Review: Spielberg's "1941" - Raiders of the Lost Invasion (Countdown to "The Fabelmans")

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 67 of 2022 (No. 1879) by Leroy Douresseaux

1941 (1979)

Running time:  118 minutes (1 hour, 58 minutes)

MPAA – PG

DIRECTOR:  Steven Spielberg

WRITERS:  Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale; from a story by Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, and John Milius

PRODUCER:  Buzz Feitshans

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  William A. Fraker (D.o.P.)

EDITOR:  Michael Kahn

COMPOSER:  John Williams

Academy Award nominee

COMEDY/HISTORICAL/WAR

Starring:  John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Christopher Lee, Nancy Allen, Ned Beatty, John Candy, Elisha Cook, Jr., Bobby Di Cicco, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton, Dianne Kay, John Landis, Michael McKean, Tim Matheson, Toshiro Mifune, Dick Miller, Warren Oates, Slim Pickens, Mickey Rourke, Lionel Stander, Robert Stack, Dub Taylor, Treat Williams, and Frank McRae

1941 is a 1979 comedy, war movie, and period film directed by Steven Spielberg.  Although not as popular or critically acclaimed as Spielberg's earlier films, 1941 began to gain in popularity after an expanded version of the film aired on television.  1941 is set almost a week after the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor and finds various California residents in a state of panic about an alleged inevitable Japanese attack on the state.

1941 opens on Saturday, December 13, 1941, at 7:01 a.m. (six days after the attack on Pearl Harbor).  Surfacing off the Northern California coast is a submarine of the Imperial Japanese Fleet, commanded by Akiro Mitamura (Toshiro Mifune).  Also aboard, as an annoying advisor, is Nazi Kriegsmarine officer, Wolfgang von Kleinschmidt (Christopher Lee).  Because he did not participate in the attack on Pearl Harbor, Commander Mitamura wants to destroy something in Los Angeles, in an act or honor.  He has decided to target “Hollywood,” although he and his crew are having trouble finding the place.

Meanwhile, in Santa Monica, servicemen from the U.S. Army and Navy have overrun the town.  Wayward youth, Wally Stephens (Bobby Di Cicco), is trying to hold on to his girlfriend, Betty Douglas (Dianne Kay).  She is the target of the unwanted attentions of Corporal Chuck Sitarski (Treat Williams), a member of a 10th Armored Division tank crew.  The crew, which also consists of Sergeant Frank Tree (Dan Aykroyd) and Private First Class Foley (John Candy), is suddenly dealing with its newest member, Private Ogden Johnson Jones (Frank McRae), a Black serviceman!

In Death Valley, the cigar-chomping Captain Wild Bill Kelso (John Belushi) of the United States Army Air Forces aims his fighter plane towards L.A. where he believes he will help fight off a Japanese attack.  Everything is going crazy around everyone, and there seems to be a hundred melodramas and subplots.  Can Americans stop fighting Americans long enough prevent a real Japanese attack on Los Angeles and the surrounding area?

I recently saw 1941 for the first time in preparation for this review.  Although I am a huge fan of Steven Spielberg, 1941 was one of his films that I was not really interested in seeing.  I found a DVD copy containing a “restored version” of the film that is almost half an hour longer than the original theatrical release.  When I was a kid, 1941 was considered a “box office bomb,” which is apparently not true.  The film reportedly did make a profit, but it was not as financially or as critically well received as Spielberg's previous films, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Jaws (1975).

For what it is, 1941 is way too long, even at its original length (1 hour, 58 minutes).  Still, it is funny in many spots, and, in spite of a really large cast, all the individual subplots and comic melodramas do come together so that the film does not feel disjointed.  I like that 1941 gives me a chance to see some of my favorite actors:  Toshiro Mifune, Christopher Lee, Warren Oates, Ned Beatty, and character actors:  Dick Miller, Dub Taylor and Elisha Cook, Jr., all of whom are now deceased.  Another favorite, Robert Stack, practically steals the film as Major General Joseph W. Stillwell, a character that seems to center the film.  And I'm always happy to see Dan Aykroyd.

