THE HIDDEN FORTRESS
DIRECTOR: AKIRA KUROSAWA
JAPAN, 1958
In this comic romp, two luckless, greedy peasants (played by Minoru Chiaki and Kamatari Fujiwara) strive to make a quick buck in the midst of a war. Their homeland, Akizuki Province, has been captured by enemy forces, its princess and gold cache missing. While searching for the treasure, the two peasants meet famed samurai Makabe (Toshirô Mifune), who is protecting the princess and the gold and enlists their help in transporting both to safety in a neighboring province. The peasants’ bickering antics not only buoy the comic energy of the film, they also provided the inspiration, decades later, for two much-beloved George Lucas characters. (126 mins.)