Rating: 
Summary: Fun Kurosawa classic
Review: Somehow Kurosawa always manages to imbue his films with an artistry that surpasses the often straightforward (but not simplistic) plots. The Hidden Fortress is no exception. Apparently an inspiration for George Lucas in his Star Wars film (though the similarities are slight), this sees Toshiro Mifune in another heroic role as he attempts to smuggle a princess across the border with the aid of two squabbling peasants (memorably played by Kamatari Fujiawara and Minoru Chiaki).It's an entertaining, engrossing adventure, with Toshiro Mifune's stoic general butting heads against the peasants (and the princess) at every turn. Fujiawara and Chiaki pretty much steal every scene they're in, with their bickering and squabbling and amazing amount of greediness shining through at every opportunity. The black and white cinematography is gorgeous, there's ample doses of humour, a standout fight scene - what else could you ask for? Sure, it doesn't have the majesty of Seven Samurai, the depth of Throne Of Blood or the black humour of Yojimbo, but The Hidden Fortress is nonetheless another example of why Kurosawa remains one of the greatest directors in history.
Rating:
Summary: LUSH
Review: In Brief Protected by her closest general but trapped in enemy territory, a young princess is aided by two hapless farmers. Their journey takes them across a dangerous 16th Century feudal Japan, as they transport both princess and her gold to safety. Review This was Kurosawa's last film for Toho studios, and his first using the widescreen techniques that he developed into a recognised style of his own in later films such as Ran and Yojimbo. As part of the celebrative retrospective at the NFT in London, The Hidden Fortress has been given a new print and extended run, and should definitely not be missed. Overshadowed by his more popular texts, Kurosawa takes the 'chambara' genre to new heights; this is not merely teatime viewing, or a swashbuckling fantasy, but a beautifully executed examination of the human condition and its relationship to the environment it exists in. We open with a wide shot of the two foolish farmers walking towards a distant horizon that is highlighted with rows of trees and high mountains. They should be happy as they leave the battered war zone behind them for the lush hills ahead, but instead they argue over the petty nature of their relationship. This is something they continue to do throughout the film - as they are later driven by the greed of transporting gold concealed within driftwood - not taking into account their effect upon each other, environment, or companions.
Indeed it is the metaphorical idea of these hidden riches within dead wood that is one of the major driving forces behind the text. Though the story is essentially told from their point of view, they are never aware of their help in transporting the princess to safety, nor that the man who commands them is a famous general. There is a strong sense of the effect of nature upon man, which can be as unnoticed as it can striking: An argument between the two farmers uses the scope of widescreen to its full advantage, as they are distanced by a gully they had just dug in a futile attempt to discover gold. But for me the fog closing in around the general as he is told of the death of his sister, and the subsequent track into his eyes as he controls his emotions in realising the tactical advantage is captivating. Finally it should be noted that the effect of the incongruous princess, who holds her body as a man after being brought up as a son, takes the narrative journey as a personal discovery of the self; the perfectly edited montage whirl of the fire ceremony and a glimpse of her contact with others and freeing of hidden spirit is truly special: Life comes at a price:
"Kindle your life in the bonfire's flames," the dancers sing. But be careful as, "Moths singe their wings in the flame..."
The Verdict This film is a pure classic, and if you have a stigma about black and white foreign films, I implore you to put that to one side. Take a chance to see the director who has inspired everyone from Spielberg to Tarantino. Speaking of which this is the film a certain Mr Lucas lifted the plot of to create Star Wars. Though I must say after the recent effort of Episode One, he definitely took all the humour for Episode Four from The Hidden Fortress and has very little of his own! This film is a golden text from one of the greatest auteurs of the 20th Century - enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Solid.
Review: Another solid film from the Japanese master Kurosawa. Watch for the ceremony that happens near the end of the movie. I didn't know they had ceremonies like that in Japan!
