Welcome to Get in the Basement with the Cinematic Maniac, in which I will recommend a double, triple, and/or quadruple feature based on an actor, a director or a theme.

by Nikk Nelson, Staff Writer

A friend once told me I have some serious movie-watching stamina. Years later, my therapist would rebrand it clinical depression. Either way, almost nothing in this world makes me happier than sitting down and watching two, three, four, or even more movies in a row. It feels like conducting a cinematic orchestra. Sometimes, it’s an actor that gets me in a certain mood. Or a director. Or a theme. Whatever movie strikes my fancy, I try to follow a through-line. In this world of constant content and algorithmic curation, I wanted to share some of my favorite cinematic mixtapes, for lack of a better term. This month, I’d like to recommend a string of ‘antihero plays two warring factions against each other’ movies, aka ‘The Yojimbo Movies’.

Yojimbo (dir. Akira Kurosawa. Starring Toshiro Mifune. Runtime 1h 50m. 1961)

In college, I was annoying, and I wanted to be the biggest baddest filmbuff to ever walk the planet. Akira Kurosawa is among the first names you hear when you take any introductory film class. And for good reason. Yojimbo was the second Kurosawa film I ever saw and the only reason I got my hands on it living in Kansas in 2005 was because back then Netflix was mailing DVDs. Otherwise, at the time, I would have had to depend on Blockbuster Video who, by then, didn't keep any movie in stock that wasn’t a new release. This film is a masterclass in everything a movie should be. Case in point, the samurai’s arrival in the war-torn town, the shot of the dog trotting along with a severed human hand in its mouth is basically all you need to know about ‘show, don’t tell’ filmmaking, and storytelling in general. It’s no mystery why this film inspired many, what were essentially, remakes.

A Fistful of Dollars (dir. Sergio Leone. Starring Clint Eastwood. Runtime 1h 39m. 1964)

This film looks so much like Yojimbo, Sergio Leone apparently got sued for it. The first of what would go on to be dubbed, no pun intended, ‘The Man with No Name Trilogy’, I would say Leone is just as important to study as Kurosawa when it comes to cinema, especially today. Dear Hollywood, more closeups of ugly people with character, please, instead of vapid, plastic, tastes of the month. Kino Lorber just rereleased this trilogy in 4K and the restorations are breathtaking. If there’s one thing I can’t recommend enough, other than the films themselves, it’s, if you have the means, build a physical media library. I lived through the years where Blockbuster Video drove out and took over the independent stores and oh, wow, I think I just got an idea for my own Yojimbo movie…

Last Man Standing (dir. Walter Hill. Starring Bruce Willis. Runtime 1h 41m. 1996)

Would you like to see Bruce Willis play the Mifune/Eastwood part in a weird, prohibition-era ghost town directed by Walter Hill with a supporting cast that includes Christopher Walken and Bruce Dern? Of course, you would. So, do it!

Sukiyaki Western Django (dir. Takashi Miike. Starring Hideaki Ito. Runtime 2h 1m. 2007)

There’s no way the dog trotting down the street with a severed hand in its mouth didn’t inspire Miike to remake Yojimbo. This tends to be one of those either you love it or hate it movies. And I love it. You get a guest appearance from Quentin Tarantino (listen to the end-credits song for a cool Django Unchained connection) and some of the funniest, most intense, and at times genuinely heartbreaking action you’ll ever see. This is one I’ve found not too many people have heard of or seen, so please don’t overlook it.

The Yojimbo Movies. Curated by The Cinematic Maniac. Total Runtime: ~7h 30m.

Start on a Saturday morning. Yojimbo and breakfast cereal go together like Froot Loops and marshmallows. Turn off your phone, draw the blinds, and sink into a world of violence, blood, revenge, courage, and love. 

This isn’t a comprehensive playlist. You can seek out other ‘Yojimbo’ films like the original Django (1966) which I also highly recommend as well as the film that may have inspired Kurosawa, The Glass Key (1942), based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett.