Talk:Red Harvest

Books and Movies
The main point of this discussion is ¿how can you compare two plots and tell if they are similar or different? I am sure there are differences between Yojimbo, For a Fistful of Dollars and Last Man Standing. A judge found the differences between the two first in the list too small, and Kurosawa could collect some money for his intellectual property.

To compare movie to movie plots is easier than movie to book. The reason for this is that most exact renditions of a book on film results in a bad movie. These media have different techniques for storytelling. Most books get rendered into movies in an abridged fashion, and sometimes there are other big changes, made normally for production reasons (too expensive) or for technical reasons, as the best for a movie is to show, second best to hear and third best to tell. Compare watching someone die, hear someone dying and getting someone telling "I die". The third is really bad storytelling in movies, and this kind of non-visual stuff gets changed from books to movies all the time.

A manyfold of characters in a movie are very difficult to handle, as the viewer won't remember quickly who they are and their relationships. For this reasons characters are axed every time is possible in adaptations.

From the sources we have been reviewing, I would tell that Kurosawa might or might not base Yojimbo on Red Harvest. Do you agree on this factual account?:

"Whereas is frequently asserted in Internet newsgroups and on websites that Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett inspired Yojimbo's plot (and therefore versions of Yojimbo like Last Man Standing and For a Fistful of Dollars), there are no reliable sources of Kurosawa acknowledging such an influence. The reason for this widely spread belief is that the core plot of the book and the movies shows a man in a violent city who cleans the city pitching gangs against each other." User:Vaceituno

Hey Vaceituno, How's it going today? You ready for me to disappear, yet :) I think your probably doing a better job of trying to create a compromise than I am. To me, the assertion is just so wrongheaded and I believe it misses so much of what Yojimbo or Red Harvest are about that I have a hard time seeing any compromise. But that's my personal opinion. As a matter of scholarship and reportage, I think the goal is to describe what is. In that spirit, let me make a counter suggestion. I think Red Harvest needs to focus on Red Harvest and Yojimbo needs to focus on Yojimbo. I think in this article, the Red Harvest article, we can focus on how Red Harvest has been influential in literature and movies. I think that is more accurate and honest - and from a literary analysis standpoint a more important way of looking at Red Harvest than focusing on the simple "RH is Yojimbo" thing. Inside of this proposed influence section, we can add sourced info on how Red Harvest has influenced various movies and movie genres. Included in that discussion, we can add in the info from Farber and Desser to the effect that they believe that Red Harvest influenced Yojimbo. Within that context, I don't think we need to even address all the other opinions about Yojimbo that don't include anything about Red Harvest. That way, I think the Red Harvest article is accurate and the "RH is Yojimbo" issue gets completely removed from it. I think it's more intellectually honest and I don't think we even have to address what Kurosawa said or Richie says or anything else. Then, over in Yojimbo, we use Kurosawa's comments about how he came about to do Yojimbo, describe the movie, and then include a section on influences/analysis into which we can include more of the opinion oriented stuff that includes Richie, Kael, etc. In that group we can include Farber and Desser again. Once again, I think this is more intellectually honest in presentation and context. We stay away from "point counterpoint" as to whether or not "Yojimbo is RH" That way, when we are done, Yojimbo is focused on Yojimbo and Red Harvest is focused on Red Harvest. The opinion that Yojimbo is influenced/adapted/inspired by Red Harvest will still be in both articles but it will be sourced and put into a contextual framework that doesn't overshadow other opinions and ideas about the two works. I would suggest with this approach we don't have to mention web pages, internet newsgroups, wide spread beliefs, or core plot of the two books - all areas that are full of potential conflict and probably not really essential to an encyclopedia article on either work. I'm sorry I even added the section I did before because I can see now that it's the wrong approach.

I tell you what, I'm going to start working on a new, differently organized Red Harvest page. When I'm done I'll post it for you to look over and see what you think. If it doesn't work, we will try something else. I hope I'm not coming off as a righteous know-it-all, I will readily acknowledge that I have some strong opinions on the subject but not so much that I think no one can say that RH influenced Yojimbo. My problem is seeing things like "uncredited adaptation", "adaptation", or "Yojimbo is Red Harvest". Those type of words or statements make a very specific allegation that calls into question Mr. Kurosawa's artistic and intellectual honesty. To throw those allegations around without being sourced or demonstrated is, in my opinion, morally wrong. To take statements out of context from other works, particularly works of opinion to try and establish them as a point of fact is also intellectually dishonest and morally wrong. So, I'm kinda picky about the semantics of expressing whatever relationship that other's have opined and the manner in which those opinions are presented.

