directed by: Akira Kurosawa, year: 1961
actors: Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yoko Tsukasa, Takashi Shimura

Yojimbo centers on a wily ronin who enters a corrupt frontier town ruled by two rival gangs. He feigns neutrality and then plays the factions against each other with clever ruses, sharp wit, and swift, brutal action, cutting a path toward his own survival while testing the town’s code of honor. Kurosawa’s stark visuals, precise pacing, and moral ambiguity fuse samurai cinema with Western myth, creating an influential story about cunning, violence, and survival.

Edo Period, Samurai, Crime Drama, Western Influenced, Jidaigeki, Historical Action