Seven Samurai

Shichinin no Samurai

Akira Kurosawa’s monumental, scintillating tale of hired samurai protecting a peasant village: period thriller and moral/political fable in one.

  • Director

    Akira Kurosawa

  • With

    Takashi Shimura, Toshiro Mifune, Seiji Miyaguchi

  • Japan 1954. 206min including intermission of 5min at 106min

  • Digital 4K

  • Certificate

    PG

  • English subtitles

Rice farmers hire a band of samurai to defend them against marauding bandits in Akira Kurosawa’s influential epic, a touchstone for action movies ever since. Akira Kurosawa followed the breakthrough international acclaim for Rashomon (1950) and Ikiru (1952) with this three-and-a-half-hour jidaigeki (period drama) set during Japan’s turbulent 16th century. Strongly influenced by the poetic westerns of John Ford, Kurosawa’s story of farmers recruiting a motley troupe of samurai to help them fend off bandits in turn had a huge impact on subsequent westerns and action films - from Hollywood remake The Magnificent Seven (1961) onwards. Ranked 20th in the 2022 Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time poll.

Screening the 70th anniversary 4K restored version of the film.