Anyway, nice to continue to chat and I'll be back with some goodies here very shortly that will hopefully make us both happy.--Davidalanreese 00:40, 24 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Sorry for not being verbose at all, but yes, I do agree with you. The Red Harvest article should reflect the influence of the novel, and the Yojimbo article can be richer if we include what some critics said about it. Did you know that a Star Wars movie was code named "Blue Harvest", after Red Harvest? I hope to see your update on the article soon. User:Vaceituno

Discussion on Barra article
My personal opinion - I stress my opinion because I'd be interested in your thoughts on the article after reading some of my comments - of the Barra article is that it's the root of a lot of this "Yojimbo is an uncredited adaptation of RH stuff". I ran across the article when I first ran into some of the "Yojimbo is RH" stuff. Nothing in the article appears unreasonable on first glance but I think the tone of the article implies more than any facts in the article establish.

In the first section, Barra states that the basic plot of the Yojimbo is the same as Red Harvest. There is no demonstration of the point, just the assertion. Then Barra introduces the son of Albert Grimaldi who makes the statement that Yojimbo "practically" is Red Harvest. Once again, someone wants to imply that Yojimbo is like Red Harvest instead of making a statement. Also, I think it's interesting that Grimaldi Productions own the rights to all of Leone's films except for Fitful of Dollars and Grimaldi productions own the rights to Red Harvest. I can see why they might want to establish a Yojimbo is Red Harvest claim.

Then Barra comes back and says that American film critics such as Farber, Sarris, and Desser have "assumed" (once again, a hedging type of assertion at best using a word like assume) that Yojimbo was an uncredited version of Red Harvest. He then quotes from a Farber essay that calls Yojimbo a "bowdlerized version" of Red Harvest. I've read the essay and it does state make that statement. Once again, though, using "bowdlerized" sort of minimizes just how strong of an assertion one is making. On top of that, taking such a quote out of a critical essay which is nothing more than an opinion in the first place doesn't really help to establish the idea that Yojimbo is RH as a matter of fact. Farber just threw that statement out there in a middle of the essay with no other discussion about Red Harvest or Yojimbo. The other quote is from Desser and it is the most direct. I haven't read the essay in question so I can't say anything else about it. Farber, Sarris and Desser are all legitimate social and cinema essayists. They deal in the world of opinion, analysis, and critique. What they have written is legitimate critical analysis and deserves appropriate attention for what it is - a form of analysis. It doesn't establish a point of fact about actual authorship though.

Now, read those last four paragraphs, after the header of Samurai Gangster and tell me what that article is saying? Is it a statement? Or is it an implication? Does it really say anything?

First you have the question - "But is Yojimbo, finally, a "version" of Red Harvest" What a sentence. Here in the very last section of the story, Barra is not making a statement but he asks a question about Yojimbo and Red Harvest. On top of that, he further qualifies that question by putting one word, version, in quotation marks. Why does Barra do that? What does putting the word, version, into quotations do? I say that Barra is changing the game here That's an ambiguous statement - a question - composed with an ambiguous direct object which opens the door for Barra to imply even the smallest similarity establishes the tie-in. Barra then quotes Kurosawa who never discussed Red Harvest. Then the next paragraph quotes Richie and makes note of the fact that Richie thinks it's simply coincidence. OK, so we have a question in which the filmmaker himself and the filmmaker's major biographer do not acknowledge any tie with Red Harvest beyond coincidence.