Rating:
Summary: A long time ago...in a land far far away
Review: Seriously, though, this classic movie by Akira Kurosawa was the film that inspired George Lucas's Star Wars, the classic first one, that is. The story opens in the land of Akizuki with two bedraggled peasants, Tahei and Matakichi, who have clearly been through the wringer, what with there being an interclan war going on between Yamana and Akizuki. Yamana has won, though they are mopping up survivors. Both were apparently captured and made to dig graves and now want to return to their home in Hayakawa. However, there are two problems. One, they've sold everything they own and will go back to nothing. Two, the Yamana have set up a tight border between Akizuki and neighbouring Hayakawa so they can't go back. Also, when the two aren't bewailing and bemoaning their ill fate, they are hurling horrid insults and screaming at each other. However, they decide to go through Yamana, which borders both lands, and sneak into their own land that way. This plan so impresses Makabe Rokurota, the famed general of Akizuki, who impresses them into service to help him smuggle five thousand ryo (gold pieces) into Hayakawa, where the lord will give asylum to the Akizuki clan so they can restore themselves. Oh, and the gold is shaped into flute-shaped rods that are smuggled inside pieces of wood. Accompanying them is Princess Yuki, who has a price on her head. The peasants' greedy, cowardly, and deceptive nature is revealed along the way. Many times, when the odds are against them, they try to sneak away with the gold, only to decide to stay with Rokurota because he's tough enough to defend them and has the wits to keep them all alive. But most of the time, their bumbling cowardice gives this film its comic relief. Tahei, the larger of the two is played by Minoru Chiaki, who also came out in The Seven Samurai as Heihachi the woodcutting samurai, as did Kamatari Fujiawara (Matakichi) as Manzo, the father of Shino who cut his daughter’s hair to prevent samurai from lusting after her. Speaking of Seven Samurai, Takashi Shimura, the lead samurai in that movie, has a brief role here as the elderly general in the hidden fortress. Rokurota's character is the most admirable here. He's strong, a good fighter, and a noble servant to his clan, but most of all, he's a good strategist, knowing how to stay ahead, and knowing when to make sacrifices. His bluffing his way into town to make themselves less suspicious to the occupying Yamana soldiers is reworked in Star Wars when Ben Kenobi tells the stormtroopers, "You don't need to see his identification." As he tells the peasants, you hide a stone among stones, and hence a man among men. In other words, don't stand out, but blend in. He gets angry at the peasants when their duplicity comes out, but nevertheless realizes he needs them to carry out his mission. There's a good duel scene between him and a Yamana commander, Tadokoro Hyoei showing his fighting skills. Toshiro Mifune was a perfect choice to play Rokurota. The princess, though, is distressed and full of emotion and kindness, but in a reckless, immature manner. To disguise herself, she has to be a mute, as her noble speaking would give her away. The Fire Festival is a climactic scene, as the song done during that dance tells the way of the world and a moral: "Set fire to men's lives with the bonfire flames. Insects throw their lives into the bonfire flames. Ponder and you'll see the world is darkness and this floating world is a dream. So burn in mad abandon." In other words, we only have one life here, and it is up to the person to burn, i.e. to live, but according to the choice one makes. Rokurota is the inspiration for Obi-Wan Kenobi, the two peasants' rough and disreputable characters were toned out to become Threepio and Artoo, Princess Yuki became Princess Leia, and the Yamana soldiers became stormtroopers. No, there is no one from here who inspired Darth Vader, Chewbacca, or Luke Skywalker. What makes this work is the way the characters keep running into perils, and escape by the skin of their teeth, only to run into something else. Human values of loyalty, but also that of human nature is depicted very well here. The actors are also top-notch, especially the three male leads. One of Kurosawa’s best.
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Summary: JEDI: Lucas should be ashamed of himself
Review: I loved this movie Hidden Fortress; it's a great movie. It's funny & has a really great cinematic style. It's just too bad that George Lucas has to be associated w/it. As for the abbreviation JEDI (as in jedi-knights I guess),that stands for Japanese-English Dictionary Interface. Ken Annakin ( I guess we know where Annakin Skywalker comes from now...) is a Japanese director. I guess I could find more references to Star Wars, but I'm not going to bother. Oh well,however disappointing all of this Star Wars trivia was for me, I am just going to recommend Hidden Fortress because it is a really excellent movie.
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Summary: The Emperor & The Wolf Strike First
Review: The Hidden Fortress is a masterpiece on 70mm b&w film.
The images alone in this movie will not leave your mind, not to mention the pacing, cinematography, & unsurpassed acting ability of these Toho-stock stars.
Mifune, as General (Makabe) Rokurota, is elemental yet droll as always; this man is a force of nature. The fact that he does all of his own stunts in this film, especially the strength & control he exhibits in his horseback riding (Takedo-"no-hands" school) style & his use of the spear in the "duel" w/ General Hoye (Fujita,Susumu) is remarkable, especially for an actor @ the age of 39.
The peasants, Tahei (Chiaki,Minoru) & Matashichi (Fujiwara,Kamatari) act as perfect pitiful foils to Mifune & the rest of the cast. They are deliciously whiny & underhanded, but you've gotta love them.
Princess Uki (Uehara,Misa) is physically & emotionally stiking, possessing an undercurrent of sweetness which is disarming. She's a warrior princess with the heart of a lyrical hummingbird. Kurosawa's obvious tongue-in-cheek handling of the jidai-geki/chambara genre, along with the wonderful interweaving of the Noh play theme with extremely humorous undertones, makes this one unforgettable movie. It just crackles with electricity from start to finish. This is also one of the most hilarious movies I have ever seen not to mention one of the best, & I would recommend it to all.
