Talk:Seven Samurai

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Seven Samurai has been listed as one of the Media and drama good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it. Review: February 13, 2026. (Reviewed version).

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[1]Terrible news but shouldn't this be mentioned somewhere in the article?--Hypermagic 02:32, 21 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

With the possible exception of the last line (which seems potentially a little too political, depending on how you look at it), this plot summary is awesome. It manages to describe all the important details of a 3 and a half hour movie without being overlong. Props to the writer-SF (unsigned)

Magnificient Seven on TMC right now, the prelogue said that this is remake of Seven Samurai which is a remake of an American Western but didn't say which one. Would love to know, thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.54.160.202 (talk) 20:04, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Seven Samurai isn't a remake of anything. Doc Strange^MailboxLogbook 20:53, 7 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Is the basic story of the film the original (modern) creation of the screenplay writers, or is it based on a previously existing traditional Japanese fictional tale, or actual historical events? 87.81.230.195 (talk) 00:58, 10 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

According to the DVD commentary, the basic idea (peasant village hiring samurai) is based on historical incident/-s in the time period (no details given, but c. 1580 or so). Six of the seven samurai are more or less based on real-life counterparts, Kikuchiyo was devised on-set because Kurosawa felt a comic figure fit Mifune better. CFLeon (talk) 08:16, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Upon re-checking the movie, although the commentary mentions the real event, no date is given. Seven Samurai takes place in C.E. 1587, and Gisaku ('Grandad') indicates the previous instance was when he was young, so probably around 1550. Also, although it's said that the six samurai are based on real people, only Kanbei's original is revealed. CFLeon (talk) 09:32, 24 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Michael Jeck's DVD commentary states that the only error in the film is the timing of gunshots when Gorebei is killed, but would 16th Century Japan be using iron horseshoes? Also, Jeck states that the appearance of the bandits is the first use of an over the horizon shot "of an alien horde", but it was not uncommon in Westerns of the '30s and '40s; in fact is used in "The Great Train Robbery" in 1903.CFLeon (talk) 10:41, 24 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Many have said that it is debatable whether 七人の侍 (Shichinin no Samurai) translates into "The Seven Samurai" or "Seven Samurai". It is "Seven Samurai". There is no "the". Therefore, cite/footnote 1 should not exist or should be deleted.AndrewOne (talk) 14:00, 7 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You are incorrect on both counts. I am stunned that no one with actual knowledge of the language has jumped on this. The footnote, though incorrect (as I'm about to explain) is relevant to the misunderstanding.

As for the incorrect translation currently standing: definite article in Japanese is implied by the "no" after "Shichinin". An indefinite Seven Samurai is in Japanese "Shichinin Samurai". The number and the noun. So then the possessive "no" adds weight to the number; it tells you it's not just any seven samurai, it's the samurai of the seven - it's the seven samurai.

But I can't be bothered creating an account and explaining intermediate Japanese grammar to Wiki-know-it-alls over and over in order to actually get the article name changed, so if anyone discovers this note and is so inclined, thanks. 110.142.235.213 (talk) 05:25, 25 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Should not the Anime remake "Samurai 7" be mentioned and or referenced to? There is already a Wikipedia article about it.

The macrons have gone on the Toshiro Mifune article already so the editor removing them from this article is correct, this is not vandalism. JoshuSasori (talk) 02:57, 10 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

There is a problem with this article's image. The Facebook automatically generated page from the article won't display the Seven Samurai poster (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Seven-Samurai/105564736143780?ref=profile), It's a shame as this is the only page for Seven Samurai on Facebook.

We are sorry that this is happening and it is hard to know why this is occurring. Unfortunately what happens with Facebook and its links isn't really Wikipedia's concern. MarnetteD | Talk 23:35, 26 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Going through the page, myself and a few companions have noticed that some of the sources need to be updated as some no longer exist and others seem to be outdated (polls/recognitions from 2009-2012) which can now be updated to more recent polls.

Sometimes, these citations can be retrieved from the archives. Most actual web citations do not permanently disappear. Student7 (talk) 22:06, 18 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

What do people think of mentioning "Jidaigeki" (a japanese period drama genre) to the page? It is often mentioned in writing and analysis of the film. There is a whole page dedicated to the genre which I could add to the page?

Also, although the structural innovations section has important information on structure should editing and the film's style be mentioned too? Perhaps as separate subheadings in the section.

