Yojimbo
Kill one or a hundred... you only hang once
A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade.Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.
- Director
- Akira Kurosawa
- Signature
- Craft · Drama · Tension
Who's in it
Cast
The billed ensemble, with character names. Open any performer for their Nutevio filmography.
29 billed performers
The Nutevio profile
Movie DNA
How Yojimbo actually feels to watch, measured on the twelve traits our editors track across every Nutevio title.
Perfect if you enjoyed
Story overview
What It's About
Spoiler-free. Read the analysis below for the full argument.
A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.
Where to watch
Streaming
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The numbers
Box Office & Release
- Budget
- —
- Opening weekend
- —
- Domestic gross
- —
- International gross
- —
- Worldwide gross
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- Release date
- Apr 25, 1961
- Runtime
- 1h 50m
- MPAA rating
- —
- Language
- Japanese
- Country
- Japan
Figures from the verified production record. Fields we cannot source are left blank rather than estimated.
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