Yojimbo
People tend to use Kurosawa’s films as sign of Eastern influence upon American filmmaking. But really, Kurosawa isn’t that much of a Japanese filmmaker. “Rashomon” definitely had many aspects of Japanese culture and traditions, but “Yojimbo” is practically a Western. There is only one samurai in the story, who is more like an American anti-hero, and almost everybody else is just scum. It is no surprise that the film can be practically remade into a Western.
Personally, I see that as a positive thing. Kurosawa’s films have great shots, are very suspenseful and I feel like there is a strong energy throughout his films, the exact opposite of, say, Ozu. By not considering Kurosawa a Japanese filmmaker, it’s easier to take him for what he mostly does: tell a good story and shoot good films.
“Yojimbo” is probably my least favorite Kurosawa so far, I have to agree with the critics on that. Whereas “Seven Samurai” is an epic masterpiece and “Rashomon” had an unusual premise coupled with intriguing nonlinear storytelling, I think that “Yojimbo” was mostly pretty generic. Of course Mifune is awesome as always and the story was nice and engaging, but if that is all, it was 2 hours well spent but not overly not too memorable.