Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (original Japanese title: Kakushi Toride No San Akunin) stars Minoru Chiaki and Kamatari Fujiwara as a pair of misfit soldiers. Running from the enemy after a disastrous defeat, the two soldiers fall in with general Toshiro Mifune, who is in search of a huge cache of gold. Mifune is also desirous of freeing princess-in-exile Misa Uehara from the clutches of the evil victorious army. Several large and small battles ensue before Mifune can realize his goal. If
the plot of Hidden Fortress sounds vaguely familiar to you, try this exercise: substitute two robots for Chiaki and Fujiwara, Mark Hamill for Mifune, and Carrie Fisher for Uehara. George Lucas himself admitted that Hidden Fortress was a principal inspiration for his Star Wars saga; stretching the point farther, both Hidden Fortress and Star Wars had their roots in John Ford's The Searchers. Originally released in a 137-minute form, The Hidden Fortress was sliced to ribbons by its American distributors, and years later received extensive restoration. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
By introducing comedy into the mixture and telling the tale from an atypical perspective, Kurosawa has differentiated The Hidden Fortress from nearly every similar feudal era Japanese epic ever committed to the screen. This is a masterpiece.
I enjoyed The Hidden Fortress as I do all of Kurosawa's movies...for those wonderful, keenly felt moments of life in harmonious balance with the world surrounding it
Kurosawa reminds us that he really is the best Samurai movie director ever ... There are many laugh out loud moments, and the film also bears some of Kurosawa's finest action sequences.
If Japanese cinema icon Akira Kurosawa ever made a comedy of sorts, this is it. The Hidden Fortress follows two bumbling, stumbling, bickering peasants named Matashichi and Tahei -- the odd couple of samurai flicks -- on a cross country trek with a defeated general, a misplaced princess, and 200 gold pieces. No one
could create the world of feudal Japan like Kurosawa and his seminal picture weaves action/adventure and comedy into a heavenly melange set against a ruthless, medieval civil war where honor and loyalty are compromised in the service of self-preservation. That Kurosawa was able to contemplate his usual cultural themes and make The Hidden Fortress the tremendous entertainer it is, is a testament to the director's uncanny virtuosity. George Lucas took notice and modeled much of his original Star Wars after the ground Kurosawa had tread in The Hidden Fortress -- a minor masterpiece by the legendary filmmaker, but possibly his most enjoyable.
January 29, 2011
Bob O'Reilly
Super Reviewer
To call this film a masterpiece is certainly an understatement. It is most prominently in film circles known as a direct inspiration for Star Wars, but I tend to leave those comparisons aside when viewing the actual film. It's just another round in the Kurosawa arsenal which was more powerful than any others at the
time (and mostly today).
January 11, 2011
Tim Salmons
Super Reviewer
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