It might ordinarily sound like hyperbole to come right out and say that a movie isone of the very best of all time, but something as grand, timeless, and exciting asSeven Samuraideserves ludicrous praise thrown its way.Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece has always been worthy of that, and probably will be until the world ends, however that might be. It’s not just one of themost influential action movies of all time, but it could well bethe film that helped define the action genreas it’s now enjoyed/understood. It tells a simple story but with perfect style and grace, following a town filled with desperate people wanting to protect themselves from bandits. They endeavor to hire warriors, end up with seven of them, and then preparations for an inevitable battle commence. The final act, then, is when all the action takes place, with a desperate stand and inevitable losses on both sides.
Seven Samuraiisstill exciting as an action movie, and the dramatic core resonates to this day, too. The perfect screenplay and countless great performances all go a long way in making the story as interesting as it is, and though there’s more to the movie than just the titular samurai… well, there are seven of them, after all, and seven’s a pretty easy number to get a handle on for ranking purposes. So, what follows is a rough ranking of all the samurai fromSeven Samurai, because why not? Those that make the biggest impression, and stand out as the most memorable, as a result, are viewed more favorably below than others, though each does ultimately play some kind of important role in the film. It’s also going to be a naturally subjective ranking, even if most would likely agree on the (potentially inevitable) pick for the number one spot.
The following article contains spoilers for Seven Samurai.
Seven Samurai
A poor village under attack by bandits recruitssevenunemployedsamuraito help them defend themselves.
7Gorōbei Katayama
Played by Yoshio Inaba
Seven Samurai, as a movie thatruns for about three and a half hours, certainly has the time to develop its seven titular characters (alongside various others who make up the central town’s population), but some get more screen time than others.Gorōbei Katayama is the samurai who probably gets the least time to shine, sticking out a little for two main reasons: he’s an archer, and he’s the first samurai recruited by the group’s leader… but more on him in a bit.
Actually, the scene where Gorōbei beats the doorway test early on is pretty amusing, and his relaxed attitude toward the whole conflict (mostly just curious to see whether the defense of the town can be successful) is kind of neat.Seven Samuraidoes dispatch of Gorōbei fairly abruptly, and off-screen, too, but that speaks to the nature of conflict itself. Sometimes, death isn’t cinematic. It can happen not only without warning, but without many witnesses. And the conflict goes on regardless,with or without you, no Bone(o)s about it.
6Heihachi Hayashida
Played by Minoru Chiaki
The team archer doesn’t make as big an impression as most of the other warriors in the squad of seven, and neither does the guy in the team who’s a woodcutter, Heihachi Hayashida. From his introduction, it’s pretty clear he’s not a great warrior, but he gels well with the others, and increasing morale ain’t worth nothing. Fate has other plans for Heihachi, though,and he ends up dying the earliestof any of the samurai by a comfortable margin.
His early exit makes him a little less memorable, but his role in the story is important in establishing stakes, especially because it also happens a bit before the actual big battle in the town.Once Heihachi dies, anyone else is fair game, and as the film goes on to show, he’s far from the last sympathetic and/or endearing character to perish in combat.
5Shichirōji
Played by Daisuke Kato
Daisuke Katowas areliable supporting actor in numerous Akira Kurosawa movies, includingSeven Samurai. His character, Shichirōji, is mostly defined by the fact he’s an old friend of the central team’s leader. Because of this, he feels like he’s kind of the second in command, but is generally quite reserved, showing more intense emotions only when necessary. He also wields a spear, as opposed tothe more expected samurai sword, so that’s kind of neat.
Shichirōji is one of three samurai – of the seven – to survive the events of the film, commenting onthe bittersweet nature of their victoryonce all is said and done.He gets points for being loyal and ultimately skilled in combat (again, he does survive and all), but can’t quite stand out as much as some of the most memorable samurai because of his relatively reserved nature. He probably doesn’t want to step on the toes of his friend/leader, though, so the characterization makes sense; that’s the most important thing.
4Katsushirō Okamoto
Played by Isao Kimura
Katsushirō Okamoto stands out because he’s quite comfortably the youngest of the samurai, with his inexperience and naivety being a key character trait. He’s spared by fate – and some skill – in the final battle, but learns hard truths once the central conflict is over, mostly because he’s hit the hardest by the way the townspeople turn their backs on the samurai, post-battle.
This is mainly due to Katsushirōfalling in love with a young womanwho lives in the town, causing some drama in the film’s second half, before ultimately being forced to move on once life returns to “normal” for her and everyone else who lives there. It stings, but the ending toSeven Samuraiis effective because of that sting.It’ssurprisingly heavy on the bitterand light on the sweet, and Katsushirō’s character shows that there are other losses in war and combat that don’t necessarily involve the outright loss of one’s life.
3Kambei Shimada
Played by Takashi Shimura
Takashi Shimurawas one of the greatest Japanese actors of all time, with perhaps his best work being found in theless action-focused and more heavily dramaticIkiru(directed by Kurosawa acouple of years beforeSeven Samurai). But he’s almost just as good inSeven Samurai, bringing remarkable authority and grace to the role of Kambei Shimada, who serves as leader of the samurai and, once recruited by the townspeople, is responsible for recruiting the others.
He’s introduced fantastically, being brave and resourceful right from the start, which is further shown when he becomes the main person organizing the town’s defense strategy. He’s also someone who survives, albeit with some likely guilt because four of his fellow warriors perished in combat. He, alongside the two other samurai in the top three, is hard to differentiate or rank when it comes to quality/memorability. If you want to be generous, consider this top 3 to be characters on equal footing,and sincere apologies to the iconic team leader for putting two others ahead of him by a hair(of which he has none on his head, after his first scene, at least).
Played by Seiji Miyaguchi
How about that: anotherperfect character in this perfect movie. For as calm and collected as Kambei is, he’s got next-to-nothing in the badass department when compared to Kyûzô. This stoic warrior is played bySeiji Miyaguchiina near-impossibly cool performance, picking his words carefully throughout, and coming across as perhaps the most physically skilled of any warrior on the team.
Though he’s great at dishing out violence, he only does so when necessary, and his first scene establishes both this and the relative ease with which he can take out an opponent, if he has to.He’s humble, strong, and seemingly unbeatable… well, with a sword, at least. He’s one of the last main characters to die, and is taken down by a bullet toward the end of the final battle. Speaking of other characters who are tragically lost very late in the game…
1Kikuchiyo
Played by Toshirō Mifune
It’s hard not to pick Kikuchiyo as the best main character inSeven Samurai, which is just what happens when you’replayed by someone likeToshiro Mifune. Picking an all-time best Mifune performance is exceedingly difficult to do, but his role inSeven Samuraiis a strong contender. He’s a comedic relief character who’s so much more, at least as the film goes along and, not only that, but the comic relief in question is actually funny.
Kikuchiyo could’ve been annoying, had the screenplay been weaker or the actor not as skilled as Toshiro Mifune, but fortunately, he works throughout. He’s loud, sometimes foolish, and even crude, but Kikuchiyo has a good heart and proves essential as a warrior and as someone who can boost morale. He’s also something of a tragic character, rushing into things at times, which causes problems for others and, eventually, proves fatal for him, as he’s the final warrior to die in the final battle, also being gunned down.Seeing both Kyûzô and Kikuchiyo die in the film’s final few moments is crushing every time, but it’s a testament to how great those characters are that you really feel the impact of their loss. As mentioned before,thisSeven Samuraimovie? It’s pretty good!