One thing that really stuck out to me is that much of 1941 seems like a dry run for the action sequences in my favorite Spielberg film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, which would be his next film after 1941.  The action in 1941 is conveyed in a humorous mood, and Raiders, more of an adventure film than an action film, features action scenes that are breath-taking, but are delivered with something like a wink and a nod.

Regardless of where it is positioned in Steven Spielberg's filmography, 1941 shows that, as the guy at the helm, Spielberg's most impressive talent may be his ability to gather a large cast and crew and very talented collaborators in order to make really spectacular films that are epic in scope, even in their quite and funny moments.  1941 is not a great film, but there are moments during this movie when it is obvious that one of the greatest filmmakers of all time is the guiding force and the main man behind it.

5 of 10

B-

★★½ out of 4 stars

Saturday, November 5, 2022

NOTES:

1980 Academy Awards:  3 nominations: “Best Cinematography” (William A. Fraker), “Best Sound” (Robert Knudson, Robert Glass, Don MacDougall, and Gene S. Cantamessa), and “Best Effects, Visual Effects” (William A. Fraker, A.D. Flowers, and Gregory Jein)

The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site or blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "THE SWORD OF DOOM" is a Thrilling Jidaigeki

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 24 of 2021 (No. 1762) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

The Sword of Doom (1966)
Dai-bosatsu tôge (original title)
Running time:  119 minutes (1 hour, 59 minutes)
DIRECTOR:  Kihachi Okamoto
WRITER:  Shinobu Hashimoto (based on the novel by Kaizan Nakazato)
PRODUCERS:  Sanezumi Fujimoto, Konparu Nanri, and Masayuki Satô
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Hiroshi Murai
EDITOR:  Yoshitami Kuroiwa
COMPOSER:  Masaru Satô

MARTIAL ARTS/ACTION/DRAMA

Starring:  Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Yuzo Kayama, Yoko Naito, Kei Sato, Tadao Nakamaru, Ichiro Nakaya, and Toshiro Mifune

Dai-bosatsu Tōge (The Pass of the Great Buddha) is a 1966 Japanese period drama (a “jidaigeki”).  Also known by the titled, The Sword of Doom (the title by which I will refer to this film for this review), the film is directed by Kihachi Okamoto from a screenplay by Shinobu Hashimoto and is based on a novel written by Kaizan Nakazato.  The Sword of Doom focuses on a sociopathic samurai who relishes killing people.

The Sword of Doom introduces Ryunosuke Tsukue (Tatsuya Nakadai), a master swordsman with an unorthodox fighting style.  Amoral and ruthless, Ryunosuke believes that one's sword is one's soul.  We see him kill an elderly pilgrim; needlessly kill a man in a duel; and kill several of that man's clansman who ambush him shortly afterwards.

To make a living, Ryunosuke joins the “Shincho Group,” a rogue band of ronin who take it upon themselves to murder and assassinate for whatever reason they decide.  However, the wanton murders and other unconscionable acts he has committed have created a trail of vendettas that follows Ryunosuke closely.  He has also drawn the notice of two people in particular:  a young man, Hyoma Utsugi (Yuzo Kayama), whose brother Ryunosuke killed, and Shimada Toranosuke (Toshiro Mifune), another master swordsman, whose skill unnerves Ryunosuke.

First, I feel obligated to give you a warning, dear readers.  The Sword of Doom ends abruptly during the middle of a fight between Ryunosuke and dozens of assassins in a burning courtesan house.  It leaves many plot elements and subplots unresolved, including those involving Hyoma Utsugi and Shimada Toranosuke.  Apparently, Kihachi Okamoto, the director of The Sword of Doom, planned to adapt the novel upon which the film is based as a trilogy, but the other films were never made.

That said,  I think that The Sword of Doom is a tremendous samurai film, and, while I have not seen that many samurai films, it is one of the best I have ever seen.  There are three things that draw me to this movie.  First, I like the way the film focuses on Ryunosuke.  It is as if Okamoto points his camera through Ryunosuke's flesh and blood and into his soul.  This film is an examination of an amoral man's interior life; it is an investigation of how such a man lives with and justifies himself.  While Ryunosuke may act as if he does not care about anyone, as the film goes on, he clearly cannot deal with a reckoning – odd for a man who acts as if he is above it all.

