The Seven Samurai is a 1954 film about war-torn 16th-century Japan, where a village of farmers look for ways to ward off a band of marauding robbers. Since they do not themselves know how to fight, they hire seven ronin (lordless samurai) to fight for them. This epic film is about the extinction of the samurai culture.


This plot would later be adapted into the American film "The Magnificent Seven."

Directed by Akira Kurosawa. Written by Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, and Hideo Oguni.

The Mighty Warriors Who Became the Seven National Heroes of a Small Town.

Kikuchiyo

• What do you think of farmers? You think they're saints? Hah! They're foxy beasts! They say, "We've got no rice, we've no wheat. We've got nothing!" But they have! They have everything! Dig under the floors! Or search the barns! You'll find plenty! Beans, salt, rice, sake! Look in the valleys, they've got hidden warehouses! They pose as saints but are full of lies! If they smell a battle, they hunt the defeated! They're nothing but stingy, greedy, blubbering, foxy, and mean! God damn it all! But then . . . who made them such beasts? You did! You samurai did it! You burn their villages! Destroy their farms! Steal their food! Force them to labour! Take their women! And kill them if they resist! So what should farmers do?

Kambei Shimada

• Danger always strikes when everything seems fine.

• I have no idea.

• Once more, we have survived.

• So. Again we are defeated. The farmers have won. Not us.

Old Man

• Bandits are coming, you fool. Why worry about the beard, when the head is about to fall?

Dialogue

Kambei Shimada: Go to the north. The decisive battle will be fought there.

Gorobei Katayama: Why didn't you build a fence there?

Kambei Shimada: A good fort needs a gap. The enemy must be lured in. So we can attack them. If we only defend, we lose the war.

---

Villager: How can we find a samurai we can pay with only rice?

Gisaku: Find hungry samurai.

---

Gorobei Katayama: You're good.

Heihachi Hayashida: Yeah, yeah. But I'm better at killing enemies.

Gorobei Katayama: Killed many?

Heihachi Hayashida: Well - it's impossible to kill 'em all, so I usually run away.

Gorobei Katayama: A splendid principle!

Heihachi Hayashida: Thank you.

Gorobei Katamaya: And how do you feel about killing thirty bandits?

---

Kambei Shimada: As a matter of fact, I'm preparing for a tough war. It will bring us neither money nor fame. Want to join?

Shichirōji: Yes!

Kambei Shimada: Maybe we die this time.

Shichirōji: (smiles)

Cast

• Takashi Shimura - Kambei Shimada
• Isao Kimura - Katsushiro Okamoto
• Yoshio Inaba - Gorobei Katayama
• Daisuke Kato - Shichiroji
• Seiji Miyaguchi - Kyuzo
• Minoru Chiaki - Heihachi Hayashida
• Toshiro Mifune - Kikuchiyo