tieman64 Set during the Sengoku period (1460s-1600s), Akira Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress" stars Minoru Chiaki and Kamatari Fujiwara as Tahei and Matashichi, a pair of squabbling peasants. The duo roam the Japanese countryside, doing their best to avoid bands of marauding soldiers."Hidden's" first act watches as Tahei and Matashichi are manipulated by Rokurota Makabe (Toshiro Mifune), a cunning samurai general. Promising the greedy peasants mountains of gold, he uses them as camouflage in his attempts to transport a princess (Misa Uehara) across enemy lines."What you make of another's kindness is up to you," Kurosawa has character's say. Kindness is something the film's princess learns, as she witnesses first-hand the sacrifices of her bodyguard, General Makabe, and the suffering of the peasants who live outside her castle walls. Kindness is also something General Rokurota must grapple with. He's a rival warrior with whom General Makabe fights an extended battle. During this battle, Makabe's objective is not to kill, but to frustrate, to deflect, to guide his belligerent opponent away from a fixation upon military solutions."The Hidden Fortress" is one of Kurosawa's more playful films. Part comedy, part adventure, part action epic, the film boasts glorious widescreen photography, a jaunty plot, some fine compositional work and the shortest short shorts ever worn by a princess. Aesthetically, the film's the bridge between Eisenstein, Ford and later imitators like Lucas and Leone. Indeed, George Lucas would lift chunks of "Hidden Fortress" for the plot of his "Star Wars", especially Kurosawa's notion of a tough, imperious princess.Though a bit long-winded, a number of Kurosawa's action sequences still pack a punch. One sequence in particular recalls Eisenstein's Odessa Steps sequence in "Battleship Potemkin". Elsewhere Kurosawa stages a sequence in which General Makabe – cool, tough and resourceful - pursues enemy scouts all the way back to their base, a scene which would influence the speeder bike chase in George Lucas' "Return of the Jedi". Lucas would help a financially-strapped Kurosawa get his 1980 film, "The Shadow Warrior", produced. Indeed, Lucas would be indirectly responsible for two of Kurosawa's greatest epics ("The Shadow Warrior" and "Ran"). Every good apprentice lends their master a helping hand.8/10 – See "Throne of Blood" and "Twilight Samurai".

Tweekums As this film opens we see two peasants bickering; they sold what little they had to seek their fortunes in war and ended up on the losing side. They aren't even free for long as they are captured and forced to dig for treasure by their captors. Luckily they escape again and as they are sitting down to eat find a gold bar hidden in their firewood. The look for more but soon another man appears he tells them he is Rokurota Makabe, a famous general, but they don't believe him… they do however decide to go with him when he tells them he has the rest of the gold; unbeknownst to them the 'mute' accompanying the general is a princess wanted by the local warlord. They will have to avoid enemy forces and resist their own greed in they are to get back home with a share of the gold.This is another classic from director Akira Kurosawa which nicely mixes drama and comedy. The fact that the two main characters were driven by greed rather than any noble motivation made them funny as each attempt they made to get rich by double-crossing each other and the others in their party was doomed to failure; Minoru Chiaki and Kamatari Fujiwara do fine jobs in these roles. Equally good is Toshirô Mifune who plays the general; a more serious character but still able to provide a few laughs as well as some action. Misa Uehara is likable as the tomboyish Princess Yuki; a good strong female character. The story flows nicely and doesn't seem overly long despite being well over two hours long. If you are a fan of Kurosawa's other works or Japanese cinema in general this is a must see.These comments are based on watching the film in Japanese with English subtitles.

Charles Herold (cherold) It's been a while since I've watched an older movie, but I recently decided to check out Kurosawa films I haven't seen, and watching this movie is a good reminder that you don't need special effects and flashy cinematographic swoops to make a good movie. The movie itself is interesting and rather unusual in terms of the Kurosawa films I've seen. First off, the main protagonists are a pair of greedy, stupid peasants played primarily for comedic effect. The heroic characters are, in this movie, in supporting roles.It is also unusual in that it has a very strong female character. Kurosawa's movies tend to be very masculine, and this one is as well, but the girl is tough, proud, and noble, and replaces the quiet subservience seen from women in a lot of old Japanese movies with a ferocious appetite for life. I wouldn't say this ranks with Kurosawa's best films, being a little wandering in story and at times slightly puzzling in intent, but it is quite entertaining.

samuraifa451 When it comes to Kurosawa, most that come to mind are "Seven Samurai", "Rashomon", and "Yojimbo" but "The Hidden Fortress" is a worthy addition just on the impact alone. Tahei and Matashichi are two selfish greedy peasants just trying to get home. After discovering gold in the mountains, the two decide to team up with a general and a princess hiding out there in order to escape with some extra money in their pockets. "The Hidden Fortress" is an adventure story that draws influence from both Eastern and Western cultures. Instead of being seen from the high-class samurai's eyes, the majority of the film is done through the two peasant's perspectives which generally balances between seriousness and humor relatively well. It does get slightly over-the-top at points but with a witty cast and a fantastic director like Akira Kurosawa, it's not hard to see why George Lucas would eventually draw inspiration from it for "Star Wars."