Now that I'm getting to the end of the third instalment of the Samurai trilogy, I gotta ask: what was the intended audience?
It couldn't have been men. Mifune's character isn't all that compelling as a character study. It's not a buddy flic since sidekicks come and go. It's not a road flic since they barely seem to go anywhere, or at least it's staged in a surprisingly claustrophobic way. And the nemeses aren't very compelling.
Can't be a chick flick. The women are all treated abominably. I mean, if that's how it was in long-ago Japan, fine, I'm not arguing with that. But it was mid-20th century women presumably watching. Were they not offended by this? Because by gawd I was. They're all doormats or schemers in this movie. Cardboard cutouts.
And with all those dames throwing themselves at his feet, I gotta wonder whether Mifune's character wasn't, you know.... At the very least, Mifune belonged in a David Lean epic. Well, the ones that don't feature Julie Christie, anyway.
Ultimately, the second and third instalments failed to build on the foundation provided by the first movie, so I gotta rate them a disappointment. The entire thing could easily have been a fairly satisfying two-hour movie. In fact, give me a ''director's cut" where all the scenes featuring Otsu and Takemi (after their initial abandonment, at least) are excised and leave everything else. That might work.
I wouldn't bother watching any of the three movies ever again. There are far too many better Mifune movies.
It couldn't have been men. Mifune's character isn't all that compelling as a character study. It's not a buddy flic since sidekicks come and go. It's not a road flic since they barely seem to go anywhere, or at least it's staged in a surprisingly claustrophobic way. And the nemeses aren't very compelling.
Can't be a chick flick. The women are all treated abominably. I mean, if that's how it was in long-ago Japan, fine, I'm not arguing with that. But it was mid-20th century women presumably watching. Were they not offended by this? Because by gawd I was. They're all doormats or schemers in this movie. Cardboard cutouts.
And with all those dames throwing themselves at his feet, I gotta wonder whether Mifune's character wasn't, you know.... At the very least, Mifune belonged in a David Lean epic. Well, the ones that don't feature Julie Christie, anyway.
Ultimately, the second and third instalments failed to build on the foundation provided by the first movie, so I gotta rate them a disappointment. The entire thing could easily have been a fairly satisfying two-hour movie. In fact, give me a ''director's cut" where all the scenes featuring Otsu and Takemi (after their initial abandonment, at least) are excised and leave everything else. That might work.
I wouldn't bother watching any of the three movies ever again. There are far too many better Mifune movies.