Clint Eastwood hates this Japanese masterpiece with a passion: “I thought it was terrible”
The famous Hollywood actor and director highlighted only one positive aspect of this film by the legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa.
Clint Eastwood has long been known for speaking his mind without sugar coating his opinions, whether they offend fellow actors, figures within the film industry, or voices in the wider sociopolitical sphere. His views on cinema’s great works rarely go unnoticed, especially when they concern films widely regarded as masterpieces by critics and audiences alike. At one point, he even went so far as to label a film by Japanese master Akira Kurosawa, the director of Rashomon and Seven Samurai, among many others, as “terrible”.
The film in question was Dersu Uzala. Despite his general admiration for Kurosawa, Eastwood openly expressed his dislike for the 1975 feature, singling out only one element he found redeeming and rejecting the rest outright.
While Kurosawa’s earlier films are often more celebrated, Dersu Uzala is widely considered one of the director’s finest works. Nevertheless, Eastwood did not hesitate to dismiss it, even though the filmmaker behind Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, and Gran Torino has repeatedly acknowledged Kurosawa’s influence on his own career. For reasons he never fully explained, Eastwood simply could not connect with the Oscar winning adventure film, apart from one striking moment.
“I loved Kurosawa’s work. I don’t like Dersu Uzala. I think it’s horrible, except for one beautiful sequence with the wind,” Eastwood once said in an interview with Paul Nelson, quoted by Far Out.
He went on to clarify what, in his view, was missing. “His early work was truly visually stunning. He had a remarkable ability to create vivid imagery and bring his characters to life. You wanted to meet them,” Eastwood said, adding that he did not feel the same way about Dersu Uzala. His criticism extended beyond that film. Eastwood also expressed his dislike for Kagemusha (The Shadow Warrior), which Kurosawa made shortly afterwards.
In fact, Eastwood has been blunt about his feelings towards Kurosawa’s later career as a whole. “I don’t like any of his last films, but I love his samurai period,” he concluded, referring to one of the most influential filmmakers in Japanese cinema.
The criticism stands in sharp contrast to the film’s reception. Dersu Uzala was met with international acclaim and won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
The official synopsis reads: “Captain Vladimir Arseniev and his detachment are sent to carry out geological surveys in the forests of the Siberian taiga. Overwhelmed by the vastness of the land and the harsh climate, he becomes lost. While wandering through the wilderness, he meets Dersu Uzala, a nomadic hunter who knows the territory intimately and understands how to survive the elements. Through their encounter, Dersu teaches the captain to respect nature and live in harmony with it, a lesson he will never forget.”
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