[_____V_____]

Originally Posted by alkytrio666

Yojimbo (1961)

Before Sergio gave us A Fistful of Dollars, Akira Kurosawa gave us Yojimbo. It is a stunnigly well-shot, explosively entertaining, smashingly witty samurai, and it's blatant that Leone made this ambitious piece the skeleton for some of his western craftsmanship.

I'm recommending this to V, 'cause I think you'd totally dig this.

Thanks, pal.:) You know my choice exactly to a T.

Yojimbo is one of my all time favorites, and alongwith Sanjuro, Rashomon and Ran, ranks very high in my list. Kurosawa is one of my all time top 5 directors, because I love the way his characters bring intensity to the screen, and his beautiful use of camera work to add depth to his re-telling of the scripts makes me go weak in my knees. (Toshiro Mifune is one of my all time fav actors for that reason, if for no other)

Originally Posted by Roderick Usher

Danger: Diabolik (1968)

Mario Bava directs this fumetti (Italian comic) adaptation of super-thief Diabolik with super-stylized flair. Sure the story is preposterous, but John Phillip Law as the skin-tight-leather-clad criminal Diabolik is always cool and his willing accomplice/arm candy Marissa Mell is, as Eva Kant is, as my old man would say "easy on the eyes." One might call it campy, but the material never really makes fun of itself - it is simply lighter than air, like a James Bond flick in which you root for the villain, because he's so much cooler than Bond ever was.

And then there's the Ennio Moricone score that bounces and grooves. Good stuff.

8/10

Sounds great, Sean. Thanks for the recommendation. Will check this one out asap.