Film: “The Seven Samurai” directed by Akira Kurosawa. At Film Forum, NYC

War is hell; in the hands of the right film director, it can also be art. And while Kubrick and Spielberg have produced their share of war-related masterpieces here in the West, Akira Kurosawa’s “The Seven Samurai” (1954) may supersede them all.

“Samurai” tells the tale of farmers living impoverished and fearful in rural 16th-century Japan. Besieged by bandits who storm their village and steal their crops, the village elders decide to enlist the help of a samurai. They find Kanbei (Takashi Shimura), an aging but experienced warrior, plead for his assistance, and he reluctantly agrees.

As he can’t fight the bandits all by himself, Kanbei first recruits his old comrade-in-arms Shichirōji (Daisuke Kato) and later, Kyūzō (Seiji Miyaguchi), a master swordsman and a ringer for David Carradine in “King Fu.”Kikuchiyo, (Toshiro Mifune) a wild-and-crazy samurai-wannabe, soon joins the group. After scouring the local area for three more warriors, the seven are officially a team!

Working without pay in exchange for meals, the samurai transform the village into a fortress, building fences and walls strong enough to keep out the marauders. They also recruit and arm the local villagers to prepare for the next onslaught, which never seems to come. But once it does, the battle scenes are nothing short of epic and highly realistic. (To ensure the latter, Kurosawa had a complete—and highly over-budget—set constructed far from Toho Studios at Tagata on the Izu Peninsula.)

While this is primarily a story about men at war, which may explain why the line at the men’s room at Film Forum was about a mile-and-a-half long, Kurosawa also threw in a romantic sub-plot. The young apprentice samurai Katsushiro (Isao Kimora) is smitten with a beautiful young villager, even though such a relationship is considered inappropriate given their wildly divergent social classes.

“Samurai,” a huge hit in Japan when it was first released, would become a milestone in another way: it inspired a sub-genre of "men-on-a-mission" films, where a team of disparate characters are grouped to undertake a specific mission. In later years, it also inspired a Hollywood version: “The Magnificent Seven,” filmed once in 1960, with Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen, and again in 2016 with Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt.

Some critics have compared “Samurai” to an American Western, whereby the cowboys-and-Indian formula is replaced by samurais-and-bandits. Kurosawa welcomed the comparison. “Good Westerb are liked by everyone,” he was quoted as saying. “Since humans are weak, they want to see good people and great heroes.”

Other critics have regarded the film as somewhat more highbrow. In 2007, the film was ranked at No. 3 by The Guardian’s readers' poll on its list of "40 greatest foreign films of all time”—and No. 57 on the list of "100 Greatest Films" by Cahiers du Cinema.

There are even pachinko machines based on “The Seven Samurai” in Japan earning millions of dollars per year. And while video games and their like may not be your thing, seeing great films from the past century should be. At nearly four hours long, ask for the large sized popcorn at Film Forum, where it’s currently playing, and enjoy.

Like this review? Follow me at “What Does Aug Think?” at acsntn.substack.com. Thank you!