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Seven Samurai is a 1954 Japanese epic samurai drama film co-written, edited, and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The story takes place in 1586 during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. It follows the story of a village of farmers that hire seven rōnin (masterless samurai) to combat bandits who will return after the harvest to steal their crops. Since its release, Seven Samurai has consistently ranked highly in critics' lists of the greatest films. It was also voted the greatest foreign-language film in BBC's 2018 international critics' poll. It has remained highly influential, often seen as one of the...

George Lucas has one of those faces I just want to punch. (His hair bugs me, too.) Would I feel the same way if he weren't the father of the ever-metastasizing Star Wars franchise, with its rickety mythology, shallow philosophy and, from what I hear, ever-diminishing creative returns? I tamp down this irrational hostility by remembering the two good things that came out of Star Wars: Harrison Ford, and Lucas' repeated acknowledgement that his film was inspired by Akira Kurosawa's samurai saga, The Hidden Fortress (1958). Of course, many directors have "borrowed" from the Japanese master: The Seven Samurai was...

The legendary leading man of Akira Kurosawa turned down offers from George Lucas, said his daughter at an event with Steve Wozniak to announce Tokyo Comic Con. Toshiro Mifune, the legendary actor and star of numerous Akira Kurosawa films including Seven Samurai, Yojimbo and Rashomon, turned down the roles of Obi Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader, worried that Star Wars was going to look cheap, according to his daughter Mika.