The Hidden Fortress (1958)

Film Junk Podcast

FilmJunk.com

Comedy, Film Reviews, Tv & Film, Entertainment

4.5 • 731 Ratings

🗓️ 11 May 2026

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

"I've seen people as they are, without pretense. I've seen their beauty and their ugliness with my own eyes." At long last, Film Junk is finally showing legendary director Akira Kurosawa a little love with a review of his 1958 epic adventure film The Hidden Fortress. Is it one of his all-time masterpieces? Many would argue not. But it is a pretty fun watch that served as a loose inspiration for Star Wars, which was our excuse for digging into it. Is Toshiro Mifune one of the manliest actors who ever lived? How do you hide gold inside wood? Should older movies be held up to the same level of plot scrutiny as modern ones? Does every fire festival serve terrible sandwiches? Grab your yari and meet us on the battlefield for the latest episode of Film Junk, you shitworm.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, everyone, welcome to film junk. My name is Sean. My name is Jay. And my name is Frank.
0:14.3	And this week, we are back with another Star Wars themed film. This one is a big inspiration for George Lucas himself.
0:23.5	Talking about Kira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress, released in 1958, starring Toshiro Mufune.
0:31.0	And I'll give you a plot synopsis, lured by gold, two greedy peasants unknowingly escort
0:36.9	a princess and her general across enemy lines.
0:41.5	So this one's for all the Kurosawa heads out there. People have been asking for us to talk about
0:47.0	some of his films for a while. I guess we have never really covered any of his films. I mean,
0:53.6	I've only seen a handful. Did we talk? We talked about high and low, didn't we? I think so. Not as a group. I don't think I've seen it. I, I think as Jay talked about it on the podcast at some point and was very enthusiastic about it, but, uh, yeah, I don't know if we've ever done a group Kurisawa review ever.
1:11.7	I don't know if we've ever done a group Kurisawa review ever. I don't think so.
1:14.7	I thought high and low might have been a criterionitis, but I
1:17.9	would be wrong. No, I don't think so.
1:21.8	Anyway, yeah, I've only seen a handful. This one I had never seen before.
1:26.3	What about you guys?
1:31.2	I'd seen it years ago on Criterion DVD, but I hadn't watched it since then. So this is the second time. Yeah, I've only
1:42.2	seen Roshaman and high and low, I think, of his films and had not
1:48.6	seen this one before. Watched it on Tooby. It's everywhere for free. So no excuse not to watch
1:54.5	this one and join the conversation. Absolutely. I watched it on the Criterion Channel, so it's also there, obviously.
2:04.6	Yeah, I'm not sure where to start with this one.
2:06.6	I mean, I guess just to set it up, like the connection, the big thing that why this was
2:12.6	an inspiration for George Lucas with Star Wars, I guess, is because of the framing with the two
2:19.8	characters, Tahey and Matashichi. They're kind of like these peasants that you start the movie
2:26.7	with and they kind of take you through the story. You know, it's arguable if they're the main
	...

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