The Hidden Fortress

Now, I only saw this recently, and I'd heard that it was 1) part of the Hollywood/Kurosawa cross-over thing, and more specifically that it was 2) the "inspiration" for StarWars (Episode IV).

And then I saw it. And I fell about laughing. See, the opening scene is the two farmers from whose point of view the story is told walking through a desert. There's the tall one, and the short one. They're squabbling about who was more of a wuss in the recent battle that they've just escaped from.

Then the tall one goes off in a huff, and the short one is captured and made a slave ... and so on. The superb Toshiro Mifune plays this guy who's also wandering in the desert, and (from the farmers' view) has remarkable and uncanny powers. Except that he's really a general (with a philosophical bent), who used to work for the father of the feisty princess. And so on. When it comes time for Mifune to sneak into the rough border town past the guards, he doesn't actually say the words "these are not the farmers you're looking for", but the intent is there.

And then there's the guy who spars in a friendly fashion with Mifune early on, who then gets disfigured and becomes evil, but then, spurred on both by the greater evil of his boss and Mifune's fine example of determined righteoussness, turns back to, as one might say, the "light side". Etc. Etc.

CategoryMovie