Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1997 16:47:03 -0500
   From: jhedge@waterw.com (Jeanne Hedge)

   At 12:59 PM 1/1/97 -1000, Mousse Lee wrote:
   >	Sorry if anyone thinks this is a bit offtrack but George Lucas had
   >strong influences by Japanese film (Akira Kurosawa). 

   Yeah, and Lucas will even admit the Kurosawa influence.  I belive "The Seven
   Samurai" (remade by Hollywood into, among others, "The Magnificent Seven")

Don't forget "Battle Beyond the Stars" ^_^

Actually, the major inspiration for the first Star Wars movie was a
relatively obscure Kurosawa movie titled "The Hidden Fortress".  The
headstrong princess and buffonish robots are lifted straight from it
along with some of the plot, and Han and Luke were split from the role
played by Mufune.

I'm told the end of Star Wars was lifted from the end of "The Dam
Busters" (about an engineer and an air force unit trying to zap a well
defended dam during WWII), but I haven't seen that movie yet.

One other non-Hollywood Kurasawa remake is "A Fistfull of Dollars"
from "Yojimbo".  However, the credits to a recent David Drake novel
(maybe "The Sharp End"?) lead me to believe Kurosawa lifted the plot
from Dashiell Hammett.

   and the Samurai Trilogy starring Toshiro Mifune were among the major ones.

I don't believe Kurosawa did the Samurai Trilogy.

   (Was it Lucas, Speilberg, or both who presented Kurosawa with his honorary
   Oscar a few years back?)

They and Coppola (sp.) have also brought over many of his recent movies.

					- Harold