Year: 1954
Country: Japan
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Cast: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Minoru Chiaki, Yoshio Inaba, Keiko Tsushima, Kamatari Fujiwara
Genre: drama, adventure
Runtime: 207 min.
Age: 16+
In the Sixteenth Century, in Japan, a poor village is frequently looted by armed bandits losing their crop of rice. Their patriarch Grandpa advises the villagers to hire a Ronin to defend their village. Four farmers head to town to seek out their possible protectors, but they just can offer three meals of rice per day and lodging for the samurai. They succeed in hiring the warming-hearted veteran Kambei Shimada that advises that they need six other samurai to protect their lands. Kambei recruits the necessary five samurai and the brave jester Kikuchiyo, move to the village and starts to plot a defense strategy.
Awards & Festivals:
Academy Award nomination – Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Black-and-White), Best Costume Design (Black-and-White)
Venice Film Festival – Silver Lion prize
BAFTA Award nomination – Best Film, Best Foreign Actor
Jussi Awards – Foreign Actor, Foreign Director
Mainichi Film Concours – Best Supporting Actor
NYFCC Award nomination – Best Foreign Language Film
OFTA Film Hall of Fame – Best Motion Picture