How was this special effect accomplished? Zen archers firing fucking arrows at him. The fear on his face his real, and his arm waving is a signal them to not fire in that direction because that's where he's walking.
Yeah. I read that it took an insane amount of convincing to get Mifune to even show up to the set that day. Let alone getting him to agree to do this scene. I don't think anyone will think less of him if he shit his pants.
Does anyone know how they pulled off the neck arrow?
Yes! Awesome! I remember seeing a documentary on Kurosawa, and he talked about how terrified Toshiro was of doing this. I believe the neck arrow was the only one that was on a cord.
I had a feeling just from watching that those arrows were really being fired because they look too natural for effects of the era and because Mifune was just that bad-ass.
I've been trying to get my best friend to watch Throne of Blood with me for years. I won't let her watch this clip because it will spoil the movie for her - not because she doesn't know that MacBeth dies, but because she doesn't know how awesome it will be.
When he's pushing down the arrows in the wall over and over, I just mentally dubbed over Steve Martin's voice in the gas station shooting from The Jerk.