why do ppl?
Why do people think Star Wars was ripped from this? AND was the Princess rapped in this movie? I've never seen it but I read something indicating that they did.
shareThere were many elements from THE HIDDEN FORTRESS that George Lucas used for his SW movies.
1. R2-D2 and C3-PO were based on the two bickering peasants (Tahei and Matakishi) from FORTRESS.
2. The scenes where R2 and C3-PO are lost in the desert of Tatoonie, argue, go their own ways, get caught, are reunited and put to work, is exactly the same thing that happened to Tahei and Matakishi. (But of course, they weren’t on Tatoonie).
3. Though Lucas now claims that the fact that both had princesses is a mere coincidence, both did have the same characteristics - they were young and feisty, and each told their rescuers in an aggressive manner (Princes Leiya to Han Solo and Princess Yuki to General Rokurota Makabe) that they were in charge.
4. Both had the plot elements of trying to find the secret hidden base and wipe out the enemy completely.
5. Though more related to RETURN OF THE JEDI, there is the scene where you have Toshiro Mifune on horseback chasing down a couple of enemy soldiers, (also on horseback), who are trying to return to their home base and report that they’ve seen Mifune and his clan. But Mifune eventually catches up with them and cuts them down. That is the same thing that happened with Luke Skywalker on the forest of Endor, with the speeders.
And no, the princess does not get raped in THE HIDDEN FORTRESS. Perhaps you may be thinking of RASHOMON.
Lucas has probably used a whole more elements from Kurosawas flicks then those, I recently discovered one in "Sanjuro" have ye seen it? if so remember when the Temple where te young samurai were supposed to meet Kikui was surrounded and Kikuis men burst inside the Temple looking for them and then they got whooped by Mifune? Well after the bad guys have left the temple the young samurai rise beneath the floor, where they were hiding... Compare to the scene at the first death star when the storm troopers have searched Millenium Falcon, to no avail and the heroes rise from the smuggler cargo holds. Concidence? Unlikely
shareYes, I am aware of that one as well. So many Kurosawa references. Even that small scene of Yoda rubbing his bald head in REVENGE OF THE SITH was in fact, a homage to Takashi Shimura, who did it constantly in SEVEN SAMURAI.
Looking at all of the STAR WARS films, you can see many, many movie influences from the FLASH GORDON serials, to THE SEARCHERS to BEN-HUR and much more, but it is the Kurosawa pictures that seem to dominate.
Lucas has probably used a whole more elements from Kurosawas flicks then those
I don't know if they're still there or not, but there were some good threads on theforce.net that covered Kurosawa's influences on the Star Wars movies, with a gent with the handle of "Bad Radio" providing some interesting screen captures for comparison. There was even a thread of "How could Episode III turn out if Lucas borrows again from Kurosawa?" Of course, we all caught the Yoda/Kambei head rub, but interestingly, Bad Radio suggested that, like the main character in "Ikiru," Anakin would turn to the Dark Side for the sake of his family (son, in the case of Ikiru).
Several of my favourites are:
1) In "Yojimbo," Mifune runs into a bunch of miscreants who basically say "We're wanted men," and before long, they're dead, with a severed arm clutching a sword, in the dirt. Seen something like that in a cantina scene?
2) In "Dersu Uzala," when Dersu and the captain are lost, with night and freezing temperatures coming, it's Dersu's wits that save the day, as he exhorts the captain to start pulling up long grass. They build a shelter that gets them through a night they would not have survived otherwise. Seen something like that on Hoth? And "Dersu Uzala" is full of plenty of Yoda fodder, such as when Dersu comes out of the woods and introduces himself for the first time, basically saying "Don't shoot" ("Away put your weapon...I mean you no harm."). He's initially not taken seriously, little guy that he is, but the captain and his men soon realize that this little guy is smarter and wiser than they think.
I wonder, though, what Kurosawa would think of someone who relies a little too heavily on computers to make movies: I shudder to think of "Ran" or "Kagemusha" with CGI soldiers (something I don't quite think AK would have done :).
I wonder, though, what Kurosawa would think of someone who relies a little too heavily on computers to make movies: I shudder to think of "Ran" or "Kagemusha" with CGI soldiers (something I don't quite think AK would have done :)
I seriously doubt he would have used CGI like many directors do today. (Some have said that since there was no CGI during Kurosawa's time, he was forced to go with what he had, but if he had the technology, he would have used it). I can't really buy into that notion because in historical pieces, Kurosawa would have wanted to be as accurate as possible, and having loads of CGI just wouldn’t feel right. The battles in KAGEMUSHA (1980) are a good example.
Kurosawa did use special effects in some of his features, when the need called for it. THE TRHONE OF BLOOD (1957) more of a fantasy movie, had special effects done by Eiji Tsuburaya (who did the Godzilla movies), and in DREAMS (1990) which included sci-fi and fantasy stories, ILM provided the effects.
Hi QuarrellaDeVil
You probably are right about the connections between DU(haven't seen it yet)
and Yojimbo(I missed that connection but now that you brought it up it might as well be true)
I wonder about The Ikiru connection as the cancer more likely made Watanabe to see the light(though he needed the young girls help to do that)
But how could the Bad Radio suggest that Watanabe turned to the dark side, I just don't get it.
i must be dump
But how could the Bad Radio suggest that Watanabe turned to the dark side, I just don't get it.
Been awhile since I've seen "Ikiru," and maybe someone can help me with the exact verbiage, but basically, someone asked Watanabe why he sacrificed everything to be a boring bureaucrat (when he should have been out, enjoying life a bit more), and his response was along the lines of "I did it all for my son."
I'll be the first to say that it's a reach, and I'm definitely not someone who points at every little thing in "Star Wars" and says "Aha, that's Kurosawa, rip-off, rip-off," but there certainly have been influences, as we've been discussing. In Watanabe's case, he gave up a life of happiness for his son. In Anakin's case, he sacrificed his well-being in order to save his wife and unborn child/children. And yes, there is plenty of room for nit-picking, as I never said this was an exact hit by any means (Anakin's offspring were of far better character than Watanabe's, for example.).
"I did it all for my son."
Oh... Thanks I didn't think about that line... Who knows farfetch'd maybe but possible anyway