The Hidden Fortress (1958)

There's a moment in The Hidden Fortress where two squabbling, self-interested peasants bicker their way through a scene, and I found myself grinning not just at the comedy but at the sheer familiarity of it. If you've ever sat in a cinema and watched C-3PO and R2-D2 argue over their own survival, you've felt this before. George Lucas wasn't shy about his debt to Akira Kurosawa's 1958 adventure, and watching it now, the influence is so obvious it's almost startling. But here's the thing: The Hidden Fortress is brilliant enough to stand entirely on its own terms, and it deserves to be talked about as more than just a footnote to a galaxy far, far away.

It doesn't get the same reverence as Seven Samurai or another of his films, and I'll admit there's a reasonable argument for why. It's lighter, breezier, less interested in tragedy than in momentum. But that's not a flaw. Kurosawa made a conscious choice to tell this story from the ground up, filtering a high-stakes escape through the eyes of two cowardly, greedy peasants who'd rather be digging for gold than saving a princess. It gives the whole film a mischievous, almost subversive energy. The grand heroics are happening around people who couldn't care less about grand heroics, and that contrast is genuinely funny and quietly clever.

Toshiro Mifune plays General Rokurota Makabe, the grizzled warrior tasked with smuggling the princess to safety through enemy territory, and he is, as always, magnetic. There's no wasted movement with Mifune. Every look, every pause, every explosive burst of action feels considered and earned. He brings weight and quiet nobility to a role that could easily have been a straightforward adventure hero, and he makes you believe completely in this man's honour without ever making a speech about it. I've followed Mifune across a good stretch of the Kurosawa catalogue at this point, including another of his samurai roles, and he never stops being compelling.

The action is smartly staged throughout. Kurosawa keeps things moving with a pace and clarity that a lot of modern blockbusters could learn from. There's a horse chase sequence that still crackles with genuine excitement, and the widescreen compositions are gorgeous without ever feeling like they're pausing the story to show off. The themes underneath all the adventure, loyalty, class, what we owe each other across social divides, are handled with real depth. It just doesn't labour the point. The film trusts you to feel it.

And then there's the Star Wars conversation, which is impossible to avoid and, honestly, shouldn't be avoided. I've written about Star Wars before, and revisiting The Hidden Fortress makes the borrowing even more transparent than I remembered. The two peasants map almost directly onto the droids, down to their function as audience surrogates and comic relief. The hidden princess, the rebellion on the run, the daring escapes through checkpoints, even certain compositional choices feel lifted wholesale. Lucas has acknowledged the influence openly, which is to his credit, but it's worth being clear: this is probably the single biggest uncredited influence on the most successful franchise in film history. That alone earns The Hidden Fortress a kind of legendary status, regardless of whether it sits at the top of any critical list.

My one honest reservation is that it doesn't hit quite the emotional heights of Kurosawa at his most devastating. The stakes feel slightly lower, the resolution perhaps a little too tidy. But I'm not sure that's really a criticism so much as an observation. Not every great film needs to hollow you out. Sometimes a film that moves with confidence, wit, and genuine excitement, while also being quietly wise about human nature, is exactly what it should be.

Essential viewing, and long overdue for more attention. Three and a half stars.

Rating: ★★★½  | Year: 1958  | Watched: 2025-07-29

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Related on Movies With Macca

More from Akira Kurosawa: High and Low (1963) · Stray Dog (1949) · Throne of Blood (1957) · Ikiru (1952)
More with Toshirō Mifune: High and Low (1963) · Stray Dog (1949) · Throne of Blood (1957) · Sanjuro (1962)
More from Japan: Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025) · Blue (1993) · The Ghost of Yotsuya (1959)
More from the 1950s: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) · Alice in Wonderland (1951) · Letter from Siberia (1957) · Invaders from Mars (1953)
More drama: Viy (1967) · Wonder (2017) · A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Beautiful Boy (2018)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)