7 SAMURAI - my first film

My grandmother lived in an old farmhouse in Westbrook Maine. She had served with the Royal Canadian Medical Expedition in the great war. My grandfather had been a doctor for the allies. Her house carried mementos of their meeting. Zeppelin debris, helmets, bayonets, and a mural of a french landscape in their bed room. I never met my grandfather, but in 1960 my grandmother pulled me into the living room to watch THE SEVEN SAMURAI on TV. Somehow I was able to read the subtitles at age eight. The story of Japaneses warriers down on their luck saving a bare-bone villager from bandits was enthralling. It was the first film to send me on the road to ruin and I’ve never looked back, but Kuroshawa is not to blame. I loved the outlaws.

Kambei Shimada - Danger always strikes when everything seems fine.

How true.