MariaCabrera23 (talk) 16:06, 12 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Narrative

According to Michael Jeck's DVD commentary, Seven Samurai was among the first films to use the now-common plot element of the recruiting and gathering of heroes into a team to accomplish a specific goal, a device used in later films such as The Guns of Navarone, Sholay, the western remake The Magnificent Seven, and Pixar's animated film A Bug's Life.[9] Film critic Roger Ebert speculates in his review that the sequence introducing the leader Kambei (in which the samurai shaves off his topknot, a sign of honor among samurai, in order to pose as a monk to rescue a boy from a kidnapper) could be the origin of the practice, now common in action movies, of introducing the main hero with an undertaking unrelated to the main plot.[10]

Technical

(104, The films of Akira Kurosawa - Donald Richie) Through the creative freedom provided by the studio (x11 The Films of Akira Kurosawa - Donald Richie) Kurosawa used telephoto lenses, which were rare in 1954, and multiple cameras allows the action to fill the screen and place the audience right in the middle of it (link)? (89, Akira Kurosawa Interviews - edited by Bert Cardullo) Kurosawa quickly earned a reputation with his crew as the ‘world’s greatest editor’ because of his practice of editing late at night during the shooting. (89, Akira Kurosawa Interviews - edited by Bert Cardullo) He thus describes as practical necessity a procedure that is incomprehensible to most directors, who on major production spent at least several months with their editors assembling and cutting the film after shooting is competed.

Mjcl12005 (talk) 15:34, 16 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Dear Wiki users, we are university film students doing some group work editing this page. In regards to the reception and legacy section, some of the claims need updating. For example, perhaps deleting the claims such as that it was the ‘highest grossing film in Japan’ (it is hard to find figures of what was the highest grossing film as it doesn't specify which context). Also, some of the rankings and reviews are out of date so I intended on updating the links.

In terms of the reference to Magnificent Seven, I would like to add a reference linking to some relevant scholarly discourse on the remake. But to retain a balanced argument, perhaps it is worth noting Kurosawa’s disappointment with the remake. In an interview he claims it ‘is not a version of seven samurai’. It might be worth specifying that the Samurai film and the Western should be compared in terms of syntactic movement, framing and form rather than contextually, due to their very different contextual and cultural agendas? (I can also supply the sources for this information). Thanks and all the best! Ml13253 (talk) 11:07, 15 February 2015 (UTC)ml13253[reply]

Let's face it. The Magnificent Seven, while having superb casting, was a puerile copy of the Seven Samurai. Not really in the same league. A knockoff. The American film might be compared to other famous American "Westerns," like Spaghetti Westerns, Shane, High Noon, etc. But the Seven Samurai is in a class by itself IMO. Student7 (talk) 22:25, 20 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

If Magnificent Seven is discusses, then Battle Beyond the Stars needs to be referenced. It may not be highbrow cinema, but unlike The Magnificent Seven it does explicitly acknowledge Akira Kurosawa. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Stub Mandrel (talk • contribs) 13:00, 2 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Just wanted to make a quick note on why I removed the Criterion Essays and Roger Ebert's essay: reviews and essays are better used as sources in a reception section or other relevant statements. (1st point in WP:EXT) Ebert's review was already being used in the article, as well as Turan's essay. Here are the other essays for your convenience in case you want to incorporate them:

• Criterion Collection essay by Philip Kemp
• Criterion Collection essay by Peggy Chiao
• Criterion Collection essay by David Ehrenstein — Preceding unsigned comment added by Opencooper (talk • contribs) 09:14, 8 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Shouldn't this article have a themes and analysis section as a lot has been written about the film. For instance, the french wikipedia page about this film has a large section about analysis of the film. Pineapple4321 (talk) 19:26, 14 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

They are the same article. However, the article has been updated and has had its title changed. Should I update the first reference to make it the updated page? Pineapple4321 (talk) 23:57, 19 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

All the "heist" films Drsruli (talk) 21:04, 23 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

At 207 minutes, including a five-minute intermission with music, Seven Samurai was the longest film that had been released^[a] in Kurosawa's career.

Did he subsequently beat that record? If not, how about a simpler "was the longest of Kurosawa's films as released"? —Tamfang (talk) 06:19, 2 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• Seven Samurai poster.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 19:27, 31 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The lead describes Seven Samurai as an "epic samurai action film".