The second element that makes me really like this film are the sword duels and group battles.  The battle between Ryunosuke and his victim's clansman at the end of the Spring 1860 segment is bracing, while the duel that initiates this battle is a feast of anticipation.  The fight at the end of the film is just crazy, mad, and crazy-mad-good; seeing Ryunosuke hack, slash, and stab so many of the men trying to kill him made me fell almost delirious or almost sick.  However, I think the best fight in this movie involves the character played by one of my favorite actors.

The late Toshiro Mifune could have made a toilet paper commercial exciting filmed entertainment.  His mere presence in The Sword of Doom elevates the film.  It is as if Mifune first appears in this film to let the viewer know that this movie has a higher purpose than being just another jidaigeki.  When Mifune's Toranosuke kills the perpetrators of a botched assassination attempt, he defines this movie as both a rumination on the evil actions of an evil man and as a tale about the kind of bold men who must fight powerful evil men.

The Sword of Doom is about the struggle of good men of good action against men with evil minds and evil swords.  If not for the abrupt ending, I would say that The Sword of Doom is a perfect film.

8 of 10
A

Sunday, October 22, 2017


The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "Seven Samurai" is One of the Best Films Ever (Happy B'day, Akira Kurosawa)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 81 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Shichinin no samurai (1954) – B&W
Seven Samurai (1954) – USA title
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  Japan
Running time:  206 minutes (3 hours, 26 minutes) - USA restored version
DIRECTOR/EDITOR:  Akira Kurosawa
WRITERS:  Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni, and Akira Kurosawa
PRODUCER:  Sojiro Motoki
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Asakasu Nakai
COMPOSER:  Fumio Hayasaka
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/HISTORICAL/MARTIAL ARTS/ACTION

Starring:  Takashi Shimura, Toshirô Mifune, Yoshio Inaba, Seiji  Miyaguchi, Minoru Chiaki, Daisuke Katô, Isao Kimura, Keiko Tsushima, Kamatari Fujiwara, Yoshio Kosugi, Bokuzen Hidari, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Yukiko Shimazaki, and Kokuten Kodo

The subject of this movie review is Seven Samurai (original Japanese title: Shichinin no samurai), a 1954 samurai drama and period adventure film from director Akira Kurosawa.  Set during Japan’s Sengoku period (warring states period), the film focuses on a poor village, the bandits that attack the village, and the seven unemployed samurai that the villagers recruit to help defend themselves.

Not only do I consider Seven Samurai to be one of the ten best films every made, but I also love it as one of my all-time favorite movies.  I was surprised to learn that the film is believed to have contributed structural narrative innovations to film storytelling or was among the first to use those innovations.  That’s great, but I don’t need that information on innovations to know that Kurosawa’s film overwhelms me.

Late 16th century, Japan:  a small farming village finds itself annually besieged by bandits, who usually arrive just after harvest so that they can steal the villagers’ crops.  Tired of being beaten into starvation, a small group of farmers leaves the village and heads for a town in hopes of convincing a large number of samurai to defend their village from the encroaching bandits.  The farmers happen upon a scene wherein a master samurai, Kambei (Takashi Shimura), disguises himself as a monk in order to save a child kidnapped by a madman.

Impressed by his bravery, the villagers convince Kambei to help their village, although the only payment that the farmers can offer the samurai is enough rice to eat.  Kambei and the farmers make the same offer to a number of samurai, many of whom are greatly insulted by the offer.  However, six others eventually accept, including a scruffy ronin (Toshirô Mifune) and a novice samurai.  The seven samurai and the farmers return to the village, where together they build the rest of the villagers into a militia, while the bandits lurk in the nearby forest.  Eventually, the bandits’ raids on the village begin, and it culminates in an epic, bloody battle pitting the samurai and villagers against the bandits.

Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai is one of the ultimate auteur films, coming from a director, who like Stanley Kubrick, is an ultimate auteur.  It’s hard to believe that there is anything on the screen that Kurosawa didn’t want, and everything is so carefully considered:  the composition of scenes, the cinematographer, the execution of the action, the editing, the lighting, etc.  The film filled my senses, controlled my emotions, and had my mind on overdrive as I tried to figure out the next move, the next scene, or the narrative flow.  I have found very few films to so move me with such power, exhilaration, fear, anticipation, and Seven Samurai even has a few laughs.