Then we have the last two paragraphs. An nameless "former colleague" of Kurosawa is the source of paragraph three. We have just seen quotes from Kurosawa's principal biographer whose book on Kurosawa has made it into a third edition and Kurosawa himself - a filmmaker who has won awards all over the world including top prizes at Venice, Cannes as well as a recipient of three Academy Awards including a lifetime achievement award; a filmmaker who has a long history of work that ended up becoming unauthorized adaptations such as Rashoman, Seven Samurai, and Yojimbo; a filmmaker who acknowledged freely throughout his career the many and varied influences on his work such as Shakespeare, Noh theater, Russian literature, Ed McBain, John Ford, Western (both genre and world view) movies - and Barra choses to put up a quote from a nameless "former colleague" who implies that Kurosawa's The Quiet Duel owes a great deal to Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilych? What? This is absurdity. The Quiet Duel is about a doctor who catches syphilis when he is at war and returns back home to his fiance. The doctor has to reject his fiance despite his and his fiances love and need for each other so he doesn't pass on the syphilis. Ivan Ilych isn't a doctor, doesn't have syphilis, and is more about the empty mundane life and death of a mid-level man. Then, to compound the first ridiculous assertion, the "former colleague" goes on to say "He could easily have done the same with Hammett's novel" Do what, not use it? This is just complete and utter nonsense. In one paragraph of utter nonsense, Barra has granted this "former colleague" and his ridiculous statement that Barra either didn't fact check or didn't care to fact check, as much authority in this article that he has granted Akira Kurosawa and Donald Richie. That's just wrong. Barra pulled out quotes from Desser and Farber earlier in the article, why not approach them for a quote? They are both alive and still writing criticism. No, Barra has found a anonymous "former colleague" who makes a statement that is patently and demonstrably false - to the effect that it cancels what Kurosawa and Richie have to say. Then, as a final act, Barra takes a quote from Hill who says "I don't think any honest person could make a '20's gangster film and not acknowledge a debt to Hammett". OK, but the start of this section was framed with the question "But is Yojimbo, finally, a "version" of Red Harvest?" Then Barra ends the article with Hill relating a "quote" from Borges - "all fiction was either a telling of the Odyssey or the Crucifixion". While Borges may have said something like that that doesn't answer the question at all. Ultimately, I don't think this article actually says anything - I think it makes a very vague (and nasty) swipe at the authenticity of Kurosawa's authorship but not with any real factual or demonstrable evidence. I also think it can work because almost no one who ends up reading this article has ever read Red Harvest or The Death of Ivan Ilych or seen Yojimbo, or The Quiet Duel. Certainly the audience that actually has seen all four is pretty small.

So, read the article over again and tell me what you think. Do you really still think that article says anything of authority? I'd like to see the Desser essay - it's the only thing I haven't seen and it seems to have the most direct assertion in it.

I didn't think the article was supporting any particular position, just that it was a good source for research, as you have shown. Proposal for an agreement in this issue above (Books and Film) Vaceituno

I'll grant that, it does provide a way to find some sources. I wish I knew who the "anonymous colleague" was, though. That whole statement attributed to him is just so terrible that I have a hard time believing there really was an colleague. --Davidalanreese 00:40, 24 Jun 2004 (UTC)

sources?
can anyone provide sources for the following?
 * It is frequently asserted that the plot was the inspiration for Y&#333;jimb&#333;, a 1961 film by Akira Kurosawa. Y&#333;jimb&#333; in turn was later remade as A Fistful of Dollars, a spaghetti western directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood, and remade, yet again, in a 20th century "gangster" genre, as Last Man Standing, starring Bruce Willis.

if not, then we should recall No_original_research and remove the opinion from the article. Iain 15:52, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Editorial Commentary
This discussion page is impossible to read. Nobody signs their comments ...nobody knows who is saying what to whom. But maybe I'm just old-fashioned. What are you all trying to settle here?

I changed the opening a bit. I thought to add my own two cents but "vaceituno" shot me down. Well enough and OK. I think what I've left there should stand up to scrutiny. Guernseykid 21:52, 12 April 2006 (UTC)
 * I am reinserting this content (at the bottom of the page, where it belongs) that was deleted by an anonymous user back on 17 April. I agree with Guernseykid: this talk page is damned near worthless.  The consistent failure to use proper formatting and/or to sign comments has resulted in long blocks of text, without breaks, and the result of all this is that it is impossible to tell who is commenting to whom, what the debate or discussion entails, or whether it is of any import.  As I said, damned near worthless.  Furthermore, there is no such film titled For a Fistful of Dollars---there are two films, one titled A Fistful of Dollars the other titled For a Few Dollars More---so, let's try to keep that straight.  Now, does anyone have anything to say about Hammett's novel Red Harvest, given the fact that this is the title of the article? ---Charles 18:15, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Servant of Two Masters
As Sir Christopher Frayling points out in Spaghetti Westerns (1981 RKP): Sergio Leone has claimed a thematic debt, for both Fistful and Yojimbo, to Carlo Goldoni's A Servant of Two Masters - the basic premise of the protagonist playing two camps off against each other. For Leone, this rooted the origination of Fistful/Yojimbo in European, and specifically Italian culture. Obviously, it can be claimed that Leone has a vested interest in doing this - distancing the accusations of his stealing Kurosawa's ideas, if those ideas were already borrowed from an Italian classic.

