5/5 "Red Beard is an unlikely but worthy addition to the enduring legacy of Akira Kurosawa"
  by New Zealander (New Zealand)
Professional Amazon reviewer gets it wrong. Red Beard bears direct resemblance to Kurosawa's 1949 film, The Quiet Duel, and is not an "unlikely addition" at all.

In many ways Quiet Duel is the more modern film than Red Beard with its finely-drawn moral complexities. Quiet Duel sticks in my head in a way Red Beard, with all of its moral absolutes, does not.


5/5 Best Kurosawa film, in my opinion.
  by L. McIlmoil (Florida)
Though Seven Samurai is generally proclaimed as his best, for me Red Beard surpasses it. It deals more with character than story (or stories in this case) and the development and growth of those characters. It is set in and around a clinic and focuses on staff and patients, especially the poor. I found it beautiful and thought provoking.

As an aside, it mirrors health care in 21st century America.

5/5 A traditional Japanese lesson in "on" (gratitude)
  by Patrick Yamada (South Central Orange County, CA USA)
Akahige ("Red Beard") is easy to overlook because it is not a Kurosawa "samurai film" like his more popular "Seven Samurai", "Sanjuuroh", "Yohjimboh", etc. While Mifune plays a tough character, he has no cut-'em-up action scenes as in "Sanjuuroh" or "Samurai Rebellion."

What makes this film worth the three-hour running time? While it can run perilously close to schmaltz when dealing with the sad condition of the poor patients, the story is fundamentally compelling. It begins with Yasumoto, a cocky graduate of a Dutch medical school in Nagasaki, going to an interview at Dr. Niide's clinic for the poor. The doctor he is to replace leads him on a tour of the facilities and paints a grim picture of the clinic and Dr. Niide himself, a purported tyrannical dictator called "Akahige" (literally Red Beard). Yasumoto takes this at face value, and he voices his disgust at the rank odor his guide tells him is the smell of the poor ("They smell like rotten fruit"). As the story unfolds we see that Yasumoto is a self-pitying spoiled brat. He has just suffered the heartbreak of being jilted by the daughter of the prominent Nomura family with ties to the Shogunate. He thinks he was sent to the clinic by the Nomura family to silence him and hide the shame of the broken engagement from public. Yasumoto suspects Akahige's interest in his notes on Western medecine is an attempt to steal his medical secrets. He decides he will behave so badly that Akahige will send him away, and only then will he be able to pursue his dream of becoming the Shogun's physician. He intentionally disobeys the strict orders to wear the clinic uniform, abstain from alcohol, and to work diligently to ease the tremendous burden of cases born by his colleague, Dr. Mori, and Akahige.

As the story progresses Yasumoto learns that things are not as they seemed, and he grows up as he learns to take his eyes off his own suffering and to look to the needs of others. Akahige does not upbraid him as he expected, and the so-called tyrant even saves Yasumoto's life when he is nearly entrapped by a psychotic beauty who temporarily escaped confinement at the clinic. Yasumoto's first house call with Akahige to a brothel yields his first patient, a 12-year old girl being forced into prostitution by the old madame. His job to help heal the physical and psychological condition of the girl is more than the young doctor can handle, and he cries tears of frustration that his patient won't accept his help. He marvels at the patience shown by the seemingly stoic Akahige, and the latter's compassion for the sick begins to grow on him. He decides to shed his sword and fine clothes (marks of his superior rank), wear the clinic uniform and perform his duties alongside Akahige and Mori.

Yasumoto dives into his work to the point of exhaustion, and now Akahige prescribes Yasumoto's care to his patient. The girl heals as she abandons her cynical caution and practices on-gaeshi (repayment of kindness out of gratitude). The formerly high and mighty young doctor is now in the position of having to rely on the care of a poor, dirty girl in tattered clothes. (Akahige mutters "ase-kusai" ["it reeks of sweat in here"] when his visits Yasumoto's room, and it reminds us that the cocky Yasumoto remarked at how the poor patients stunk when he first arrived at the clinic.) Both learn to accept each other's help in healing.

Yasumoto also learns that he was not a victim of injustice as he'd thought. He was not sent to the clinic as punishment or as a trick by the Nomura family to keep him quiet. On the contrary, they were working to get him appointed as the Shogun's doctor. Not only that, the family rejected the daughter who jilted him because they took the engagement as seriously as he did. His former fiancee's younger sister offers herself to be Yasumoto's wife to preserve the family honor and allow her sister back into the fold. Now that he is no longer a self-centered victim but both the giver and receiver of gracious treatment, Yasumoto determines to stay at the clinic and work for the betterment of the poor rather than take the path to fame and fortune with the Shogunate. Akahige calls him a fool for throwing away his opportunity for a better life, but Yasumoto shows he can be as headstrong as his mentor in his determination to do good.

I first rented this film on VHS over 15 years ago, and I was impressed with the quality of the Criterion Collection restoration. The sound and picture quality are excellent. This is the edition to own.

2/5 Not one of the better Kurosawa movies
  by ErinK (Pittsburgh, PA USA)
I am a big Kurosawa fan, but I barely got through this (luckily I watched it in a theater!). I'm used to slow pacing with Japanese film, but this was just dull. And sometimes unpleasant. If you're a completist you probably should watch it, but if you are just looking for a good flick, go with one of the more famous Kurosawa works (Seven Samurai - my favorite, Rashomon - truly a classic, Kagemusha, Ran, Hidden Fortress, Dreams, Rhapsody in August, Ikiru ... ).

5/5 Shouting Into The Well of Life: A Memorable, Uniquely Beautiful Film
  by Gary F. Taylor (Biloxi, MS USA)
It is difficult to imagine that a western audience would find the story of a 19th Century Japanese doctor working at a public clinic interesting--and yet, as he does in so many other films, director Akira Kurosawa transcends the cultural divide between east and west with considerable grace. The 1965 RED BEARD, his final film with signature actor Toshirô Mifune, is subtle, beautiful, and exceptionally memorable.

RED BEARD focuses on the relationship between Dr. Kyojio "Red Beard" Niide (Mifune) and Dr. Noboru Yasumoto (Yuzo Kayama), a newly trained doctor who considers his appointment to Niide's public clinic a fate worse than death. Although Yasumoto initially resists Niide, he develops a gruding respect--and then ultimately a deeper understanding of both himself and his profession. Although this theme runs throughout the film, the events that transform Yasumoto are extremely episodic: a sudden surgery, deaths and deathbed confessions, a horrendously abused child, and his own sudden illness which has the effect of demonstrating he is not immune to the chance horrors of the world.

As is inevitably the case in a Kurasowa film, the cinematography--here by Asaichi Nakai and Takao Saitô--is both astonishing and subtle; Masaru Satô's music, which has a distinctly European quality is also remarkable and exceptionally well used. Indeed, every detail of production value is remarkably, flawlessly rendered. The Criterion Collection offers a beautiful transfer and includes a scholarly audio track that places RED BEARD within the context of Kurosawa's overall career and is also well-worth a listen. While I cannot imagine RED BEARD will ever rival the likes of THE SEVEN SAMURAI in popularity, it is a truly fine film, and I strongly recommend it.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer