Yojimbo

In one of his best-known roles, Toshiro Mifune plays the boisterous, bullying, amoral ronin (masterless samurai) who calls himself Sanjuro (“Thirty Years Old”). When Sanjuro wanders into a town terrorized by an ongoing war between two factions, he decides to make some money by cleaning up the place. Yojimbo was inspired by the American Western and combines its best elements—a remarkable authenticity, finely drawn characters, brilliant comedy, and superb editing—with exquisite widescreen cinematography by Kazuo Miyagawa, who made extensive and surprising use of the telephoto lens, so that the most violent swordfights take on a rare intimacy.