Back in the day, I watched Sanjuro (1962) before Yojimbo (1961), simply because I found a copy of the former before the latter (though the former's the latter by year of release, and the latter's the former by the same metric).
Anyway, Toshiro Mifune plays basically the same character in both, but otherwise, they're not too connected. Yojimbo's got more of a focus on suspense, and is pretty light on action. Sanjuro has a few more fight scenes - it's a real joy to watch Mifune just mow down guys in the big ones. It's also a funnier film, and possibly the most comedic of any Akira Kurosawa samurai movie. Seven Samurai's also funny in parts, but gets deathly serious during other scenes. Sanjuro stays pretty lightweight and breezy throughout, all things considered.
Despite it being more action-focused and shorter in runtime, I still feel like Yojimbo is the tighter film. It's got the more engaging and satisfying story, too, with Sanjuro really just being about the prolonged rescue of an old man. Still, it's a joy to watch the main character deceive his way through a bunch of scenarios, and then resort to chopping down a dozen guys whenever his words can't get him out of a situation.
Mifune is in his comfort zone, and is fantastic. Having seen most of Kurosawa's other films since first watching this, I also appreciate the performances of Tatsuya Nakadai and Takashi Shimura much more here. The former I've always liked for how chameleonic he is, but Shimura is also so different here to how he is in Seven Samurai; just embodies a rather minor character in a completely different way, just looking and seeming like someone entirely different. Mifune could also do this, but I do like him a lot when he's being very Mifune, and he's at his Mifuniest here.
Overall, Sanjuro is better than I remembered, and almost as good as Yojimbo. A slightly slow second act aside, it's very entertaining.
Anyway, Toshiro Mifune plays basically the same character in both, but otherwise, they're not too connected. Yojimbo's got more of a focus on suspense, and is pretty light on action. Sanjuro has a few more fight scenes - it's a real joy to watch Mifune just mow down guys in the big ones. It's also a funnier film, and possibly the most comedic of any Akira Kurosawa samurai movie. Seven Samurai's also funny in parts, but gets deathly serious during other scenes. Sanjuro stays pretty lightweight and breezy throughout, all things considered.
Despite it being more action-focused and shorter in runtime, I still feel like Yojimbo is the tighter film. It's got the more engaging and satisfying story, too, with Sanjuro really just being about the prolonged rescue of an old man. Still, it's a joy to watch the main character deceive his way through a bunch of scenarios, and then resort to chopping down a dozen guys whenever his words can't get him out of a situation.
Mifune is in his comfort zone, and is fantastic. Having seen most of Kurosawa's other films since first watching this, I also appreciate the performances of Tatsuya Nakadai and Takashi Shimura much more here. The former I've always liked for how chameleonic he is, but Shimura is also so different here to how he is in Seven Samurai; just embodies a rather minor character in a completely different way, just looking and seeming like someone entirely different. Mifune could also do this, but I do like him a lot when he's being very Mifune, and he's at his Mifuniest here.
Overall, Sanjuro is better than I remembered, and almost as good as Yojimbo. A slightly slow second act aside, it's very entertaining.