'The Three Villains of the Hidden Fortress') is a 1958 Japanese jidaigeki[5] adventure film directed by Akira Kurosawa, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya.
The film stars Toshiro Mifune as General Makabe Rokurōta and Misa Uehara as Princess Yuki while the peasants, Tahei and Matashichi, are portrayed by Minoru Chiaki and Kamatari Fujiwara respectively.
[6] Two bedraggled peasants, Tahei and Matashichi, sell their homes and leave to enlist with the feudal Yamana clan, hoping to make their fortunes as soldiers.
After quarrelling and splitting up, the two are each captured again and reunited when the Yamana force them alongside dozens of other prisoners to dig through the ruins of the Akizuki castle for the clan's secret reserve of gold.
During a stop for the night at an inn, Yuki forces Rokurōta to buy the freedom of a captive young woman who had belonged to the Akizuki clan, who then refuses to leave them.
Tadokoro's face is now disfigured by a large scar which he explains is the result of a beating ordered by the Yamana lord, as punishment for letting Rokurōta escape.
Yuki proclaims that she has no fear of death and thanks Rokurōta for letting her see humanity's ugliness and beauty from a new perspective, and she repeats the ritual chant from the Fire Festival.
The next day, as the soldiers start marching the prisoners to be executed, Tadokoro begins singing the same chant, and suddenly sends the horses carrying the gold running across the border.
Matashichi and Tahei, both hungry and tired, stumble across the lost gold carried by the horses and immediately start arguing about dividing it between them, before being arrested by Hayakawa soldiers as thieves.
He said that Kurosawa, "the Japanese director whose cinema skills have been impressed upon us in many pictures, beginning with "Rashomon", is obviously not above pulling a little wool over his audiences' eyes — a little stooping to Hollywoodisms — in order to make a lively film."
According to Ehrenstein: The battle on the steps in Chapter 2 (anticipating the climax of Ran) is as visually overwhelming as any of the similar scenes in Griffith's Intolerance.
Overall, there’s a sense of sheer "movieness" to The Hidden Fortress that places it plainly in the ranks of such grand adventure entertainments as Gunga Din, The Thief of Baghdad, and Fritz Lang's celebrated diptych The Tiger of Eschnapur and The Hindu Tomb.
[14]David Parkinson of the Empire on a review posted on January 1, 2000, gave the film four out of five stars and wrote "Somewhat overshadowed by the likes of Seven Samurai, this is a vigorously placed, meticulously staged adventure.
"[15] Writing for The Criterion Collection in 2001, Armond White said "The Hidden Fortress holds a place in cinema history comparable to John Ford's Stagecoach: It lays out the plot and characters of an on-the-road epic of self-discovery and heroic action.
In a now-familiar fashion, Rokurōta and Princess Yuki fight their way to allied territory, accompanied by a scheming, greedy comic duo who get surprised by their own good fortune.
According to him:Revered now as an inspiration for George Lucas, Kurosawa's amiable, forthright epic romance happens on a scorched, rugged landscape which looks quite a lot like an alien planet.
The movie is referenced in Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, where during a cutscene for the first level of Return of the Jedi, there is a flag written in Aurebesh, which translates to "Hidden Fortress".