Bounty Hunters

The episode begins with an unusual title card, specifically mentioning Akira Kurosawa, an influential film director greatly admired by George Lucas. The original Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) was very much inspired by the works of Kurosawa, particularly the 1958 movie The Hidden Fortress (1958). Another Clone Wars episode earlier in the same season, Lightsaber Lost (2010), is a nod to Kurosawa's work - the 1949 film, Stray Dog (1949). "Bounty Hunters" is the clearest tribute yet to Kurosawa, and his legendary movie Seven Samurai (1954). Its tale of a beleaguered village hiring mercenaries for protection against brigands has inspired a host of movies - most famously the American remake, The Magnificent Seven (2016), as well as comedies like Three Amigos! (1986) and A Bug's Life (1998). An early story line in the Star Wars Marvel Comics series in 1978-1979 has a similar story, with Han Solo leading a group of hired guns to protect a village threatened by bandits.

References Seven Samurai (1954)