A 1960s Movie Mistake Completely Changed Action Cinema (For The Better)
Action movies, as they exist today, would not be the same without a mistake made by a special effects team in the 1960s. Akira Kurosawa's films are all incredibly influential, from Seven Samurai establishing action film structure to Rashomon's unreliable narrators. However, it is his 1962 samurai film, Sanjuro, that may be the most impactful of them all.
At the climax of Sanjuro, Hanbei Muroto (Tatsuya Nakadai) demands satisfaction from Sanjuro Tsubaki (Toshiro Mifune) after being made a fool throughout the movie's runtime. Sanjuro is reluctant to fight and attempts to dissuade Hanbei but to no avail. The subsequent duel is short: Hanbei is able to pull his blade from his sheath, but not before Sanjuro has already sliced straight through him. The duel is more reminiscent of a quick draw than a swordfight, which is fitting as Sanjuro's prequel, Yojimbo, directly influenced Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name in Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy. Sanjuro's speed with his katana is emphasized by a geyser of blood erupting from Hanbei's torso as he dies, coating everyone and everything around them.
Related: Every Akira Kurosawa Samurai Movie Ranked From Worst To Best
While it's incredibly impactful, the blood geyser was not supposed to happen like that. For the effect, Tatsuya Nakadai had a hose hidden under his costume that was filled up with fake blood and put under 30 pounds of pressure. However, when it came time to film the duel, a coupling in the hose broke. This meant that all of the blood was released at once instead of a smaller, more continuous flow of blood. The pressurized burst of blood was helped by the recipe of the fake blood itself: chocolate syrup diluted with sparkling water. Diluted chocolate syrup was a
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