Rating:
Summary: Lets focus on the film.
Review: Yes, George Lucas was influenced by Akira Kurosawa (who was influenced by John Ford), but don't get the DVD for the interview, get it for the movie! The movie has Toshiro Mifune and together he and Kurosawa make magic. The movie has drama, adventure, LOTS of humor, lots of gold, two greedy farmers, dancing, warring clans and a cute princess. No, really, Misa Uehara had a great outfit that showed off her nice legs.
I love the interaction between characters, the action that never seems to stop and the poor farmers. In the end they value friendship more than gold.
Rating:
Summary: "Hide stones among stones, men among men" - General Makabe
Review: The hidden fortress starts with it's two main characters Tahei and Matakashi (played by Minoru Chiaki and Kamatari Fujiwara) walking through a war torn country side. They have just escaped from an internment camp after a recent great battle. The two had been forced to dig graves as prisoners and they are already, at the start of the movie, at wit's end. They soon become frustrated with each other and their situation that they set out in opposite directions, only to be both recaptured shortly thereafter. After a prisoner mass uprising and subsequent exodus, the two find themselves completely unscathed but monumentally stunned amongst the dozens of dead.. and piles of pillaged gold. Unable to carry much in their escape, their sense of scheming is palpable and a testament to the quality of direction. While walking through the woods they come upon a camping warlord, General Makabe (played by Kurosawa mainstay, Toshiro Mifune), who they enlist to help them steal the gold. Makabe has other ideas. They later meet up with the fiercely sexy Princess Yukihime (Misa Uehara) who playfully defends herself from the two anti-heroes, smacking all insolent fools with a reed and secretly running the show. The two rogues suffer through constant harassment with wide eyed fear and cowardice that Kurosawa somehow makes endearing. It was said that Kurosawa would spend the mornings of the writing process thinking up impossible situations for the two rogue protagonists and the production crew would have the afternoon to plot out how the two would escape from certain death; The pair survive numerous captures, a prison riot, multiple rock slides (!) and more often than not each other during a sometimes cathartic, sometimes hilarious series of events. The Hidden Fortress is an archetypal dark comedy and could be well adapted in the future because of it's intelligent dynamics and carefree yet succinct episodes (the first Star Wars employs much of the same wide open sense of adventure). While being one of the lightest of Kurosawa's films, it still has the underlying fatalism and rebelliousness that is inherent of much of interesting Japanese cinema. For examples, see much of mainstream (and probably most non mainstream) anime, as well as the nihilistic cult films of today like the recently Americanized Ringu (The Ring) and Kyua (Cure) by Kiyoshi Kurosawa (no relation). The Hidden Fortress is worth a viewing by any patient film buff.
Rating:
Summary: Hidden Stars
Review: There is one reason I'm even writing this short review. It's because all anyone even seems to care about is that it inspired George Lucas when he made Star Wars, but that doesn't matter. Let's talk Kurosawa here! I just want to establish the fact that I hate George Lucas' films and I don't believe Star Wars has any significance to anything. This film is not one of Kurosawa's best. It lacks the powerful message, brick-in-the-balls kind of thing he had going on in previous movies, but this is nevertheless one of my favorite films. Don't watch this for Star Wars. Watch this because Kurosawa is said to be the greatest filmmaker to ever live. Know also that Mifune Toshiro is said to be the greatest actor of all time. The movie itself was beautifully executed, extremely expensive for its time, and featured a cast over over 1,000,000. With a beautful script and wonderful camera work, the movie keeps you on the edge of your seat with intrigue. Watch this, but also watch the rest of Kurosawa Akira's films, especially my ersonal favorite, Red Beard (Akahige.)
Rating:
Summary: Good even if you hate subtitles
Review: 1950s Kurosawa film the one that Lucas said most influenced Star Wars is both daring and humorous. Mifune (Jedi-like), the frequent Kurosawa hero is tasked with smuggling a princess (Princess) out of enemy territory after losing a war. The movie actually begins with two funny peasants (Droid-like) that Mifune will eventually pick up in his quest. Although they are more interested in the gold that Mifune he is bringing along they prove helpful despite them selves. There is a great scene in the second half of the movie where Mifune takes on three warrior guards, and it?s great because up until then Mifune seems tough, but you don?t know how tough. One of the best parts of the transfer is that the subtitles reside in the black area below the widescreen film. This should be a must among transfers to DVD, but I?m surprised how little it is done. The special features are really scant for a Criterion Collection film. There is a George Lucas interview where he says that Hidden Fortress was a big influence, but then he says that he probably likes 3 other Kurosawa films better. It also offered the trailer and Color Bars to calibrate my machine. Having never seen Hidden Fortress, I?m glad my first time was with this crisp DVD transfer.
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