For all I know, maybe I’m the last person to recognize this individual’s quality work as an actor, but finally recognize him I did.
Last weekend, I finally saw from start to finish a movie I’d previously only caught parts of, 1968’s Hell In The Pacific. Performances by Mr. Mifune and Lee Marvin both were very enjoyable and it’s a compelling, thought-provoking work, one that caused me to reflect back on it several times during the week.
Then, last night I watched for the very first time Yojimbo, a 1961 Akira Kurosawa film. Near the end, it suddenly struck me that the Japanese actor in both were the same man.
A Google search today shows that Toshirô Mifune has in fact worked in dozens of films, although the only other I’ve likely seen was the 1976 classic, Midway.
I’m embarassed to be so late to the Mifune party. Has it been going on long? When did you get there and what films brought you? Any favorite films, scenes or anecdotes? What must I know about this man?
Toshiro Mifune acted in many of legendary director Akira Kurasawa’s films, including the role of Kikuchiyo in Shichi no Samurai/The Seven Samurai, the role of the Stranger in Rashomon, the Warrior in The Hidden Fortress, the Loner in Yojimbo and many others. Highly important roles all. He appeared in quite a few American movies as well, starring as a Samurai in the American West in the oddball western Red Sun and as Toranaga-sama in the TV adaptation of Shogun
I think he is more than a bit over the top in Seven Samurai and way too over-dramatic. However, he is quite skillful and I believe he was really a martial artist.
Sanjuro: You’re all tough, then?
Gambler: What? Kill me if you can!
Sanjuro: It’ll hurt.
Mifune was fantastic, especially with Kurosawa. He was kind of the De Niro to Kurosawa’s Scorsese. If you liked him in Yojimbo, check out The Seven Samurai and Rashomon. I hear he was equally great as Musashi in Inagaki’s Samurai Trilogy, but I haven’t seen it yet. If you saw Clavell’s “Shogun” series back in the 70’s (80’s?), he played Toranaga. On preview, I’ve been beaten to the punch on all this, but what the hey.
Just today I dropped off some photo work at a camera store in Midtown, and the really handsome, middle-aged Asian guy there and I were chatting. As I left, I thought to myself, “He’s really good-looking, kinda like Toshiro Mifune!”
How often does his name come up twice in one afternoon?
I highly reccomend the film-noir masterpiece High and Low. Mifune’s a shoemaker in 1950’s Japan, and yet he’s as heroic and manly as they come. Hell of a good thriller.
Yeah, I saw that one recently, and agree with your description.
I love Mifune in his bodyguard character, when he’s tough but not over-the-top. I especially like his little shoulder twitch/arm stretch thing that he does.
I agree that he could take the intensity down a few notches for his Kikuchiyo character in The Seven Samurai, but if that character had been a bit calmer, we wouldn’t have that scene outside the blazing windmill when he was holding the newly-orphaned baby and wailing that the same thing had happened to him as a child. ::shivering just thinking of the scene::
I’ve seen bits of The Samurai series, and recommend it highly. It’s not in Kurosawa’s style, but Mifune’s transformation from desperate outlaw to controlled, serene samurai is very well done. And the cinematography, sets, and kimonos are unmatched in beauty and color.
The Seven Samurai is on my Top Ten Movies of All Time. Particularly for the speech at the end, where the samurai realizes he and everyone else is caught in the web of other people’s expectations, and the whole notion that the peasants should be grateful to him is nonsense - and there is nothing he can do about it.
I looked him up on Wiki last night (because of the Yojimbo airing) and was astonished to learn that he grew up in Manchuria, managed to never join a combat unit in WWII (he was in aerial surveillance photography), and was a lifelong Methodist (his father was a Methodist missionary).
Another fun factoid (not in Wiki): Mifune’s samurai characters were the basis for John Belushi’s samurai deli-counter man in those early SNL skits (the first “Samurai Delicatessen” skit aired Dec. 13, 1975). He had him down pretty pat, too. I have no idea if Mifune ever saw any of these skits or what he thought of them.
Hell in the Pacific is an absolutely amazing movie. It was the first time I’d ever seen Mifune, and Lee Marvin also did a great job (and I usually don’t like Lee Marvin). Such subtle, powerful acting, and a brilliant job by both, showing their hostility slowly morph into friendship.
And, incidentally, that makes two threads in about 15 minutes where I praise a John Boorman film. Creepy.
