... Yojimbo was the inspiration for Clint Eastwood's man with no name persona, most clearly in A Fistful of Dollars. The intercultural influence was mutual. Kurosawa's liking for Hollywood westerns in the John Ford tradition is seen in the epic sweep of Hidden Fortress, an award-winning film that inspired George Lucas to steal the plot for Star Wars. His love of literature ... also showed in two excellent versions of Shakespeare (Macbeth in Throne of Blood and King Lear in Ran) and versions of Gorky's The Lower Depths and The Idiot by Dostoevsky. Although Kurosawa sometimes turned his atten...

• Word Count: 903
• Approx Pages: 4