If you’re looking for flying, super powered samurai, this isn’t it.  If you want an epic film about honor, sacrifice, and duty set in a romantic past, Seven Samurai is it.  This is easily one of the ten best motion pictures ever made.

10 of 10

NOTES:
1957 Academy Awards:  2 nominations:  “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White (Takashi Matsuyama) and “Best Costume Design, Black-and-White” (Kôhei Ezaki)

1956 BAFTA Awards:  3 nominations:  “Best Film from any Source (Japan), “Best Foreign Actor” (Toshirô Mifune of Japan), and “Best Foreign Actor” (Takashi Shimura from Japan)

Friday, April 21, 2006

Updated:  Sunday, March 23, 2014


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: "Sanjuro" is Full of Dull Characters, Except for Sanjura (Happy B'day, Toshiro Mifune)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 141 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux


Tsubaki Sanjûrô (1962) – Black and White
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Japan

Sanjuro (1963) – U.S. release
Running time: 96 minutes (1 hour, 36 minutes)
Unrated by the MPAA
DIRECTOR: Akira Kurosawa
WRITERS: Ryuzo Kikushima, Hideo Oguni, and Akira Kurosawa (based upon the novel Peaceful Days by Shugoro Yamamoto)
PRODUCERS: Ryûzô Kikushima and Tomoyuki Tanaka
CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Fukuzo Koizumi and Takao Saitô
COMPOSER: Masaru Satô

COMEDY/DRAMA with elements of action

Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Keiju Kobayashi, Yuzo Kayama, Reiko Dan, Akihiko Hirata, Takashi Shimura, Kamatari, Kamatari Fujiwara, and Takako Irie

The subject of this movie review is Sanjuro, the 1962 Japanese samurai film directed by Akira Kurosawa. This black-and-white movie is a sequel to Kurosawa’s film, Yojimbo, which starred Toshirô Mifune as a wandering ronin. Mifune returns in Sanjuro as the title character who helps a young man save his uncle who was falsely convicted by a corrupt official.

Ever adrift in an era of fading tradition and increasing lawless, Sanjûrô the ronin (masterless samurai) finds himself instructing a band of ne’er-do-wells in the art of samurai wisdom. A follow-up to Yojimbo, Akira Kurosawa’s film, Tsubaki Sanjûrô, features this movie’s title character (and the hero of Yojimbo), a crafty samurai (Toshirô Mifune), helping a naïve young man and his eight fellow clansman save the young man’s uncle who is falsely accused and imprisoned by a corrupt local official.

Not nearly as good as Yojimbo, Tsubaki Sanjûrô, for all its sword play and violence, is really about politics, especially the element of corruption that rules so much of politics. Picture Sanjûrô the swordsman as a master mediator, a centrist moving from one side to the other learning what he can, being quick on his feet, and shrewdly negotiating his way out of trouble. The nine young men will learn much from him before the master swordsman must move on…to where, they nor we know.

The film is, however, flat, and the characters, except of course for Sanjûrô, are woefully dull. The film’s best moments are the scenes in which Sanjûrô easily dissects his opponents with his verbal flare or swiftly dispatches his challengers with deadly quick sword strikes. The film really peaks in the last ten minutes when Sanjûrô faces a rival he respects and when he grudgingly accepts the admiration of his pupils before he heads off into the unknown.

6 of 10
B

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Review: "Rashomon" Defies Time (Happy B'day, Akira Kurosawa)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 60 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux


Rashômon (1950) – Black and white
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Japan
Running time: 88 minutes (1 hour, 28 minutes)
Not rated by the MPAA
EDITOR/DIRECTOR: Akira Kurosawa
WRITERS: Shinobu Hashimota and Akira Kurosawa (based upon stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa)
PRODUCER: Minoru Jingo
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Kazuo Miyagawa
EDITOR: Fumio Hayasaka
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/MYSTERY/CRIME with elements of a thriller

Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura, Minoru Chiaki, Kichijiro Ueda, Fumiko Honma, Daisuke Katô

Rashômon is a 1950 Japanese crime drama from director Akira Kurosawa. In 1952, the film won an Honorary Academy Award as the best foreign language film released in the United States in 1951. The film is based on two stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa and is the story of a murder told from differing points of view.

