Yojimbo
A ronin's quiet storm of cunning descends upon a dust-choked town, orchestrating a symphony of greed and violence with the sharp edge of his wit and sword.
Yojimbo
Yojimbo

用心棒

"Kill one or a hundred... you only hang once"

25 April 1961 Japan 110 min ⭐ 8.1 (1,582)
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Cast: Toshirō Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yōko Tsukasa, Isuzu Yamada, Daisuke Katō
Drama Thriller
Corruption and Greed Individualism vs. Society The Anti-Hero and Moral Ambiguity Tradition vs. Modernity

Yojimbo - Easter Eggs & Hidden Details

Easter Eggs

The film was famously and unofficially remade by Sergio Leone as the 1964 Spaghetti Western "A Fistful of Dollars," starring Clint Eastwood as 'The Man with No Name.'

Leone's film copies "Yojimbo"'s plot and characters so closely—in some cases, almost shot-for-shot—that Kurosawa's production company, Toho, successfully sued Leone. Kurosawa reportedly wrote to Leone, saying, "It is a very fine film, but it is my film." The lawsuit settlement gave Kurosawa and Toho 15% of the worldwide gross of "A Fistful of Dollars" and exclusive distribution rights in Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea, which ironically made Kurosawa more money from Leone's remake than he did from his own original film.

An inside joke regarding Kurosawa's casting history is present in the film.

The actor Susumu Fujita plays Homma, the cowardly fencing instructor who is quickly dismissed and replaced by Sanjuro. Fujita was Kurosawa's first major leading man in the 1940s, before being supplanted by Toshiro Mifune. The scene where Homma is cast aside by Sanjuro is a meta-commentary on this real-life shift in Kurosawa's go-to leading actors.

The film's plot and archetypes have influenced numerous other works.

Beyond its direct remake, "Yojimbo"'s story of a lone warrior playing two factions against each other has been reused in films like "Last Man Standing" (1996) with Bruce Willis and has influenced stories in various media, from the TV series "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" to video games like "Final Fantasy X," which features a summonable character (Aeon) named Yojimbo who must be paid to fight.