made me want to watch the original again (yes, already), but there was enough new delights thrown in that A Fistful of Dollars is a pretty good film in its own right.

There is a scene during the climax, where they use shots of only boots to set up the tension for the final gunfight. It’s been replicated and parodied so many times since that it has become cliché and is usually annoying. Yet it is done so well here that I was impressed and drawn in by it even though I live on the other side of the overuse. It was wonderful.

Eastwood really is a great Americanization of the wandering samurai character. When our nameless hero confronts the gang of douchebags in town, asking them to apologize to his horse for scaring it, he captured everything that was great about Mifune’s performance in Yojimbo. Basically, if you view it as an homage, it rocks, if you view it as ripping him off, it sucks. Eastwood’s personal character in the years since makes me lean toward homage, but I could just be blinding myself.

The one complaint about the actual filmmaking is that the dubbing was utterly terrible. I’m not sure if this was perhaps caused by the particular master used on the dvd, does anyone else know what I am talking about with the dubbing? It really was terrible, and  it would be surprising if it was released that way originally, especially in a film that is otherwise so meticulously crafted. Also, the day for night shots were a little silly as well, but they were limited by their era.

However, the rest of the film is pretty great;  the use of close-ups, Ennio Morricone’s score, Eastwood’s scowling mug being unleashed on the world at large.

It is still difficult to get past the fact that they totally ripped off Kurosawa, but it’s a great film otherwise.

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