Alamy, Allstar
TOSHIRŌ MIFUNE BECAME an actor accidentally. Miraculously, even. After applying to be an assistant cameraman for Toho Studios, a mix-up landed him in their New Faces contest instead. This is when Akira Kurosawa first laid eyes on him. The director recalled a young man “reeling around the room in a violent frenzy”, like “a wounded or trapped savage beast trying to break loose”. Thus began their long, legendary collaboration. With Yojimbo (1961) and Sanjuro (1962), Mifune created an enduring archetype: the wandering anti-hero, a Man With No Name first emulated by Leone and Eastwood, and now ubiquitous.
Seven Samurai (1954) is a contender for Mifune’s best performance. Here, he slowly, masterfully reveals his character Kikuchiyo, who begins his journey as comic relief, a stray following the samurai, pretending to be one of them, and ends it as an ennobled, tragic hero.
Early on, the samurai are tasked with saving farmers from bandits, but they are outmanned and outgunned. Explaining why the farmers have stolen armour and weaponry from slain warriors, Mifune paces like a caged animal before collapsing, sobbing with his entire body. With equal parts pathos and anger, he convinces the samurai — and us — that the farmers are still worth defending in spite of their wretchedness, the crux of the film. Later, as he clutches a newly orphaned infant and weeps along with it, he imparts Kikuchiyo’s biography in just a handful of words: “This baby… is me. This is just what happened to me.”