I think Criterion and everyone else that talks about this film in relation to Star Wars needs to stop seeing The Hidden Fortress so one-dimensionally. While there may be some bits and pieces that Lucas pilfered for his sci-fi epic, if you watch this film believing you’re going to see Star Wars set in feudal Japan you’re – of course – not going to be seeing the film for what it is.

The story itself is fairly simple. Two peasants return from a war, only to find themselves in over their heads when they run into a defeated general and princess with a bounty on her head. The four (five later on) attempt to transport a bounty of secret gold across a border guarded by enemies. Ultimately, the film is a look at greed, loyalty, and friendship, as told through the eyes of the peasants to give a bit of comedic relief to a more serious historical context.

The quality of the Criterion Collection DVD is good; the picture is remarkably clear and the subtitles are good, but the variance in speech could have been accented more (a friend who speaks Japanese notices the difference in formalities). The only problem I had with this copy is the lack of extras, something that Criterion normally has. The only extra to speak of is a short interview with George Lucas, who pretty much praises Kurosawa the entire time. I would’ve liked a little more, especially considering how much the DVD costs (cough, eBay).

Still, this was a great movie, especially considering this was Kurosawa’s first attempt at a widescreen feature. The landscape shots are beautifully crafted, and there’s a lot of depth in almost every frame. Good action sequences too, including a great duel with Toshiro Mifune.

Check this movie out, and not just because you heard it influenced Star Wars. You’d be doing yourself a favor.

This was a good movie, and though I’ve seen it I may not be a completely impartial judge. That is for two reasons. The first is that I’ve heard that this movie was a primary influence on George Lucas’ original Star Wars and I am a fan of the Star Wars universe. Now, the story didn’t seem especially remeniscient or Star Wars except on paper:

Two farmers join with a warrior and a fugitive princess to escape from behind enemy lines.

The greater plot was really not that much like Star Wars, though I did indeed have a moment near the end where I could have been watching Star Wars. Kurosawa’s music started in very heavily with the drums so that it was something that might have been mistaken for the Imperial march. Da Da Da Da Dum Ta Da Dum Ta Da. Right at that moment one of the fuzzy barriers of scene changing floated from right to left across the screen. It could have changed the sceen to C3-PO and R2-D2 trudging across the deserts of Tatooine. But it wasn’t, we were still in feudal Japan.

The second reason is that the copy I have of the movie is very bad. I bought a Kurosawa box set, published by Bo Ying. The picture quality was questionable as it seemed to be almost pixelated. Far worse were the English subtitles, even beyond the fact that any long phrases were cut off completely. The translation itself was horrible. If any native Engligh speakers reviewed the text before it was put on the DVD, I would be surprised.

The farmers were afraid of capture because they did not want to “dig holes for cropses”, yes cropses. They were trying to escape to “Country Joe”. General Ching told the farmers before he left “If I don’t come back, stay here.” These are only a few examples of the poor overall quality of the subtitles.

Between these two factors, I may have completely missed the entire movie, but I enjoyed what I did experience.