Few Japanese actors who've graced the silver screen throughout history are quite as legendary or prolific as Toshiro Mifune. He was born in 1920 and spent nearly 50 years acting from the late 1940s until the mid-1990s, and more often than not appeared in leading roles (especially at the height of his popularity). With well over 100 acting credits to his name, and collaborations with some of the greatest Japanese directors of all time, his body of work is a rich and immense one to explore.
His most famous collaborator was of course the equally legendary Akira Kurosawa, who directed Mifune in 16 films before the pair had a falling out in the mid-1960s. Truthfully, many of Mifune's most noteworthy films are also directed by Kurosawa, so to keep things a little more interesting, what follows is a selection of Kurosawa collaborations along with some non-Kurosawa movies that Mifune shone in. He always brought his A-game, and his screen presence has rarely been matched since he passed away in 1997, as these films aim to demonstrate.
10 '47 Ronin' (1962)
The story of 47 Ronin is a legendary one, being based on a real-life historical event from early in the 1700s. The titular ronin (masterless samurai) become so after their lord is forced to commit seppuku. To seek revenge for his death, they plan to attack and assassinate the court official responsible for making them ronin.
Besides the heavily fictionalized 2013 film that stars Keanu Reeves, most adaptations of this legendary story have hefty runtimes, with this 1962 version going for about 3.5 hours. There are too many 1950s/1960s Japanese stars in the movie to count, but Toshiro Mifune is certainly among them, and gets a few spots to shine within this epic, sometimes exhausting, but ultimately rewarding historical action/drama film.
9 'Samurai I-III' (1954-1956)
Beginning in 1954, Toshiro Mifune starred in an acclaimed trilogy where he played the famed swordsman Musashi Miyamoto, a real-life historical figure from Japan who lived between 1584 and 1645. Though the story is split across three films, they do add up to feel like one epic movie, especially because various other actors appear alongside Mifune throughout all three films.
Samurai I (1954) follows Miyamoto's training to be a warrior, Samurai II (1955) sees him challenging another well-regarded swordsman, and Samurai III (1956) sees a more experienced Miyamoto himself get challenged by another up-and-coming swordsman. As a whole, the character growth throughout the trilogy makes all three compelling, they're consistently well-shot, and each contains memorable action sequences, too.
8 Hell in the Pacific' (1968)
There's no shortage of World War Two movies out there, but few are quite as ambitious as Hell in the Pacific. This is a minimalist, simple film, with a cast of two: Lee Marvin plays an American soldier, and Toshiro Mifune plays a Japanese soldier. Both find themselves stuck on an island, unable to communicate with each other. That's about all there is premise-wise, at least initially.
There's very little dialogue, and the two lead performances are each very physical, further lending to the film's stark, sometimes harrowing realism. From fighting, to tense ceasefires, to a realization that trust may be needed to escape the island, it's a consistently interesting movie to watch play out, and it's to the cast's credit (and John Boorman's skilled direction) that it never runs the risk of becoming boring.
7 'Throne of Blood' (1957)
Akira Kurosawa made several Shakespeare adaptations throughout his career, but Throne of Blood is the one that sticks closest to the original text. The text in question is the iconic tragedy Macbeth, centering around one man who learns through a prophecy that he's to achieve great power, and sets about ensuring he seizes that power by any (violent) means necessary.
Mifune plays the stand-in for the original play's title character, here a samurai warrior who's increasingly overcome by paranoia and hallucinations the more terrible deeds he commits. It's one of his very best and most commanding performances, and he's a significant reason why some consider Throne of Blood to be the best Shakespeare film adaptation of all time.
6 'Tora-san Goes North' (1987)
There are a staggering 50 films in the Tora-san series, with the majority of them released between 1969 and 1995, and the final one - serving as a series epilogue - getting released in 2019. The series follows an eternal bachelor named Tora, with most movies in the series seeing him fall in love with someone new, only to have things not work out by the film's end.
Toshiro Mifune only appears in one of the films in this series, but it happens to be one of the best while also standing as one of the legendary actor's last truly great performances. Mifune plays a veterinarian who clashes with Tora during the latter's travels, and things get more complicated when Tora falls for the vet's estranged daughter. Hilarity - and some drama - ensue.
5 'Red Beard' (1965)
The last collaboration between Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune was Red Beard, a three-hour drama about a skilled but stern doctor taking a young medical student under his wing. It's not the most accessible Kurosawa film by any means, though there are fantastic sequences throughout, and it will reward patient viewers.
Red Beard does, however, manage to feature Toshiro Mifune at his very best, with the actor delivering one of the most intense, complex, and engrossing lead performances of his career. It's a fascinating character study of a reserved, hard-to-please doctor nicknamed Red Beard, and though it's a shame Kurosawa and Mifune didn't work together again after 1965, at least their partnership went out on a high.
4 'The Sword of Doom' (1966)
Befitting the morbid title, The Sword of Doom is one of the darkest samurai movies of all time. It follows a swordsman named Ryunosuke, who's notorious for being a cold-blooded, seemingly invincible, and immoral killing machine. He's gradually driven mad by his actions, and those who try to stop him ultimately seem doomed to fail.
The great Tatsuya Nakadai stars in the lead role here, making it one of many movies Mifune and he appeared in together. Mifune gets a little less to do, as he plays a rival swordsman who proves to be a surprisingly worthy opponent for Ryunosuke at one point in the film. Seeing these two actors clash on screen is always great, and the fact that The Sword of Doom is also just a great movie in general helps, too.
3 'Yojimbo' (1961)
Yojimbo is another film featuring both Toshiro Mifune and Tatsuya Nakadai, though here, Mifune is certainly the lead. It's a classic Akira Kurosawa movie in every sense of the word, telling the story of a lone wanderer who comes into a small town, sees it's plagued by gang warfare, and then sets about with a scheme that will see both gangs take each other out, all the while he remains in the middle as the last man standing.
Those more familiar with Spaghetti Westerns rather than Japanese cinema might think that premise sounds familiar, and that's because it was indeed recycled by Sergio Leonefor his 1964 film, A Fistful of Dollars. That's a classic in its own right, but Yojimbo did it first and did it better, with the lead character being one of the most entertaining Mifune ever played.
2 'High and Low' (1963)
Showing that Akira Kurosawa could make a great crime movie the same way he could make a great samurai movie, High and Low proves to be up there with his best. Toshiro Mifune plays a wealthy executive who gets wrapped up in an extortion plot once the son of his chauffeur is kidnapped and held for ransom.
This sets off a complex police operation to find the kidnapper before the ransom's due, with plenty of drama and suspense being gained from this expertly paced premise. It's a great movie from start to finish, and certainly represents a high point for both Kurosawa and Mifune (and Tatsuya Nakadai, because he shows up in this one too!).
1 'Seven Samurai' (1954)
At the end of the day, Seven Samurai is the best movie Akira Kurosawa ever made, and it's the best movie Toshiro Mifune ever starred in. It's a classic film within the action genre, and there's a reason it's one of the most watchlisted movies of all time: it's just pretty much perfect.
Mifune also stands out here as the most memorable character, initially serving as comic relief before his character grows and becomes more complex as the film progresses. Those intimidated by Seven Samurai's 3+ hour-long runtime need not fear, either: the pace is just about perfect, and the final act makes watching the entire thing all worthwhile in the end.
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