Word: warriorism
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Sir/The trouble with Richard Nixon is that he stubbornly remains a cold warrior in a world that has drastically changed. It may well sink him as it sank Lyndon Johnson. Such is the price of rigidity and lack of vision...
...OCCURS SOMETIME during the 1860's, just after the samurai warrior class has lost its privileged position in Japanese society. As the credits cease rolling, the camera focuses on an unshaven samurai (Toshiro Mifune) standing alone in the middle of a crossroads. He dispassionately scratches his back then tosses his walking stick. And, without a backward glance he follows the road it indicates...
...altruism. Instead, the catalysts are boredom and the possible opportunity for reward. With characteristic disinterest, the samurai maneuvers the factions into warfare, then sits stop a watchtower and on looks with the unconcealed glee of a tomcat observing a goldfish bowl. But his efforts are thwarted so the warrior must renew his plans...
...incurs the wrath of both rival groups who try to kill him and only through the aid of the coffinmaker is our hero rescued. Several days later he has recuperated enough to confront the survivors of the war. With the watchtower in the background, the shot shows the warrior gazing down a dust-blown street at his opponents. They are ten strong: he is one man. Then, as the dust swirls around the samurai's head, he smiles. He has accepted his mere humaness and he will triumph...
...warrior's perception of reality reduces any scene to its proper dimensions. When the silk merchant makes an attempt to woo him through the use of dancing girls, the camera focuses on the dancers' insipid expressions and stylized foot motions while the sound track conveys their uninspired attempts at music-making. Then, there is a close-up of the samurai's face stamped with a look of such marvelous scorn that the dancers become a spectacle of banality...