STAR RATINGS EXPLAINED

Classic

Excellent

Good

Fair

Tragic

FILM DETAILS

Certificate PG

Cast Takashi Shimura Toshiro Mifune Yoshio Inaba Minoru Chiaki

Directors Akira Kurosawa

Screenwriters Akira Kurosawa Shinobu Hashimoto Hideo Oguni

Running Time 200 minutes

EMPIRE ESSAY: The Seven Samurai (PG)

Plot
A veteran samurai, who has fallen on hard times, answers a village's request for protection from bandits. He gathers 6 other samurai to help him, and they teach the townspeople how to defend themselves, and they supply the samurai with three small meals a day. The film culminates in a giant battle when 40 bandits attack the village.

Verdict
The battle that spans the last hour of the film is among the greatest in the cinema, as the bandit cavalry attack the fortified village in driving rain and the samurai individually and collectively take their stand, their reward a bowl of rice or a burial mound.


Reviewer: Kim Newman

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