An evening pause: A short clip from one of the best films ever made, Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai (1954).
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What’s possibly most amazing about this great film is that Hollywood was able to appropriate it skillfully to make a great western. That scene precedes the duel in “The Magnificent Seven” between James Coburn with a knife and an angry but stupid man with a gun. I love both movies, but this one requires great patience. Kurosawa took his time unfolding the tale, and when death strikes, as in this scene, it’s subtle as well as final.
Instead of remakes, they should do re-releases. At least in the case of movies like this one.
They do — you just have to keep an eye out for them. For example, in 2006, for the 50th anniversary, the movie was re-released at the L.A. Film Festival and did a limited national theatrical tour, including the AFI Silver theater in Silver Spring, Md. It included a new print and, more important, a brilliant new set of subtitles that deepened and intensified the story. I’m not sure, but I think you can view that version on the Criterion Blu-ray release.