Funny / Seven Samurai

• The start of the search for samurai is played with a mix of tragedy and comedy, such as when the villagers bemoan that while they can tell good rice from bad rice, they can’t tell a good samurai from a bad samurai, or later when the beaten-up samurai at their hostel tries to convince them to hire him. This culminates in the sequence when they finally have their man: seeing Kambei shave his head to save a child, they realize that this samurai might be persuadable to help them. They nervously follow him into town, until one of them works up the courage to approach him — and is pushed out of the way by Kikuchiyo, who is himself struck dumb before Kambei, grinning awkwardly at him until he is forced out of the way by Katsushirō, who asks Kambei to be his sensei and engages him in conversation. Both Kikuchiyo and the villagers have to follow them to the next town before either interrupt them and press their case.
• When Kikuchiyo tries to prove his lineage with a scroll. As the senior members of the Seven examine it, you can see in the background one of the other members count on his fingers the years involved in Kikuchiyo's claim. He begins to laugh uproariously in quiet just before the readers realize that Kikuchiyo would have to be a child — a thirteen year old girl — for his evidence on the scroll to make sense.
  • Kikuchiyo's whole drunken bragging ends up with him chasing Katsushirō and Heihachi who keep confiscating his nodachi. Finally, Kikuchiyo becomes so exhausted that he collapses onto the straw in a drunken slumber and starts snoring loudly.
  Katsushirō: Is he really a samurai?
  Kambei: Only in his mind.
• Kikuchiyo's failing Kambei's Secret Test of Character is funny in its own right. While holding the "auditions" for his team, Kambei arranges for a booby trap by having someone hide next to the door with a blunt object, ready to wallop whoever comes in. Kambei knows that a trained samurai would either be smart enough not to fall for it or skilled enough to avoid the attack, which is exactly what most of the candidates do. When the untrained (and drunk) Kikuchiyo comes in, he walks right into the trap. We don't see him get hit, but Katsushirō's Reaction Shot and the cartoonish *Bonk* we hear say it all.
• Kikuchiyo demonstrates his skill as a horse rider by riding behind some bushes... and the horse gallops out alone with Kikuchiyo chasing it. Even Kyûzô is laughing at the sight.
  • This becomes a Brick Joke, since Kikuchiyo has to ride that same horse to the bandits' camp later, with the similar results.
  • Meta hilarity, as Toshiro Mifune is probably the finest swordsman and rider of all the actors, but is cast as the buffoon who can't ride. Apparently this was done on purpose to distract the audience away from Kyûzô's actor, who was not trained in riding and had never used a sword but plays the finest warrior of the bunch.
• Kambei breaking the tension before the final battle with the bandits by telling Katsushirō, who was discovered with one of the farmer's daughters the night before to "Fight bravely, for now you are a full fledged man!" causing both the farmers and the other samurai to laugh.
  • Although Katsushirō likely felt it was a case of Dude, Not Funny!, seeing as he was reluctant to begin with, and his finally hooking up with Shino resulted in her father, who was paranoid of just such a thing happening that he hacked her hair off, beat her while Katsushirō did nothing.
• Kikuchiyo Dressing as the Enemy and having an idle chat with one of the gun-wielders before drawing his sword. The Oh, Crap! look on the bandit's face is what sells it, along with Kikuchiyo's gleeful laugh as he gives chase.
• Gorōbei is watching an impoverished Heihachi cutting firewood for food, and chatting with him about battles, and Heihachi says that he knows he can't kill all his enemies, so he usually runs away. Gorōbei asks him "Incidentally, are you interested in killing thirty bandits?" Which causes him to massively miss his mark on the next chop, and look at him with a perfect "WTF?!" expression.
• Old Gisaku has some amusingly deadpan lines, most notably when told that they're bringing seven samurai instead of the originally planned three or four:
  Gisaku: I thought we might need that many. But if I told you that, you'd bring fifteen.
• At one point, Katsushirō is gushing to Kikuchiyo about how awesome Kyûzô is.
  Kikuchiyo: (yawning) You're amusing. Your jabbering is very interesting.
• Bandit scouts are examining the village's new defenses. To keep the bandit leader from learning that the village hired defenders, the six samurai are hiding in a hut. It's a tense moment. And then Kikuchiyo (who was told about the bandits in the previous) comes swaggering through the village with his enormous sword looking for the other samurai so they can all go bandit hunting. The second Kikuchiyo gets within grabbing range of the samurai hideout, Heihachi reaches out, grabs him, and yanks him out of sight. He is too late: the bandit scouts see Kikuchiyo and his sword, realize that the village has samurai, and head back to their horses to report on this. Luckily, thanks to Katsushirō’s blooming romance, the samurai already know where the horses are and can intercept them there.
• When the peasants in town report to the samurai of Kikuchiyo's fighting ability, Katsushirō wordlessly begs Kambei to let him do the test again with only a big, beaming excited grin.
• On the way to the village, the samurai notice that Kikuchiyo, who had been following them, is nowhere in sight, and think he gave up. Then Heihachi speaks too soon.
  Heihachi: Now that he's gone, I kind of miss him.
  (Kikuchiyo pops up in front of them)
  Kikuchiyo: This way!
  Heihachi: Dammit.
• Gisaku approving of Kikuchiyo raising a false alarm to teach the villagers a lesson. Kikuchiyo nods his head with a proud smile, then turns to others, his face pretty much says, "This guy gets it."
• Kikuchiyo's witty remarks to the farmers while training them.
  Kikuchiyo: You all look simply splendid. Like a bunch of scarecrows.
  • He calls one to step forward, then does an exaggerated parody of his awkward walk and blank face, getting a round of laughter from the watching children, then says he might have to start charging admission.
  • Even the farmer being mocked chuckles along.
• When Kikuchiyo asks the farmers' children if they've got "a pretty sister", Heihachi jokingly pokes him in the back of the head.
• The way Kikuchiyo eagerly bites his lip when he asks Yohei where he's been hiding all the pretty farm girls.
• The farmers' first attempt at hiring a samurai is a disaster. He ends up completely broke after gambling with the labourers. When he picks a fight with a larger labourer, he quickly retreats back to the upper floor of the inn.
• Katsushirō's Hypocritical Humor when he chides Shino, whom he thought was a boy, for picking flowers, pointing at her with the hand he’s currently holding his own flowers in. He quickly realizes his mistake and drops them.
• When Manzo is injured in a bandit attack, he calls for Shino, his daughter, prepared for a dramatic death. One of the other farmers point out the injury is a small cut on his arm and calls him out for making a fuss over it and blowing Shino's cover in the process. The "Nice going."sells it.