Highly entertaining comical samurai film.
The Hidden Fortress (1958)
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Reviews Counted: 22
Fresh: 22
Rotten:0
Average Rating: 8.6/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 19 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Synopsis: During a civil war in 16th-century feudal Japan, two cowardly farmers (Minoru Chiaki and Kamatari Fujiwara) stumble upon Makabe (Toshirô Mifune), a fierce army general. Escaping from hostile... During a civil war in 16th-century feudal Japan, two cowardly farmers (Minoru Chiaki and Kamatari Fujiwara) stumble upon Makabe (Toshirô Mifune), a fierce army general. Escaping from hostile territory, General Makabe embarks on a mission to rescue both Yukihime (Misa Uehara), the willfull princess of his ruling house, and the royal fortune. In the selfish hopes of finding the gold, the two misfits accompany the hardened soldier through dangerous mountain passes. In addition to its status as one of Akira Kurosawa's finest films, THE HIDDEN FORTRESS is especially notable for its influence on director George Lucas's STAR WARS. Lucas admittedly borrowed much from Kurosawa's lighthearted epic; the two bickering misfits were the inspiration for R2-D2 and C-3PO, while Princess Leia was largely patterned after the feisty Lady Yukihime. Both Luke Skywalker and Han Solo contain elements of General Makabe, but neither character matches Mifune's disciplined ferocity. [More]
Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Misa Uehara, Minoru Chiaki, Takashi Shimura
Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Misa Uehara, Minoru Chiaki, Takashi Shimura, Susumu Fujita, Eiko Miyoshi
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Screenwriter: Shinobu Hashimoto, Ryuzo Kikushima, Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni
Producer: Masumi Fujimoto, Akira Kurosawa
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Release:
Jun 16, 2009
Reviews for The Hidden Fortress
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
Why don't we have a Kurosawa altar at which to worship? After all, this is one temple I'd actually attend.
Essentially a superficial film and that Kurosawa, for all his talent, is as prone to pot-boiling as anyone else.
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.
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.
George Lucas gives this Kurosawa classic its props as one of his inspirations for Star Wars.
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