The biggest success of the joint endeavors between great Japanese director Akira Kurosawa and screen legend Toshiro Mifune, Seven Samura, is also on many critics' lists of the greatest films of the century. With a new translation, gracing clean, new 35mm prints, the richness and texture of the original black and white cinematography shines through. Those lucky enough to catch it on the big screen this time around are fortunate indeed. This is filmmaking and storytelling at its apex. As one of the films on a new tour of Kurosawa-Mifune collaborations making the rounds of select theaters, it is the one best known in the United States, and this a marvelous opportunity to see it in its wide screen glory. A tour de force performance by Mifune as the peasant-cum-samurai combines the multi-faceted attributes of a fierce medieval warrior with the comic antics of a Buster Keaton. In an incredibly physical performance, he struts, crows, grins, weeps, and fights ferociously as one of the seven proud, hungry samurai hired by a poor village to defend it from marauding bandits. Nobody does it better!

In essence a simple tale, taking place over a short period of time, it is nevertheless an epic of action and human emotions. During the volatile 16th century, bandits roam the country, brutally pillaging the villages and leaving devastation in their wake. As harvest time approaches, in desperation, the inhabitants of the village agree to hire samurai warriors to help them drive away the bandits. A small group goes in search of samurai willing to help them. With the aid of their compassionate first recruit, Kambei, one by one, their number grows to six. Kikuchiyo (Mifune), a samurai wanna-be, having no true pedigree, eventually charms the group with his tenacity and good humor, and is accepted in the company.

The preparations for the coming battle commence and the nature and nuance of each participant, farmer and warrior alike, becomes clear. The new prints are the complete 203-minute version, shown with an intermission. Riveting from the first frame, like a good book, near the end one glances unhappily ahead to see that there are only a few pages left. The side swipe camera technique, in fact, has the effect of turning pages in a book. Partly owing to the length of the film, these vivid characters and their relationships are allowed to fully develop. As they make ready for the attack, the gamut of universally understood human experiences of fear, confrontation, anger, despair, deception, loneliness, love, brutality, loss and survival unfold. Translator Linda Hoaglund has given the new subtitles a fresh, contemporary edge. The obvious influence for The Wild Bunch, among many others, as well as the adequate but inferior Hollywood remake The Magnificent Seven; Kurosawa was clearly influenced by the westerns of John Ford.

Mifune is magnificent, catching fish in a stream with his bare hands, nearly in the buff, or clowning to hearten anxious souls. Not trained in the way of the ronin, he lacks their discipline, but his courage is boundless and he is able to display his feelings in a way that they are not. Far from a one-man show, all the actors are flawless in revealing human emotion and struggle. There is plenty of action from the start as the men display their skills, which culminates in the exhausting onslaught on the village. Camera angles propel us to the center of the battle, under the pounding hooves of horses and leave one gasping.

Kurosawa reveals the understanding that grows between people who share adversity, even though they have been adversaries in the past. The samurai have seen farmers as unimportant people until they spend this time among them. He explores the complexities and ambiguities among this group of male loners, bound together for the task at hand. Each of the seven, from the stoic and mighty Kyuzo, to the serene, de facto leader Kambei, has a particular disposition that brings a distinct strength to the group and camaraderie follows. A visual style that further tells the story often shows the men almost choreographed to be a unit, or by contrast, a wide depth of field puts a face in mammoth close-up while showing the action in the background. The almost constant wind or water seems to signal constant change. The combination of playfulness and high drama is unbeatable. This should not be missed on the big screen.