We Americans think we invented the idea of the lone gunman, the one dude who can take down hordes and hordes of slovenly enemies all by himself. We didn't. I haven't done enough research to tell you for sure who did, to tell you where that idea came from, but I can tell you that Yojimbo is among the finest "lone warrior" movies there is. That Sergio Leone ripped it off and turned it into A Fistful of Dollars is well known. That the Japanese or the Chinese invented the one-man-army movie genre is probably less well known. Kurosawa is obviously a genius, and Yojimbo being one of his shorter movies (while also being one of his greats) flies by. Toshiro Mifune is, as always, excellent. If you are a Kurosawa buff and you haven't seen this one yet, what are you waiting for? If you're not a Kurosawa buff, what are you waiting for? Yojimbo is amazing from the moment the dog walks down the road with the human arm in his mouth.

It's been too long since I wanted to watch Kurosawa's movies. Interesting to see what begat all those Spaghetti Westerns. I get the idea Kurosawa was a fan of American Westerns - there are so many 'cliches' from them. But the Japanese Samurai flair is quite interesting. I liked this one, and will recommend it to friends.

It is my pleasure to be the first to review this one. So Toshiro Mifune is this wandering samurai out of work since the collapse of the shogunate. In his wandering he comes into a small town that ain't quite big enough for the two local gang bosses, who are making life hard for each other. Everything that happens next will seem cliche in every other movie that tries to rip it off, for example, the Zatoichi series. Just in case you didn't know, some of the movies that have used this plot include "Fistful of Dollars" and "Last Man Standing". To be honest, this isn't the most action packed movie, it's a comedy first and foremost, but the way Mifune plays the nameless hero 'Sanjuro' (he tells the boss his name is Sanjuro, but that just means 30 years old) makes the whole movie. You can't help but wish you were this character, with his uber skills and brash self confidence. This movie is a must watch if you like samurai stuff.