“Stray Dog is an early collaboration with Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura. Kurosawa and Mifune would go on to make 16 films together before a falling out occurred during the making of Akahige (Red Beard). On an especially hot summer day, a young homicide detective named Murukami (Mifune) has his pistol stolen on a crowded bus. His attempts to find it are unsuccessful until he is teamed up with the older, wiser detective Sato (Shimura). They discover the gun is being used for increasingly dangerous crimes. What appears on the surface to be a traditional film noir becomes an allegory of postwar Japan. Guns are scarce under American control, and the stolen gun becomes an emblem of lost power. The rookie cop soon realizes that both he and the man he is hunting are veterans of the war and actually have much in common. He and the hunted are both stray dogs, separated only by a thin line of morality.” (Ted the Fiddler)

“One of the most influential films ever made, the idea was taken from Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s story “In the Grove.” A rape and a murder are committed in a wooded area near the Rashomon gate, but four different versions of the incident from four different witnesses emerge at the trial. Whose version is true? And, what is truth? This film launched Kurosawa’s international career and Toshiro Mifune’s along with it. It’s said that this film was the reason the Academy Awards created the Best Foreign Film category, and it was in fact awarded an honorary Oscar in 1952 because the category did not yet exist.” (Ted the Fiddler)

In the year 1586, a village under constant attack from bandits hires seven Ronin to help them defend themselves. A simple enough story, but within that framework Kurosawa weaves a tale of honor, justice and camaraderie with stunning visual fluidity and power. It has no CGI, no surround sound, and it’s not even in color, yet it will sweep you along in ways you can’t begin to imagine. If it looks familiar today, that’s because it has served as inspiration for countless films following in its shadow. Roger Ebert even argues that with this one film, Kurosawa gave birth to the genre conventions that have employed action heroes for the last 50 years. (Ted the Fiddler)

Originally intended to be made in the 40’s, Kurosawa’s version of Macbeth was long delayed, partly by Orson Welles’s own production that was underway. In this reimagining of Shakespeare’s classic, the setting is transferred to feudal Japan, a decision that yields new insight into a familiar story. Many of Kurosawa’s period films are very Noh in style, resulting in a fascination with the tiniest or grandest of movements and a minimum of dialogue. The weather plays a major role in creating the mood, and the growing claustrophobia of the Macbeth character’s paranoia and delusion. Isuzu Yamada’s turn as Lady Macbeth has a stillness that draws us in as she pulls the strings and pushes the buttons that fuel her husband’s madness. It all comes to a climax that builds to a level of intensity unmatched in cinematic history. (Ted the Fiddler)

The story takes place in war torn feudal Japan. Two peasants, Tahei (Minoru Chiaki) and Matakishi (Kamatari Fujiwara), have escaped from a prisoner-of-war camp and encounter General Rokurota Makabe (Toshiro Mifune). The General appeals to their greed and persuades them to join him in transporting Princess Yuki (Misa Uehara) and her gold treasure to safety. (Elements of this story figure prominently in Star Wars, made almost 20 years later). It’s been said that Kurosawa made this picture to help pull Toho studios out of debt, but it does stand up on its own in several ways. It’s Kurosawa’s first use of the widescreen format and he utilized every inch of the frame in his compositions. Kurosawa is also just having a bit of fun making a film of almost pure entertainment. There are still a few jabs at his usual social demons, but for Western audiences this film can also be enjoyed for nothing more than its action sequences, created by a master of the genre. (Ted the Fiddler)

Yojimbo is a nod to the American western Kurosawa was so fond of. This one is set in the 1800’s after the collapse of the Tokugawa Dynasty and at beginning of the end of the Samurai era. A wandering, out-of-work Samurai strolls into a town where two rival gangs have taken over. Toshiro Mifune plays Sanjuro, though as this is a name he chooses arbitrarily, he really is The Man with No Name. There is a dark humor that runs through the film that’s based in Sanjuro’s indifference to the situations around him. He accepts his lot in life as any good Japanese Ronin should, but enjoys manipulating the two groups as if their deadly conflict is a game for his personal amusement. That is, until the balance of power is suddenly shifted when new technology arrives upon the scene in the form of a pistol. Sanjuro’s weapon of choice, the sword, is quickly rendered obsolete.

This is the film that spawned a series of spaghetti westerns starring Clint Eastwood, starting with Fistful Of Dollars (The producers of Yojimbo actually sued the producers of Sergio Leone’s famous picture, and won). The story idea reportedly comes from the Dashiell Hammett novel Red Harvest, in which a private eye sets two rival gangs against each other. (Ted the Fiddler)

Red Beard is a film about humanity and healing. A young intern, Dr. Noboru Yasumoto, (Yuzo Kayama) has been trained in modern methods in Nagasaki and wishes to become the doctor for a prominent family. He is sent instead to a small public clinic to work under the older, well known Dr. Kyojo Niide (Toshiro Mifune). The young doctor is deeply resentful, but the older man gradually involves him in the daily life of the clinic, changing him for the better. Kurosawa uses all of his skill to bring to life a story with deeply felt emotion and understanding of the human condition. It’s also an amazing turn for Toshiro Mifune. Even though Mifune won several awards for his acting in this picture, the rumors are that disagreements over his performance were the key reason Kurosawa never worked on a film with him again. (Ted the Fiddler)

Kurosawa has said that Kagemusha (1980) was a dry run for Ran. According to him, this was a way of spreading the costs of costumes and props across the two films. He created storyboards for every shot in Ran over a period of ten years. The story was loosely based on Shakespeare’s King Lear, but it also has roots in Samurai legend. This is often considered to be Kurosawa’s greatest achievement as a filmmaker and it is indeed storytelling on a grand scale. By the time photography for this picture began, Kurosawa’s eyesight had become so bad he had to frame shots with the help of assistants, using his paintings as guidance. And so, like Beethoven composing without his hearing, Kurosawa never saw his own greatest masterpiece. (Ted the Fiddler)

Print preserved by the Library of Congress.

Print preserved by the Library of Congress.