Yojimbo/Sanjûrô (1961/62) DUAL AUDIO REMASTER

Directed by Akira Kurosawa.
In 1961, Akira Kurosawa borrowed the plot of Dashiell Hammett's novel Red Harvest and filmed the incredibly influential Yojimbo. The tale is elegantly simple: A lone samurai (Toshiro Mifune) takes on a corrupt town run by two rival clans of gangsters. The pristine transfer, beaucoup bonuses and inclusion of the sequel, Sanjuro, make this boxed set a cinephile's dream. Each film features an audio commentary by film buff Stephen Prince.






In the end, the anchor between the two films is Sanjuro himself. Utilized as a model for later screen performances, perhaps most notably John Belushi’s classically silly Samurai character, Sanjuro established a new form for the samurai hero. Eschewing the classic, stoic chivalry associated with previous samurai performances, Mifune imbues Sanjuro with a realistic pragmatism not seen before. While he is exceptionally skilled as a swordsman, his preferred method of attack is psychological rather than physical, preferring to instead set his enemies against each other in the hope of mutual annihilation simply so that he isn’t forced to do it all himself. His appearance is slovenly and he demands payment before action, knowing that despite the surface offensiveness such actions instill in others, that such trivial manners are unimportant when it comes down to the business at hand. World-weary and cynical, Sanjuro comes across as a perfect combination of hero and anti-hero; possessing the deeply hidden noble nature to rise to the occasion and help those in need, yet being smart enough to not get yourself killed over something if it isn’t truly worth it.










Both films include audio commentary. Extras include new rips of episodes from the Wonderful To Create series, teasers and trailers - ripped to all fit on one single DVD+R/DVD-R.
Big respect and thanks to CerealRipper for the DVD9s.

Sorry for the previously incorrect links for Sanjuro extras - now corrected.