Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (original Japanese title: Kakushi Toride No San Akunin) stars
Minoru Chiaki and
Kamatari Fujiwara as a pair of misfit soldiers. Running from the enemy after a disastrous defeat, the two soldiers fall in with general
Toshiro Mifune, who is in search of a huge cache of gold. Mifune is also desirous of freeing princess-in-exile Misa Uehara from the clutches of the evil victorious army. Several large and small battles ensue before Mifune can realize his goal. If the plot of
Hidden Fortress sounds vaguely familiar to you, try this exercise: substitute two robots for Chiaki and Fujiwara,
Mark Hamill for Mifune, and
Carrie Fisher for Uehara.
George Lucas himself admitted that
Hidden Fortress was a principal inspiration for his
Star Wars saga; stretching the point farther, both
Hidden Fortress and
Star Wars had their roots in
John Ford's
The Searchers. Originally released in a 137-minute form, The Hidden Fortress was sliced to ribbons by its American distributors, and only recently has been completely restored. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide