The Hidden Fortress Is Secretly A Popcorn Movie

The Hidden Fortress was directed by Akira Kurosawa and written by Ryuzo Kikushima, Hideo Oguni, Shinobu Hashimoto, and Akira Kurosawa. It stars Toshiro Mifune, Minoru Chiaki, Kamatari Fujiwara, and Misa Uehara.

Topics covered in this video include:

- The premise of The Hidden Fortress
- The themes and morals of The Hidden Fortress
- The importance of entertainment value
- The surprising accessibility of The Hidden Fortress
- Akira Kurosawa and John Ford
- Akira Kurosawa and Westerns
- Akira Kurosawa films that were adapted into Westerns
- Kurosawa's influence on Star Wars
- How I learned about Kurosawa and The Hidden Fortress
- The production value and cinematography of The Hidden Fortress
- And a tease at my next video: The Skyfall Project

[EthanAnthony]

The princess is one of the most powerful performances by a woman in film, such strength, dignity, emotion and beauty.

[jackxiao]

it's a film I saw on TV, the director is so fucking good, I couldn't stop watching it, even though I started in the middle. The direction, editing story almost compelled me to finish it. It is also why Star Wars is so good, Lucas was able to port the spirit of Hidden Fortress over very well.

[kidd]

Just rewatch Hidden Fortresses, . What an amazing movie

[samspencer]

If you still haven´t seen Yojimbo and Sanjuro you really must see them. They are so amazing.

[justinbates]

This is super well-done, David! I want to go check out this film now. Thanks for addressing it in an interesting, informative, and entertaining way. Keep it up!

[EthanAnthony]

im a film buff and Hidden Fortress is my number 1 favorite film, Kurosawa made what, 32 films, and Hidden Fortress is closely followed by Ran, Kagemusha. If an alien species came to earth and wanted to know about our species I would show them Hidden Fortress to begin.

[kh]

This Japanese director was also a fan of Shakespeare which manifested itself into his films: The Bad Sleep Well (Hamlet), Ran (King Lear) and Throne of Blood (Macbeth).

[pirobotbeta]

There was a movie treatment of this Classic a few years back...some kid name George Lucas was involved.

[Gregory_McIntosh]

Loyalty, Devotion, Duty, Honor -- Good job setting the stage by noting the overarching themes in your intro.

[bobschenkel]

I actually do own about seven Kurosawa films, I started with Seven Samurai, and though all do well on repeat viewing, The Hidden Fortress does stand out. There are direct correlations to more modern films, the shot you showed of Toshiro Mifune smiling on horseback was replicated perfectly by Mel Gibson in Braveheart, and of course the way the two main characters are portrayed, is very similar to the droids in A New Hope. You would probably enjoy Yojimbo and Sanjuro, both featuring Mifune as a Ronin, a roaming samurai. Yojimbo, as any fan of Kurosawa or Sergio Leone can tell you, is the basis for A Fist Full Of Dollars, which was NOT an American film, but rather an Italian, Spanish and German co-production, the first famous Spaghetti Western.

[hauntedhose]

Well spoken, basic and nice background ….and no “umm” or “uh” 😀 and no intro 😊 ….

If you enjoy the mechanics of solving a crime (kidnapping in this case) ….see Kurosawa’s High and Low …. It’s a welcome change of scenery from dirt, trees and swords to an early 60’s Yokohama cityscape 👍

[StraboSE]

You have a future as a film tuber if the world is just, keep at it.

[jtooley]

You can tell he watched John Ford movies. Great sky

[kaduisaui]

If you liked The Hidden Fortress just keep going down the list, Akira Kurasawa made great films.

[shonenbag]

You know what? I think I'll give it a shot!

[felixxia]

Hi mr big shot. Thanks for this video. But. I think you need to have a more in depth discussion about this movie.

[milestonowheres]

Do-tee it’s pronounced Do-tee not do-dee