Sanjuro (1962)

★ 7.9 1h 36m 714 votes IMDb

Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Kurosawa's tightly paced, beautifully composed "Sanjuro." In this companion piece and sequel to "Yojimbo," jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan's evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a proper samurai on its ear.

Sanjuro

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Cast

Toshirō Mifune
Toshirō Mifune as Sanjûrô Tsubaki / The ronin Died 1997 · Qingdao, China Toshirō Mifune (April 1, 1920 - December 24, 1997) was a Japanese actor who is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors in the history of Japanese cinema. He was born in Qingdao, China, but was r...
Tatsuya Nakadai
Tatsuya Nakadai as Hanbei Muroto Died 2025 · Meguro, Tokyo, Japan Tatsuya Nakadai (仲代 達矢, Nakadai Tatsuya; born Motohisa Nakadai; December 13, 1932 – November 8, 2025) was a Japanese actor. Widely regarded as one of the greatest actors in the history of Japanese cin...
Keiju Kobayashi
Keiju Kobayashi as The Spy Died 2010 · Gunma, Japan From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Keiju Kobayashi (23 November 1923–16 September 2010) was a Japanese actor. Born in Gunma Prefecture, he began acting at the Nikkatsu studio after dropping out o...
Yūzō Kayama
Yūzō Kayama as Iori Izaka Age 89 · Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Yūzō Kayama (加山 雄三 Kayama Yūzō) is a Japanese popular musician and film star, born on 11 April 1937. His father, Ken Uehara, was a film star during the 1930s. Y...
Reiko Dan
Reiko Dan as Chidori, Mutsuta's daughter Died 2003 · Kyoto City, Kyoto, Japan Reiko Dan (団 令子 Dan Reiko, 26 March 1935 – 24 November 2003), real name Reiko Hamada (浜田 令子 Hamada Reiko), was a Japanese actress. She appeared in multiple films between 1957 and 1974, such as Sanjur...
Takashi Shimura
Takashi Shimura as Kurofuji Died 1982 · Ikuno, Hyogo, Japan ​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.   Takashi Shimura (志村 喬, Shimura Takashi, March 12, 1905 – February 11, 1982) was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1934 and 1981. He app...

Audience Reviews

CinemaSerf 7/10 Aug 14, 2023
This is a superb adventure story with Toshirô Mifune reprising his role from "Yojimbo" as the wandering samurai warrior. This time he arrives in a village facing some local corruption. The "Chamberlain" has been framed by the superintendent of a clan, who tries to secure his tenuous position by killing off any detractors. "Sanjûrô" decides to help protect them, and is soon drawn into the battle that requires all of his skills and know-how (of course, they are completely outnumbered). The plot interveaves a story of local politics nicely with a lust for power, and a coming of age for many of the locals who are in awe of their warrior leader. Takako Irie is quite interesting as the wife of the arrested Chamberlain; she looks every inch the prim and proper Japanese wife, but is frequently (and to Mifune's chagrin, on occasion) the character delivering some quite insightful and learned comment; she seems to have the measure of the Samurai! I found Mifune's performance to be engaging and charming - he deals with his men as a teacher might his pupils, sometimes with humour, other times with discipline - but always with care; and that speaks more to the way Kurosawa develops the characterisations - with integrity and class. It's still got it's fair share of action and there are loads of sword-fights to keep the plot moving along until it all comes to an head. It's odd that almost 60 years later, this has never been given the Hollywood treatment - perhaps that's a good thing?

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