YOJIMBO (1961)

Akira Kurosawa is a name that even casual movie buffs are familiar with for he straddled the trickiest of all the ropes and passed the ultimate Test for an Auteur - please the lay fan and the informed Film critic.

If someone put a gun to my head, I'd say that he is the greatest of 'em all. As if his body of work isn't intimidating enough, he worked with some outstanding talent that embellished his Films with rare effulgence. Of all the talents, one man stood out.

Cinema has been blessed with some outrageously talented Actors who gave Films verve,depth,vitality and a sense of meaning. The great ones were/are capable of lifting a merely "good" Film to a great one. But, I doubt whether anyone in the history of Cinema was as consistently first rate and world class as that man from Japan. Brando could brood his way into our hearts, De Niro could dazzle the cinephile in us with his intensity and body language, Bogart could snap out his dialogues with barely plausible precision, Sivaji could express multiple human emotions with rare panache.

Mifune could and did all this and more. Personally, I'd say his "best" performance came in the magnificently resplendent "HIGH & LOW", one of Kurosawa's greatest Films adapted from an Ed McBain novel. His collaborations with Mifune are all acknowledged classics. But for all those awe-inducing Masterpieces, their greatest hour together was in "YOJIMBO".

If there is a better opening sequence in Movie history, I'd sure like to see it. Right from the start when the credits begin to roll, "YOJIMBO" grabs you by your throat. The thunderous BGM as Mifune comes into focus creates genuine "goose-pimples" moments. There have been many great Acting performances by the great man but here, Mifune is the personification of perfection. Hunched shoulders to drive away fleas, eyes screwed into the distance and twinkling when he talks with a member of the godforsaken village hinting at condescension, mind sharp as a rapier, mouth spewing sardonic one-liners and supremely self assured of his skills and mental acuity; Mifune is searingly brilliant and effective playing both the ends against the middle as he "cleanses" the town of all the 'scum'.

Masaru Sato's devastating mix of Jazz and Jap. Folk creates musical magic and provides perfect fodder for Mifune and Kurosawa to create something exceptional. The Cinematography is a veritable lesson to all aspiring Cinematographers. There is a scene in the Film where Mifune crouches in a room when I could have sworn it was night. Turns out it wasn't. Kurosawa is a master manipulator and his awe-inducing skills and control were never more evident than in this madly entertaining, incisive Film laced with liberal helpings of black humour and irony. The effect that it has had on future American Films is too obvious to state here. And it is apt that Kurosawa was influenced in some way by Dashiell Hammett, another Master at his own craft.

This is just about the most "perfect" Film I've seen and every time I see it, I'm compelled to marvel at Kurosawa's "story telling" skills more than anything else. He leaves nothing to chance.

As much as I love Leone, Eastwood and their "Dollars" trilogy; their "A Fistful Of Dollars" is but an adept imitation. I suppose that's as high a praise as any.