The Hidden Fortress

Name: The Hidden Fortress
Genre: Adventure, Drama
Released: October 6, 1960
Duration: 126 min
Rating: 89
Cast: Misa Uehara, Toshirô Mifune

1960

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Universal acclaim based on 16 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 7 Ratings

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8.1

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8.1	User Score Universal acclaim based on 7 Ratings

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The Hidden Fortress

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Movie Details & Credits

Albex | Release Date: October 6, 1960 | Not Rated

Starring: Misa Uehara, Toshirô Mifune

Summary: Lured by gold, two greedy peasants escort a man and woman across enemy lines. However, they do not realize that their companions are actually a princess and her general.

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Genre(s): Adventure, Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 126 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Michael Wilmington

Kurosawa's 1958 classic samurai comedy adventure; George Lucas used it as the model for Star Wars, in which Mifune and the two squabbling farmers are transformed into Han Solo, C-3PO and R2-D2. [03 Mar 2006, p.C5]

100

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

Akira Kurosawa's THE HIDDEN FORTRESS is a paradigm of the modern adventure epic--a marvelously entertaining blend of a simple but strong plot, exhilarating action scenes, tongue-in-cheek humor, and a solid philosophical underpinning. Read full review

100

Jamie Russell

A comic epic, Hidden Fortress focuses not on the high drama of the aristocrats' escape, but on the slapstick antics of the faint-hearted peasants as they whinge and moan their way through the countryside. Read full review

Keith Phipps

The Hidden Fortress is, above all, a roaring piece of entertainment, a Western-like samurai adventure set against the chaos of 16th-century Japan. Read full review

Josh Larsen

With its epic setting and visual grace, The Hidden Fortress also is a precursor to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Watching the movie, though, you’ll be struck less by its influence than by an awesome artistry that’s all its own. Read full review

Gary Arnold

Perhaps the most satisfying and endearing aspect of The Hidden Fortress at this juncture of movie history is that it so persuasively lends meaning to a high adventure format, using the stimulation to enhance ideals of individual valor and group solidarity. Read full review

Bosley Crowther

This is not to say that the action is not vivid, exciting and tense, or that Kurosawa's camera is any less graphic than it usually is. This is simply to say that The Hidden Fortress is essentially a superficial film and that Kurosawa, for all his talent, is as prone to pot-boiling as anyone else. Read full review

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