Yojimbo story
Yojimbo (用心棒, Yōjinbō) is a 1961 samurai film directed by Akira Kurosawa. It tells the story of a rōnin, portrayed by Toshiro Mifune, who arrives in a small town where competing crime lords vie for supremacy. The two bosses each try to hire the newcomer as a bodyguard.
12 total · 1 choice · 5 major · 6 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| greed for riches | choice | Two criminal gang bosses competed for the opportunity to prey on a little town with gambling and prostitution. Sanjuro played the sides against each other to rack up his price to take side. |
| betrayal | major | Sanjuro played both sides false and both sides sought to betray him back |
| criminal gangs | major | The story centered on two criminal gangs that terrorized a little village while fighting each other. |
| the desire for justice | major | it is unclear to what extent Sanjuro was driven by a desire for justice or whether he mostly just wanted to profit, initially; some villagers clearly wanted to see the criminals get their comeuppances |
| vendetta | major | Sanjuro provoked a gradually escalating conflict of tits-for-tats between the two gangs. |
| what if I had to fight to the death | major | there were several scenes that featured a stepwise and deliberate buildup to mortal combat |
| coping with being tortured | minor | Sanjuro was beaten black and blue by the giant |
| coping with time passing you by | minor | old man in the beginning complained that he didn't understand the young as well as various entrepreneurial efforts |
| facing a hostage situation | minor | there was a complicated hostage situation with an exchange of hostages in the middle of the story |
| facing organized pursuit | minor | Sanjuro escaped and was briefly pursued by the gang whilst hiding |