"I've got nothing out of fighting; I'm alone in the world"
During the late sixteenth century a poor farming village
hires seven masterless Samurai to help to combat a group of forty bandits who
return each year after harvest to steal their crop. After much searching the
farmers eventually discover a wise and experienced Samurai called Kambei (Takashi
Shimura) who agrees to not only help them but also find six more Samurai to
protect the village.
Along with Kambei the villagers recruit a band of warriors
which includes the young and untested Katsushiro (Iaso Kimura), a skilled
archer called Gorobei (Yoshio Inaba), Kyuzo (Seiji Miyaguchi) – a solemn and stone
faced master swordsman and my favourite, the drunk and unpredictable Kikuchiyo (Toshirō
Mifune). Along with Heihachi and Shichirōji
they become the Seven Samurai. I hadn’t seen this film before now but had
always been aware that it was considered one of the best films of all time.
While I’ve definitely seen a lot of films that I prefer, I can understand why
it is held in such high regard.