The leads for Rashomon, Throne of Blood, The Hidden Fortress, Sanjuro, and Kagemusha all describe them as jidaigeki films, often adding the word "epic". (For completeness, the lead for Yojimbo describes it as a "samurai film", and for Ran (film) as a "historical action drama film".)

Should the Seven Samurai lead be changed to "epic jidaigeki film"? Masato.harada (talk) 13:50, 30 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Masato.harada, personally i would approve using the label here. ran and yojimbo i haven't properly looked at the literature for yet, but i can imagine that there could be differences in style that could lead people to refer to ran, at least, as something other than jidaigeki.

yoshimoto (2000) spends about 35 pages of analysis detailing the film specifically as the defining the modern jidaigeki. kobayashi (2025) and richie (1998[:1965]) also refer to it as jidaigeki (richie as a "real jidai-geki"), galbraith (2002) refers to it as a period film (i.e. the literal translation of jidaigeki). mellen (2002) even calls it the "quintessential jidai-geki. desser (1983) warns against treating jidaigeki as a genre, but he doesn't dispute that kurosawa's samurai films are jidaigeki.

even taking desser's warning into account, i don't think we should discount the fact that pretty much every piece of major scholarly literature on the subject uses the term.--Plifal (talk) 14:13, 30 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I would say so, it is already included on the list of films linked at Jidaigeki#Films. As Plifal mentioned as well, most film historians have labelled it an essential/defining film in the Jidaigeki genre. Ajheindel (talk) 15:42, 30 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. I've amended the lead to say "Japanese epic jidaigeki film".

Re Yojimbo, I'd be interested in people's opinions. If Sanjuro is jidaigeki, then probably Yojimbo should be too.

Ran is trickier and arguably should remain as a "historical action drama film", since it's based on a Shakespeare play; in which case, shouldn't Throne of Blood be the same?

I don't have the reference resources to start those discussions where they ought to take place, on the Yojimbo, Throne of Blood, and Ran talk pages. Perhaps someone else could pick them up? Masato.harada (talk) 17:36, 30 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Masato.harada, i'm currently planning my way around improving this article, after which i thought i would take a look at revising the page for ran more comprehensively. richie (for films prior to dodes'ka-den) and galbraith should be available on the internet archive. a quick check shows that richie calls throne of blood "a psychological jidai-geki" and refers to yojimbo and sanjuro as a kind of rejuvenated version of the genre. in my brief scan though i didn't see him assign a genre to ran, perhaps because in his own words it's more "expressionistic" (which is a statement i agree with). although discussions would better to be held on those articles' talk pages with deeper look at the sources, i think it would be safe to change yojimbo's to match, and although things can change, there is a source basis to refer to throne of blood as jidaigeki.--Plifal (talk) 03:56, 31 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Yojimbo and Sanjuro seem pretty clear to call jidaigeki, Throne of Blood and Ran are a bit more difficult to define. They are all included at Jidaigeki#Films already, but I think it could be debated either way, Throne of Blood and Ran certainly include common traits of other jidaigeki films. Ajheindel (talk) 06:19, 31 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I've amended the Yojimbo lead to jidaigeki. Masato.harada (talk) 08:40, 31 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Doesn't epic imply a grand scope of time and/or space? —Antonissimo (talk) 07:10, 31 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

yes, but that would apply to this case, as well as others listed. "epic" can also mean grand in scope, i.e. ideas and perspective.--Plifal (talk) 07:41, 31 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• Kinema-Junpo-1959-February-Special-3.jpg

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i'm currently working on a draft of this article in a sandbox to re-write the critical reception subsection and legacy section to a higher quality. the critical reception subsection was the highest quality subsection of the article before, and it's still in pretty good shape, but i wanted to voice some concerns i have going through it:

