Yojimbo (1961)

[用心棒]

Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Eijiro Tono, Tatsuya Nakada

Synopsis:
A ronin wanders into a town in the middle of a gang war and decides to profit by playing both sides.

Impressions:
This movie is a lot of fun and has had quite a few imitators that are actually pretty good in their own right. Toshiro Mifune makes a great morally grey ronin who has his good points but isn't above using murder and mayhem for profit. The rest of the cast is rather colorful as well, which really makes this movie stand out. Tatsuya Nakadai as the cocky gun-wielding Unosuke, Daisuke Kato as the dim-witted Inokichi, Isuzu Yamada as the downright vicious Orin, and Eijiro Tono as the poor, put-upon tavern keeper Gonji. I also want to make a special note of the score by Masaru Sato, which is very much a 60s take on traditional music. Immensely entertaining, if you've seen films like Clint Eastwood's A Fistful of Dollars or Bruce Willis' Last Man Standing, you owe it to yourself to see the original.

Rating:
Own It