Sanjuro cover art

Sanjuro Details

1962 Certificate 12
  • Rated:
  • 70
  • from 3538 members

Due to the huge success of Kurosawa's 1961 epic YOJIMBO, he teamed up with Mifune a year later to make comedy of manners SANJURO. The plot concerns Sanjuro, a man fighting corruption in local government. The director parodies perfectly the conventions of Japanese period action movies and the final scene involves the very .. Read more

Starring Tatsuya Nakadai, Toshiro Mifune, Masao Shimizu
Director Akira Kurosawa
Genres Action/Adventure, Thriller, World Cinema

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Sanjuro

Due to the huge success of Kurosawa's 1961 epic YOJIMBO, he teamed up with Mifune a year later to make comedy of manners SANJURO. The plot concerns Sanjuro, a man fighting corruption in local government. The director parodies perfectly the conventions of Japanese period action movies and the final scene involves the very briefest of duels.

Starring Tatsuya Nakadai, Toshiro Mifune, Masao Shimizu
Director Akira Kurosawa
Studio BFI VIDEO
Run time DVD: 1 hr 35 mins
Certificate Certificate 12
Genres Action/Adventure, Thriller, World Cinema
Language DVD: Japanese
Subtitles DVD: English
Released DVD: 06 Oct 2003
Production year: 1962
Format DVD
  • Critics' reviews (2) of Sanjuro

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  • 3 stars out of 5

    Following the success of Yojimbo, Akira Kurosawa was persuaded (somewhat against his better judgement) to make a further adventure featuring the self-seeking samurai who uses his own guile and the efforts of others to achieve his ends. Toshiro Mifune returns as Sanjuro, who joins forces with a band of eager warriors to rescue a kidnapped landowner. Until the final eruption of violence, Kurosawa plays the film for laughs, sending up the conventions of the jidai-geki (or period costume drama) with an unerring eye, while Mifune bestrides the action with gleeful gravitas.

    • Radio Times
  • Kurosawa was pressured by his producers into directing this sequel to Yojimbo, and rose to the occasion by making his... read more on Time Out

    • Time Out
  • Most helpful member's review of Sanjuro

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  • 13 out of 14 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    Excellent... An incredible pleasure to watch...

    An incredible pleasure to watch... The light-hearted nature of the film brings some truly side-splitting moments to the screen. Intriguingly nothing is given away too quickly, it draws you in... nothing, however, quite prepares you for the horror of the final showdown. I recommend ALL of Akira's films, he is the Master!

      • David from Leigh on Sea
  • Most recent members' review of Sanjuro

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  • 8 out of 9 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    Pure joy

    Fans of samurai films have to see this, as it is one of the best ever made. It's the sequel to 'Yojimbo' but is in many ways far more enjoyable, having more humour and more exciting action. If possible Mifune is even cooler.

    It's also got one of the very best showdowns of all time. The two nemesis' face each other in still silence for what seems like a tension filled age, before making their swift movement together, resulting in a shockingly gory explosion of blood. Awesome.

    Fans of the modern 'Zatoichi' should see this. It wouldn't have existed without Kurosawa's work.

      • Melon from East Sussex
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Rating breakdown

3,538 Member ratings
  • 100
621
  • 90
486
  • 80
854
  • 70
605
  • 60
426
  • 50
206
  • 40
82
  • 30
90
  • 20
110
  • 10
58

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