Shoe company exec Toshiro Mifune is in the midst
of a mortgage-everything takeover battle
when the phone rings with a ransom
demand for his son .
Adapted from Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct
novel King’s Ransom, this is the ultimate
kidnap movie, with Kurosawa at the
peak of his filmmaking powers: with the
cops led by SteveMcQueen-cool Tatsuya
Nakadai; the de rigeur money transfer
aboard the Shinkansen (bullet train); and
a jailhouse interview punctuated by the
heaviest steel door closing in film history.
“Undoubtedly the most complex
detective film of all … Contains so many
nuances of narrative, photographic
technique, and acting, that it demands
seeing far more than once.” William K.
Everson.
Wednesday through Friday (March 10-12) at 7:30.
I Live in Fear (1955)
“I’m not afraid of death—I just do not
want to be killed!” An aging factory
owner Toshiro Mifune (then 35), obsessed
with fear of the Bomb, demands his
extended family move to the supposed
safety of Brazil.
Every device at Kurosawa’s command
is enlisted to enforce the mood of
oppression, of unease; with a desperate
Mifune’s climactic speech equaling his
legendary Seven Samurai monologue. The
final effect is overwhelming, and perhaps
Kurosawa’s most sweeping statement on
the human condition.
Wednesday through Friday at 5:35 and 10:05.
Saturday through Tuesday
The Hidden Fortress (1958)
Two constantly bickering farmers on the
run from clan wars are dragooned by
general Toshiro Mifune into aiding his
rescue of fugitive princess Misa Uehara
and her family’s hidden gold. At the last
moment help arrives from a completely
unexpected source.
Probably Kurosawa’s most dazzling
exercise in pure filmmaking—his first use
of Cinemascope—and perhaps Mifune’s
most purely swashbuckling vehicle.
This richly comic fairy tale for adults
is pure entertainment from the master,
acknowledged as the source for Star Wars.
“Grand, bold movie-making.” Roger
Ebert.
Saturday and Sunday (March 13-14) at 3:00 and 7:30; Monday and Tuesday (Mar 15-16) at 7:30.
Yojimbo (1961)
“You can’t get ahead in this world unless
folks think you’re both a cheat and a
killer.” Met at the entrance to a deserted
village by a stray mutt sauntering
past with a severed hand in his jaws,
wandering ronin Toshiro Mifune, realizes a
skilled Yojimbo (bodyguard) could rake in
the ryo in this town. And after checking
out the sake merchant’s thugs squaring
off against the silk merchant’s goon
squad, twice as much, if he hires out to
both sides.
Venice Festival's acting prize went to Mifune.
“The best samurai film ever made … a
treasure trove of attitude.” J. Hoberman.
Saturday through Tuesday (March 13-16) at 5:30 and 10:00.