I watched the movie Yojimbo the other night. What a fantastic movie. It’s an Akira Kirosawa film circa 1961. Beautifully crafted, and very minimal. I can’t wait to see the sequal, which I am anxiously awaiting for Netflix to deliver to my door stop. I’m a little worried though. I think my devious neighbors are stealing my Netflix deliveries. I was supposed to receive several other fine cinema classics that have yet to show themselves. I have been impressed with Netflix so far. The rate at which they turn around movies has been pleasantly fast. Unfortunately the size of my mailbox does not accommodate the circumference of a cd/dvd forcing my mail carrier to place the Netflix cargo on top of the burgeoning stack of AOL cds that are laying siege to my stoop. I am drawing up plans for a raid on my neighbors domicile quietly in my spare moments. My neighbors own a confused gray cat that has taken to lying about on my patio trying to engage me in staring contests and other feline fecundity. If more drastic measures must be taken to secure my DVD inflow than the cat will be snatched and held (loving of course) until they cough up the goods.

But back to Yojimbo. It’s a great movie. Did i mention that? It was redone as an American western with Clint “the man” Eastwood. The title was changes to A Fistful of Dollars. Yojimbo has an amazing score by Masaru Sato. I think somebody should make a 2002 version of Yojimbo but use the original score and sequencing. One of my favorite scenes of the movie is near the beginning when the two warring clans in the village are lined up in the streets taunting each other to engage in battle, when a messenger arrives to tell all that some regional inspector is a about to show up. Both clans back off and demand that everyone in town act normal and happy, as if everything is peaceful.

The arrival of the inspector and the pretend harmony that ensues is a fantastic theme. From parents interrupting battling siblings to principles in the halls of high schools, from the cops on the streets of L.A. to the U.N. inspectors in Sierra Leone, it’s all Yojimbo.

I must now go drink more coffee and write to the powers that be about this new phenomenon known as “The Yojimbo Effect”. I’ll do that right after I win the next staring contest with my neighbors’ cat.