Frayling points out that Red Harvest also contains elements of the Servant of Two Masters plot - as well as being close in tone to a Jacobean Revenger's Tragedy. Leone himself clearly believed that Red Harvest influenced Yojimbo:

"Kurosawa's Yojimbo was inspired by an American novel of the serie-noire so I was really taking the story back home again." (Spaghetti Westerns, page 151)

Although this is far from being proof that it is true!

The fact remains that there is nothing new under the sun - and who knows where the trail of influences (conscious and unconscious) sometimes ends. That Kurosawa was influenced by American film (especially westerns) is well documented; elements of European culture influence American culture and so on, ad infinitum.Daisyabigael 10:43, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Red Harvest and Yojimbo
From a Salon article by Allen Barra:


 * Several film critics over the years, beginning with Andrew Sarris, saw the parallels between the great American gangster novel [i.e., Red Harvest] and the great samurai film classic [i.e., Yojimbo]. Manny Farber stated flatly that "Yojimbo" was "a version of 'Red Harvest' -- a bowdlerized version." Not everyone was so sure. Donald Richie, perhaps the leading scholar on Kurosawa's work, said in a 1996 interview, "I think the similarity in themes is just coincidence. Kurosawa has always acknowledged his sources." Kurosawa was a reader of American crime fiction; his 1960 film "Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru," or "The Bad Sleep Well," was adapted from an Ed McBain novel. But some feel Kurosawa was not so open in acknowledging his sources; his 1949 film "The Quiet Duel" owes much to Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilych." David Desser, another Kurosawa scholar, in his book "The Samurai Films of Akira Kurosawa," states categorically that "Yojimbo is an adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's 'Red Harvest'" and "the basic situation that motivates the plot in Yojimbo is adapted from Hammett's 'Red Harvest'."

The current sentence about Yojimbo is really quite bad. I think we should say that many critics and scholars have called Yojimbo an adaptation of Red Harvest, but that it was not stated to be such, and that some have disputed a direct influence. We should avoid passive voice statements like "It is frequently claimed." john k 15:37, 9 August 2007 (UTC)


 * I rewrote that sentence based on the source you provided. Thanks. Nandesuka 15:52, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

Blue Harvest
Is this where George Lucas got the inspiration for the Star Wars Ep. 6 phony production name Blue Harvest? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 143.115.155.55 (talk) 19:12, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Plot clarification
I just cleaned up the plot summary section. I clarified the names of people with a shared surname, added details of characters' occupations, cast past events into the past (e.g. referring to a character as "the late" after he was dead), and broke the last paragraph into smaller chunks for ease of reading. I added nothing more. Hope this was of help. 70.36.137.47 (talk) 01:19, 1 January 2014 (UTC)

Red Harvest and The Glass Key
For those who have followed the discussions in literary and film criticism books on the intertwined aspects of Red Harvest (1929), The Glass Key (1931), Yojimbo, Miler's Crossing, A Fistful of Dollars, and so forth, it may be important to cut to the chase, as it were. Both plots feature a male protagonist apparently switching sides during a series of gang war skirmishes in order to effect mutually assured destruction of all gangs. However, there are three major differences between Red Harvest and The Glass Key, as follows:

1) In Red Harvest the protagonist is an outsider who comes into town at the outset; in The Glass Key, the protagonist is associated with the town at the outset and is connected to one of the two major rival gangs.

2) In Red Harvest, the protagonist has no deep connections of love or loyalty to anyone in the town; in The Glass Key, long-standing outlaw male friendships are put on the line, and the ways in which loyalties are tested and these friendships break or endure are the subject of much of the drama.

3) In Red Harvest, the female love interest character is killed, but in The Glass Key, the female love interest character is a victim who survives her ordeal.

The "outsider" aspect of Yojimbo and the character's lack of a long-standing outlaw male friendship is what that film owes to Red Harvest; the rescue of the female is what it owes to The Glass Key.

This pattern is copied exactly in A Fistful of Dollars, which is, essentially, a remake of Yojimbo.

Millers Crossing follows the plot of The Glass Key more closely, as the characters know one another at the outset, outlaw male friendships are put to the test, and the female love interest survives her ordeal.

70.36.137.47 (talk) 02:06, 1 January 2014 (UTC)