Brian Brazier
November 8th, 2007, 08:14 PM
Best know for being a Major influence on George Lucas Star Wars, Akira Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress deserves all the praise. This is one of the most entertaining "Samurai" movies I have watched in a long time, but be forewarned this is not a cut em up movie, but does have the best Yari fight I have ever seen. Two farmers, Matashichi and Tahei, have escaped prison camp and are scavenging the wilderness for gold when they are dragooned by General Rokurota Makabe (Toshiro Mifune), who is secretly safeguarding Princess Yuki (Misa Uehara) in a camp hidden in a mountainous valley. Makabe tricks—and frightens—the foolish farmers into helping him escort Princess Yuki through the regional battles to claim her throne. Toshiro Mifune gives another truly commanding performance, as the General Makabe. I recommend getting the Criterion Collection copy of this movie, the video transfer is very great, and at around $20 it is one of the lower priced Kurosawa films, but IMO it is one of the Best as well. Check Overstock http://www.overstock.com/Books-Movies-Music-Games/The-Hidden-Fortress-Criterion-Collection-DVD/67886/product.html Best Buy http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid=1TWF5ANES0MJHKC4D3HVAGY?_dy ncharset=ISO-8859-1&id=pcat17071&type=page&st=hidden+fortress&sc=Global&cp=1&nrp=15&sp=&qp=&list=n&iht=y&usc=All+Categories&ks=960 Circut City http://entertainment.circuitcity.com/Movies/Movie.aspx?prodid=CRRNHID040DVD&store=Movies&si=ccity-prod&channel=b2c&partner=cc&catOid=-13219, Overstock has the cheapest shipping prices, but Circuit City has free shipping on orders of $25+, so if you have another DVD etc. you can save a few bucks at Circuit City