The inspiration behind Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars, Yojimbo puts a brilliant twist on the notion of double-dealing. Toshiro Mifune stars as a scruffy mercenary with a furrowed brow and a persistant itch who cynically betrays two feuding families in a town torn apart by greed. The action is swift and sharp as a samurai's sword, and the film itself is a satiric commentary on violence and the human condition. "Like a giant cauldron the screen boils with life, and Kurosawa's telescopic lenses, spooning deep, lift the depths to the surface and hurl the whole mess at the spectator's face." (Time)
1961, b&w, 1 hour 50 minutes, Japan