| Release Date: | Oct 1960 |
|---|---|
| Genres: | Action / Adventure |
| Awards: | 4 wins & 1 nomination |
| Runtime: | 126 min |
| Cast: | Toshirô Mifune (General Rokurota Makabe), Minoru Chiaki (Tahei) Kamatari Fujiwara (Matashichi) Susumu Fujita (General Hyoe Tadokoro) Takashi Shimura (The Old General, Izumi Nagakura) Misa Uehara (Princess Yuki) Eiko Miyoshi (Old Lady-in-Waiting) Toshiko Higuchi (Farmer's Daughter bought from...) Yû Fujiki (Barrier guard) Yoshio Tsuchiya (Samurai on horse) Kokuten Kodo (Old man in front of sign) Takeshi Katô (Fleeing, bloody samurai) Kôji Mitsui (Guard) Toranosuke Ogawa (Magistrate of the bridge barrier) Kichijiro Ueda (Slave Trader) Nakajirô Tomita (Potential slave buyer) Yoshifumi Tajima (Potential slave buyer) Ikio Sawamura (Gambler) Senkichi Ômura (Soldier) Sachio Sakai (Captured foot soldier) Makoto Satô (Yamada foot soldier) Yoshio Kosugi (Akisuki soldier) Akira Tani (Captured foot soldier) Yutaka Sada (Guard at bridge barrier) Takeo Oikawa (Guard at pass barrier) Tadao Nakamaru (Young Man) Takuzo Kumagaya (Yamana foot soldier (as Jirô...) Shoichi Hirose (Yamana soldier) Etsuryo Saijo (Yamana samurai) Masayoshi Nagashima (Yamana samurai) Fuminori Ohashi (Samurai) Shin Otomo (Samurai on horseback) Minoru Itô (Samurai on horseback) Haruo Suzuki (Samurai on horseback) Shigekatsu Kanazawa (Samurai on horseback) Kazuo Higata () Haruo Nakajima (Akisuki soldier) Ryû Kuze (Akitsuki soldier) Ichirô Chiba (Yamana foot soldier) Seiji Sunagawa () Rinsaku Ogata (Second Young Man) Hiroyoshi Yamaguchi (Samurai on horseback) Haruya Sakamoto (Samurai on horseback) |
The story follows two greedy peasants in feudal Japan, Tahei and Matashichi, who are returning home from a failed attempt to profit from a war between neighboring clans. En Route they encounter the remnants of the defeated tribe that consists, most notably, of a famous General and a Princess who are hiding out in a fortress in the mountains. General Rokurota Makabe and Princess Yuki need to escape into allied territory with their large supply of gold so that they can rebuild their shattered clan. To do this the Peasants are tricked into helping them, with the promise that they will receive a large share of the gold when the destination is reached. Along the way, the General's prowess is put to the test as he must guide the 4, and later 5 with the inclusion of a freed slave, through close encounters with the pursuing enemy, and out of difficult situations the bumbling peasants manage to get them into.
