So it's Labor Day now and we all know what that means. Yup, one week ago I hauled my ass back to school. I, personally, am focusing on history this semester and am learning a heck of a lot. Right now, we're studying how America was once inhabited by natives who were great hunters, gatherers, and arrow smiths. To which I asked, "You mean like the dudes who sung 'Dream On'?" Luckily, there's no such thing as a stupid question. But all of this greatly fueled my interest in this country's past to the point where I cut the rest of my classes to do something totally unrelated, like watch two movies. Today, I have for you a piece of remake history: two films, seemingly separate, but both very successful and renowned. Believe it or not, they are Kurosawa's YOJIMBO and Leone's A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS.
Acclaimed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa had a long and rich history of making films that were remade. THE HIDDEN FORTRESS became STAR WARS. SEVEN SAMURAI became THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN. RASHOMON became YENTL (pause for the one person who got that joke). The focus of this column is YOJIMBO (1961), which translates to THE BODYGUARD. Thankfully, this was sans Whitney Houston. YOJIMBO is the story of samurai-for-hire Toshiro Mifune who wanders into a town and pits one rival gang against the other. The end result is the freeing of the village. YOJIMBO was nominated for, but did not win, the 1962 Academy Award for best black & white costume design.
Also around this time, in 1964, another notable director named Sergio Leone created A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS—YOJIMBO's western remake. This movie, set in the Wild West, stars Clint Eastwood as The Man Who Could Have Had A Name Which Was Possibly "Joe" But No One Knows For Sure. Eastwood wanders in to a town where he irks two warring families into fighting eachother. The final product here is, again, the liberation of a greedy settlement.
Now this is one case where both the original and its rehash are two stellar, and very distinct, pieces. Kurosawa's version is excellent for its depiction of Old Japan and samurai action. It also features the director's trademark camera angles and black & white cinematography. Toshiro Mifune equals America's Clint Eastwood as the stoic, lone-wolf warrior. This film's music is also as good as Morricone's score for FISTFUL. YOJIMBO is not only a wonderful comparative work, but also serves as a good introduction to Kurosawa's now-famous style.
Leone's picture is also a magnificent showcase of its directorial talent. The standard Leone close-up and far-off shots are aplenty in FISTFUL. Not to mention, FISTFUL launched The Man With No Name trilogy, of which FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE and THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY are a part. Moreover, FISTFUL is a great introduction (it was mine, X years ago) to both Sergio Leone and the Spaghetti Western.
Though the two films are clearly unique, they do have many elements that bind them. The plot, for one, is similar, except for the setting. Some dialogue was even reused. There is a part in FISTFUL where Eastwood says, "Get three coffins ready." He then shoots a "fistful" of men and says, "My mistake. Four coffins." Mifune says exactly the same line in YOJIMBO.
If you want me to pick the better film here, I can't. See them both. Each is first-rate. They are a textbook example of a remake pair in which both were outstanding pieces of cinema: individual yet related. As for me, I've got to get back to my history class. If I heard correctly, we're going to learn about transportation across America with the Grand Funk Railroad. Well, Walk Like A Man.
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Every other Wednesday
For anyone who's ever been told "You should have seen the original," this column provides insight into any film that’s been remade, rehashed, or re-envisioned.
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| Jonathan Alexandratos |
Jonathan is a college student in New York. He is already an accomplished writer, having completed 3 full-length plays and numerous poems. He is also working on his first book.
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