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Yojimbo: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Yojimbo_2082.jpg|frame]]
''Yojimbo'' -- more correctly Yōjinbō, meaning "bodyguard" -- is a 1961 [[Jidai Geki]] directed by [[Akira Kurosawa]], loosely based on [[Dashiell Hammett]]'s novel ''Red Harvest''. It stars [[Toshiro Mifune]] as wandering rōnin Sanjūrō, who arrives in a town beset by criminals and decides to clean the place up (apparently for fun). His method is simple, yet clever: he reduces the number of gangsters in the town by getting the two rival factions to go to war, then mops up the remainder. An enormously influential film, it has had at least two direct remakes -- [[Sergio Leone]]'s ''[[A
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* [[Anti-Hero]]: Sanjūrō.
* [[Ax Crazy]]: Unosuke and Inokichi.
* [[Badass]]: Sanjūrō is a complete badass, and everybody comes to realize this very quickly. In fact, seeing as how his performance influenced [[Clint Eastwood]] in [[A
** "Cooper, two coffins... No, maybe three."
* [[Bad Cop, Incompetent Cop]]: The local constable is useless and venal, and attempts to get a finders fee for recommending that Sanjūrō join one side of the gang war.
* [[Batman Gambit]]: Sanjūrō is able to destroy the two rival gangs by exploiting their leaders' personalities and the fact that both of them desperately want his skills.
* [[Character Tics]]: Sanjūrō has a habit of keeping one hand inside of his clothing and twitching his shoulders. The idea behind this is that he's like a wolf/dog and has fleas- making him ''[[Incredibly Lame Pun|a character with ticks]]''.
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* [[Pet the Dog]]: Sanjūrō manages to save a family that's been caught between the quarrels of the two gangs, which [[Jerk With a Heart of Gold|tends to make him less antiheroic.]] In order to act a little more rugged, Sanjūrō [[Shoo the Dog|threatens them with death if they don't get the hell out of there fast enough. He does so with good reason: If they're caught, they'll likely be killed.]]
** Also, at the very beginning of the film, he chances to see a farmer boy quarreling with his parents; he intends to join one of the gangs, thinking that the excitement and riches are preferable to a boring life of farming and eating gruel. Near the end of the film, Sanjūrō actually has that ''same farmer-turned-gangster'' at swordpoint. Rather than cut him down, though, Sanjūrō just remarks to him that perhaps the gruel-eating life ''is'' better than this. The boy, elated at this mercy, runs off.
* [[Playing Both Sides]]: Sort-of the movie's main premise. Arguably this is the [[Trope Codifier|codifying]] example as it is the most identifiable element in the remakes [[A
* [[Psychopathic Manchild]]: Inokichi is somewhere between Type A and Type E.
* [[Ronin]]: Sanjūrō
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