The fact that Akira Kurosawa’s Rashômon is considered by critics to be one of the best films ever made and that it is also one of the most influential films every made should be enough of a recommendation. However, I’m well aware of how put off many people are by “serious film” or movies that critics hail as masterpieces. Rashômon is simply a good movie, and virtually anyone who likes crime dramas or mysteries will love this philosophical and psychological thriller.

An incident involving the murder of a husband and the rape of the wife in the forest is reported to local authorities, but what really happened? The horrible incident is told from the point of view of four witnesses: the alleged murderer/rapist, the wife, the murdered husband (the husband’s spirit speaks through his wife as a medium, nonetheless), and someone who watched part of what happened from a hidden vantage point. Who is telling the truth, and, in this case, just what is truth?

One of the many wonderful things about this film, like all the great stories, is that it spins a good yarn while simultaneously examining the state of man. Why are people selfish? Why do they lie? And are all humans basically selfish creatures who (when it comes down to it) really serve their own individual interests? The film is a fine mystery/crime drama with some amazing twists and turns (the husband’s tortured spirit telling his side of the tale is unforgettable) that will keep the viewer riveted, but that it also makes you think about us, about humanity, pushes it over the top. Except that Rashômon seems a bit too slow from the top, it nears perfection in the art of cinema and in making good use of the medium.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
1952 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Honorary Award” (Japan) – Voted by the Board of Governors as the most outstanding foreign language film released in the United States during 1951.

1953 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White” (Takashi Matsuyama and H. Motsumoto)

1953 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Film from any Source” (Japan)

Review: "Yojimbo" is One of the Great Crime Comedies

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 133 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Yojimbo (1961) – Black & White
Running time: 75 minutes-U.S.
DIRECTOR: Akira Kurosawa
WRITERS: Ryuzo Kikushima and Akira Kurosawa; from a story by Akira Kurosawa
EDITOR/PRODUCER: Akira Kurosawa
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Kazuo Miyagawa
Academy Award nominee

COMEDY/CRIME with elements of drama

Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yôko Tsukasa, Isuzu Yamada, Daisuke Katô, Seizaburô Kawazu, Takashi Shimura, Hiroshi Tachikawa, Yosuke Natsuki, and Eijirô Tono

Akira Kurosawa’s darkly comic film, Yojimbo, is without a doubt one of the great screen comedies. Despite it’s violent moments, the film is a hilarious tale wherein all the vices and all the things about man that we think of as wrong, are on display: wanton lust, naked greed, blatant envy, crude deception, consistent hypocrisy, murder, rage, and a whole lot more.

In the film, Sanjuro Kuwabatake, (Toshirô Mifune), a crafty ronin (masterless samurai) finds himself in a small village divided by two merchants, who more or less operate criminal gangs. Sanjuro decides that the only way to rid the town of the rivals is to get them to kill each other. Thus, he pretends to work for both sides, feigning indifference and interest in each side’s offer for his service, while they steadily kill each other. Two things complicate Sanjuro’s plan. The gun-slinging son (Tatsuya Nakadai) of one of the merchants arrives in town and, having the lone firearm in the village, easily begins to bump off rivals. The second thing is that Sanjuro frees an imprisoned wife and reunites her family which causes the gunslinger, Unosuke, to closely scrutinize Sanjuro’s role in the town.

Kurosawa’s film is one of the great contributions to cinema, one that so impressed American directors that Yojimbo was the template for many American hit films including the Clint Eastwood western, A Fistful of Dollars. The film is on the surface hilarious, but on a deeper level is a careful examination of motivation, selfishness, and desire or want. Kurosawa also composed the film with brilliant wide shots that encompass a feeling of openness. This method seems to give the story and actors room to breath and to stretch, and that allows the story’s ideas to fully develop.

If I had to point to one thing that stands out about the film (and there are actually many), it is the energetic performances of the cast. They demonstrate such timing and rhythm that the performances are almost like a dance routine. Through voice, facial expressions, and movement, they truly bring Yojimbo to life.

10 of 10

NOTES:
1962 Academy Awards: 1 nomination for “Best Costume Design, Black-and-White” (Yoshiro Muraki)

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