• the first paragraph is basically just fandango media review aggregator lists. i don't mind keeping the rotten tomatoes score, but i've seen prior rfc's that urge against using the critical consensus' because it's too jargonistic. i'm also not against excising mention of metacritic. the lists could probably go too, as they're not particularly high quality.
• i don't know sensacine, i would probably excise that as being wp:undue.
• wanda hale (1956) from the new york daily news is not a source i can access and therefore can't verify the content of. it could probably be excised in favour of higher quality national publications (e.g. the new york times, sight & sound etc.
• my plan was to split the critical response sub-section into additional sub-sections for contemporary and retrospective reviews (a la what i did for high and low (1963)); what's the feeling about this? where do people think these should start and end? my (somewhat arbitrary) cut-off point planned to be in the 1960s, since i have information pertaining to japanese reception among filmmakers and critics from the generation after kurosawa concerning the film in the 1970s, and it was in '75 when the film was first shown at a fuller length outside of japan.
• should we put the lists from time, bbc, sight & sound in the reception section or in the legacy section? some in one and some in the other?
• on a similar note, how should we frame critics' reactions to the film that compare it to westerns. my thought was to mention this as it came up in initial american criticism and then expand on it more as relevant in the legacy section.
• how much should we devote to the magnificent seven (1960) and the surrounding legal case compared with other remakes?
• what to do about commentators who have identified features in films like a bug's life (1998) that heavily borrow elements from this film but, as far as i can see, there are no sourcces claiming it was indeed conceived as a remake?

these are my major concerns and many of them more controversial than my prior edits, so i would like to reach some consensus on at least some of these. my plan is to take this article to good article status, and for that it would also be good to identify any glaring hqrs omissions before it can be done. i have a further backlog of sources i haven't got to yet (mostly books and academic articles) but the current list i think is a fine selection to cover the ga criteria. any thoughts about this process or any of the points raised here? best wishes all.--Plifal (talk) 12:57, 13 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

it's been a little over a week and there haven't been any responses, i plan to go ahead and use my own judgement on some of the unresolved points and operate under WP:SILENCE until/unless any disagreements arise. since the original comment, i've cut the use of sensacine and the fandango lists as WP:UNDUE and i've been able to access the hale (1956) source to properly incorporate it in the sub-sub-section for contemporary response to the film. superlatives (masterpiece, among the greatest films...) have been placed into the retrospective opinion sub-sub-section so legacy can focus on specific cinematic and cultural developments (incl the magnificent seven legal case). any further guidance or comments on this plan would be highly appreciated! :) --Plifal (talk) 14:48, 21 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

hi all! i would quite like to take this to good article nominations. besides a slight re-working of the plot and a check-over of the cast list i think we're basically there. just wanted to know if there were any objections to this, or any glaring errors/oversights/gaps? best wishes.--Plifal (talk) 14:58, 28 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Minor cast query (I don't have the film details at present): is "the samurai with a gun" (Toshio Takahara) in the town, which I don't remember. If he is the bad guy with a gun, he should be listed as "the bandit with a gun". Masato.harada (talk) 15:22, 28 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

yes, seems likely that he's a bandit, i haven't really edited the cast/plot at all yet so will double check sourcing on that.--Plifal (talk) 15:36, 28 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

I ran the Japanese WP article's cast through Google translate and it said "Takahara Shun'o, the ronin with the gun, watches over the village from a hill. He is approached by Kikuchiyo, pretending to be his ally, wearing the armor of a ronin who was killed while trying to escape. He is slashed and his Tanegashima (gun) is stolen." So, I think it's down to whether the character should be described as samurai, ronin or bandit. I would favour the latter. The WP JP article translates the bandits as "wild samurai". I don't speak Japanese - is there any suggestion the bandits are ronin/samurai? They probably stole or looted their armour, like the villagers. Perhaps the film's credits would help; per MOS:FILM, "the chief source of information for motion pictures is... the item itself (e.g., the title frames)". Sorry if this is all trivia, but I hadn't given much thought to the bad guys' motivation before now.😀 Masato.harada (talk) 16:24, 28 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

personally i've used bandits throughout the whole article for consistency, so i would probably default to that phrasing—but it is true that several sources analyse/claim that the bandits either are samurai, or are at least their moral equivalent.

my plan is to cross-reference the cast list sources i have with the film's credits later tonight. on that actually,even though i knew it going into writing the lead, it was still surprising to see shimazaki and tsushima get top billing lol --Plifal (talk) 22:52, 28 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

US release poster

• ... that director Akira Kurosawa once told his daughter that he would die if he had to remake Seven Samurai (poster pictured)?

• • ALT1: ... that the original script for Seven Samurai (poster pictured) was 500 pages long? Source:

• • ALT2: ... that The Magnificent Seven (poster pictured) inspired the The Magnificent Seven? Source:

• • ALT3: ... that Seven Samurai (poster pictured) is considered one of the greatest films ever made? Source:

• • Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Ladislav Zgusta

--Plifal (talk) 04:33, 14 February 2026 (UTC).[reply]

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