Yojimbo (1961)

Unfortunately for me, I came into this film with raised expectations, knowing of the critical acclaim Akira Kurosawa has recieved for so many years. On top of this, I have seen Sergio Leone's Spaghetti western trilogy enough times that I feel justified in calling myself a "fan", and thus am more than familiar with the plot of this film, as 'A Fistful of Dollars' is more or less a shot-for-shot remake of 'Yojimbo'. This puts me in a difficult position, as everything I can say about this film will simply be a comparison to it's (superior) remake. From the very first scene I found myself less interested and gripped by the narrative than when I have watched the classic western. Certainly there is less tension built by Kurosawa than Leone, with the latter inspiring countless parodies with his use of close-ups and the remarkable Morricone score. Kurosawa on the other hand expects the audience to feel the tension simply because of the fact that the characters are holding samurai swords. However, despite the iconic status of Clint Eastwood and his character (The Man With No Name), I did feel that Mifune gave a technically better performance in more or less the same role. My problem is the fact that I did not feel like I was rooting for The Samurai to the same extent that I root for Eastwood every time I watch the Leone film. He is just so much more cool and unpredictable. Even as I write this I feel guilty for condemning the original film for problems which are not it's own, but were created by a man who simply loved this film and wished to emulate it. It's not that there aren't merits to 'Yojimbo', for example Kurosawa and Kikushima's script, which delivers some genuinely awesome quotes, and the 'Memorable Quotes' page on the film's IMDb page makes for a hilarious read. Sadly however, I must admit that the film was ruined for me by my own love of it's successor, and thus it was always doomed to leave me feeling dissatisfied and disgruntled.