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From: leeper@mtgzz.UUCP (m.r.leeper)
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: Re: "Ran" and "King Lear"  (***SPOILERS
Message-ID: <1685@mtgzz.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 23-Feb-86 22:54:55 EST
Article-I.D.: mtgzz.1685
Posted: Sun Feb 23 22:54:55 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 24-Feb-86 23:00:23 EST
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 >When Siskel and Ebert reviewed Ran they said that Kurosawa
 >was interviewed about halfway through the production.  When
 >asked about the similarities to King Lear he said something
 >to the effect that he hadn't been aware of any parallels!

When I reviewed RAN I remembered hearing this, but not where I had
heard it.  There has been some discussion on the net about it since
then.  I am glad someone else has heard that Kurosawa denied basing RAN
on LEAR.  The similarities are really too great to be coincidence.
He did claim it was based on a classic Japanese legend.  I think there
may be something of some legend in it, but for a strange reason.  The
two ungrateful sons are called Taro and Jiro.  Evelyn reminded me that
those names were associated in another film.  Those were the names of
the two main sled dogs who became the main characters of ANTARCTICA.
It could be just coincidence, or it could be that ANTARCTICA had a
reference to the same legend.  (Yes, I know that Taro and Jiro were
real dogs since ANTARCTICA is a true story, but the real dogs may have
been named for the sons in the legend.)

				Mark Leeper
				...ihnp4!mtgzz!leeper