Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Akira Kurosawa’s tightly paced, beautifully composed Sanjuro. In this sly companion piece to Yojimbo, jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan’s evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a “proper” samurai on its ear. Less brazen in tone than its predecessor but equally entertaining, this classic character’s return is a masterpiece in its own right.

“Samurai action of the highest order.” — Empire Magazine

“Let me say it simply, Kurosawa was my master.” —Martin Scorsese

“A surprising, fetching, beautifully made film.” – Bosley Crowther, The New York Times