Sanjuro (1962) [Film Review]

Sanjuro; or, Return of Yojimbo

      It's a stupid plan, but some excitement might keep me awake.

This week’s review will be about the only sequel in Akira Kurosawa’s career. Following the overwhelming success of Yojimbo in 1961, Toho executives pressed Kurosawa to make a follow-up story. As a result, Sanjuro was released a year later with Toshiro Mifune reprising his role of a wandering ronin, marking the 14th successful picture in the Kurosawa-Mifune collaboration

Release Info

Directed by: Akira Kurosawa Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yuzo Kayama, Takashi Shimura
Language: Japanese Original Title: 椿三十郎 Runtime: 95 min

 

Synopsis

Eight samurai led by Iori Izaka (Yuzo Kayama) meet together in an isolated shrine and discuss their issues. Iori suspects that his uncle, Chamberlain Mutsuta (Yunosuke Ito), might be involved in corruption since he tore up his nephew’s petition against organised crime. Thus, Iori went to the Superintendent for help and the latter reluctantly agreed. Nevertheless, it turns out that the Chamberlain was never involved in any dubious activity and that the Superintendent is the real villain. After imprisoning Mutsuta and his family, nine helpless samurai have nobody else to rely on than a shabby, yet extremely wise ronin who was sleeping in the shrine and overheard their conversation, Sanjuro Tsubaki (Toshiro Mifune).

Sanjuro vs. Yojimbo

After making Yojimbo, Kurosawa wanted to move on to something different in the samurai genre and, for instance, make a movie about a day in life of a samurai who is about to die, but due to Toho’s decision about Yojimbo’s sequel, he proceeded to adapt a story by Shugoro Yamamoto called Peaceful Days and positioned Mifune’s ronin as the story’s protagonist.

 

Interestingly, Kihachi Okamoto’s Kill! (1968) was also based on this novel and a number of similarities can be observed between the two films. However, they differ significantly in their tone. Whereas Kill was a parody of chanbara films and a satire on samurai lifestyle in general, Sanjuro poses a question of what it takes to be a good samurai. In Yojimbo, Sanjuro was acting for his own personal gain when playing off the leaders of two rival clans against each other, but in the sequel, we see him taking action due to his empathy for nine samurai in need. He wants to help because it is a right thing to do, yet, rest assured, he does not go soft on killing bad guys.

I admit that Yojimbo is a masterpiece which made its impact on popular culture, sparking numerous remakes and references, but storywise, Sanjuro feels to be a superior picture. Yojimbo provided great fun and action, but never really explored its protagonist’s personality. The sequel complements that hole and goes even further. Sanjuro becomes almost like a father figure to the young and impulsive samurai and, at the same time, he learns from the gracious Lady Mutsuta (Takako Irie) that “the best sword stays in its scabbard”. In consequence, Sanjuro has greater understanding for his adversary, the Superintendent’s henchman, Hanbei Muroto (played by the legendary Tatsuya Nakadai) whom he has to face in the finale’s electrifying showdown.

In terms of behind the scenes trivia, the morbid death of Nakadai’s character was allegedly done in one take and, accidentally, turned out to be more spectacular than intended. Supposedly, a compressor hose attached to Nakadai burst at one spot and a much larger gush of fake blood spilled out. The impact of the hose’s pressure was so strong that Nakadai was nearly lifted off the ground (which can explain the quick cut to Sanjuro’s close-up). Nevertheless, the death itself still looks impressive.

Recommendations

To sum up, Sanjuro is a great continuation of Yojimbo. Professionally directed (as always by Kurosawa), brilliantly acted (not only by Mifune but by Nakadai and other cast members as well), and with a great music score (composed by Masaru Sato- yet Yojimbo’s original theme can’t be heard until the closing shot of the film). It’s a shame that the third part was never conceived, because out of Kurosawa’s filmography, Yojimbo seemed the best material for a series. Although Mifune made unofficial sequels in 1970 with Hiroshi Inagaki (Incident at Blood Pass) and Kihachi Okamoto (Zatoichi vs. Yojimbo), I would love to see Kurosawa’s continuation of the ronin’s adventures.

Overall score: 8/10