Yojimbo (1961)
Directed by Akira Kurosawa, Yojimbo (1961) stars Toshiro Mifune as a wandering ronin who arrives in a town controlled by two rival criminal gangs. Manipulating both sides, he attempts to bring balance to the corrupt town. The film became highly influential and later inspired Sergio Leones western A Fistful of Dollars.

Sanjuro (1962)
Directed by Akira Kurosawa, Sanjuro (1962) stars Toshiro Mifune as a wandering ronin who becomes involved in a plot to expose corruption within a samurai clan. The film serves as a follow-up to Yojimbo and blends swordplay action with satirical commentary on honor and leadership. Sanjuro is widely regarded as one of Kurosawas notable samurai films of the 1960s.

Yojimbo (1961)
Like Seven Samurai (1954), Yojimbo was Kurosawas tribute to the widescreen action Westerns of John Ford and was itself remade as a Western by Sergio Leone as A Fistful of Dollars (1964). Played by the great Toshiro Mifune, the films enigmatic samurai is a scruffy and itinerant warrior who wanders into a strange town and right into the middle of a war between two clans. Showing his skills with the sword within minutes of his arrival, he soon has the towns rival factions competing for his services.

Kurosawas genius for storytelling combines with thrilling swordplay, a healthy dose of black humour, a soundtrack every bit as atmospheric and amusing as Ennio Morricones, and a towering performance from Mifune, to make Yojimbo an irresistible widescreen action adventure.

Sanjuro (1962)
In response to the huge critical and commercial success of Yojimbo, Kurosawa and Mifune re-teamed a year later to make Sanjuro, a hilarious comedy of manners altogether more light-hearted than its predecessor.

The story has Sanjuro (Mifune) running lazy rings around nine naïve and clean-cut samurai and two gent