Yojimbo - 1961

Yojimbo is a Japanese samurai film directed by Akira Kurosawa, set in the late Edo period of Japan. The film follows a wandering ronin, played by Toshiro Mifune, who arrives in a small, lawless town torn between two rival gangs. With his cunning and swordsmanship, he plays both sides against each other to bring about their downfall. Inspired by American Westerns and hardboiled detective fiction, Kurosawa’s direction, along with Masaru Sato’s dynamic score and Kazuo Miyagawa’s striking cinematography, helped define the film’s gritty yet stylish aesthetic. Yojimbo was highly influential, inspiring Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and shaping the modern action genre.