Looks Familiar...

[miss_yt]

Since I signed up with Netflix I've been watching all the classic (and recommended) movies I never got around to seeing before. The latest was A Fistful of Dollars. I knew Magnificent Seven was ripped off from based on Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, but I didn't know that Fistful of Dollars is basically Yojimbo in Mexico! It follows the story almost exactly for the first half hour, although after that there are some new twists.

I guess this means Akira Kurosawa is one of the founding fathers of the Western genre, no?

Comments

[desdenova.livejournal.com]

I guess this means Akira Kurosawa is one of the founding fathers of the Western genre, no?

Well, yes and no. Kurosawa's samurai films did have a big influence on Western flimmakers. But, part of the reason for this is that Kurosawa himself was influenced by American Westerns. So, it's kind of circular.

(And, FYI, the plot of Yojimbo and Fistful of Dollars came from a Dashiell Hammett story, "Red Harvest.")

[miss-yt.livejournal.com]

Crap, everyone's ripping someone else off!

Speaking of classics I haven't gotten to yet, Dashiell Hammett's books are on my list.