Yojimbo (1961)

Yojimbo parents guide

There is no US rating to lean on, so here is what we tagged: strong violence.

Scare

Not scary

Jump scares

None noted

Gore

Light gore

Some blood or injury, briefly.

Violence

Strong violence

Violence is frequent or intense.

Sex and nudity

None flagged

It has no US rating to check against, so treat our zero as unconfirmed.

Language

Mild

Mild words like damn, hell or crap.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

Three questions

Is Yojimbo scary?

No. Yojimbo is not a scary watch.

How gory is Yojimbo?

Light gore and strong violence.

What is Yojimbo about?

A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.

Cast and crew

More like Yojimbo

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• The Usual Suspects (1995)Suspenseful · light gore · strong violence · emotionally heavyA low-level con man's intricate tale of a mythic crime lord unravels with gritty, suspenseful precision.
• Reservoir Dogs (1992)Gritty · graphic gore · brutal violence · emotionally heavyA botched jewel heist unravels into a darkly comic, bloody standoff among double-crossing criminals.
• Seven Samurai (1954)Epic · full attention · brutal violence · emotionally heavyA desperate village hires seven masterless samurai to prepare them for a brutal bandit attack.
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Yojimbo is on our Martial arts, Japanese, Classics (pre-1970), Thriller on Max and Drama on Max lists.

More like this feeling

Prompts we typed into CouchRot, and the lists that share its tags.

• “a thriller with a twist, no spoilers”
• “a movie that will make me cry”
• “scary but not gory”