Seven Samurai
is a 1954 Japanese epic jidaigeki film directed by Akira Kurosawa from a screenplay co-written with Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni. Taking place in 1586 in the Sengoku period of Japanese history, it follows the story of a village of desperate farmers who seek to hire samurai to combat bandits who will return after the harvest to steal their crops.
Plot
In 1586, a bandit gang discusses raiding a mountain village, but their chief decides to wait until after the harvest for a better haul. One villager overhears this and tells the others. They turn to Gisaku, the village elder and miller. Because the local magistrate is useless, Gisaku advises them to hire samurai to protect the village. Since they have no money and can only offer food as payment, Gisaku advises the villagers to find hungry samurai.
Cast
- Atsushi Watanabe
- Bokuzen Hidari
- Daisuke Katō
- Eijirō Tōno
- Haruo Nakajima
- Isao Kimura
- Isao Yamagata
- Kamatari Fujiwara
- Keiko Tsushima
- Kokuten Kōdō
- Minoru Chiaki
- Noriko Sengoku
- Sachio Sakai
- Seiji Miyaguchi
- Shinpei Takagi
- Takashi Shimura
- Tatsuya Nakadai
- Toshirō Mifune
- Yoshio Inaba
- Yoshio Kosugi
- Yoshio Tsuchiya
- Yukiko Shimazaki
More details
| author | Akira Kurosawa Hideo Oguni Shinobu Hashimoto |
|---|---|
| contentLocation | Japan |
| director | Akira Kurosawa |
| editor | Akira Kurosawa |
| events | alcohol intoxication banditry deception false alarm fencing hostage misunderstanding premarital sex samurai Sengoku period |
| genre | action drama historical |
| keywords | bamboo bandit gang burn concubine flee injured kidnap kill magistrate matchlock muskets moat morning mountain village orphan pre-emptive strike pyrrhic victory rescue rōnin social class suffer tanegashima young boy |
| musicBy | Fumio Hayasaka |
| nomination | Academy Award for Best Art Direction, Black and White Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White |
| producer | Sōjirō Motoki |
| productionCompany | Toho |
| publisher | Toho |
| recordedAt | Japan |
| theme | action drama epic japanese jidaigeki |