Yojimbo (1961)
Another smash by Kurosawa. Although I've seen two remake/reworkings of this film and loved them, this theme never gets old to me: Lone fighter wanders into warring town and sets both sides against each other, does the right thing for once and catches hell for it, then recovers and pays them back. Although I've seen him in a handful of films including two Kurosawa movies, this performance by Toshirô Mifune I think is my favorite so far. I love how, for most of the movie, he doesn't have that trademark Mifune scowl on his face. He looks, by turns, jovial, laid back, bemused, bored...then finally angry. There are lots of interesting characters in the movie, but I liked Gonji, the tavern keeper, and Inokichi, the fat, uni-browed doofus the best. Lots of great dialogue that hearkens to the future
Fistful of Dollars and
Last Man Standing. My favorite bit of dialogue is Mifune's, " I'm not dying yet. I have to kill quite a few men first."
The directing by Kurosawa is tight, and the music by Masaru Satô is great.
My third winner in a row watching Kurosawa.