Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune is an icon of a particular generation of Japanese film, even managing to cross over into American cinema and Hollywood towards the end of his life. Mifune’s career is specifically intertwined with Akira Kurosawa’s most well-known body of work. The actor and director duo were known to have 17 years’ worth of filmmaking together, and they produced an incredible 16 movies — many of which are now classics. Mifune’s roles in Kurosawa’s films cemented his status as an iconic actor of his era, a feat that only started because Kurosawa discovered the rookie actor by accident.
Mifune’s legacy, however, lies beyond the superficial level of his filmography. Western actor and director Clint Eastwood based his performances on Mifune’s roles in Kurosawa films; a movie Eastwood was in, Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars, is even considered to be an unofficial remake of Yojimbo. Japanese movies have come a long way since Mifune and Kurosawa’s day, with the first Japanese movie, Drive My Car, only recently nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, but they helped cement a global legacy. These are Toshiro Mifune’s 7 performances ranked.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
7 Stray Dog
Shintoho
Released in 1949, Stray Dog is a film noir that blends elements of the buddy cop genre and police stories — before these storylines were even developed for contemporary audiences. The film also was one of the earliest Japanese detective movies. This was Kurosawa and Mifune’s third collaboration, but Mifune shows off his keen acting skills portraying a homicide detective in the Tokyo Police Force. The movie is packed with social commentary, making it a representative of the era it was made in, but also a unique, stylish blend of Japanese and American aesthetics.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
6 Red Beard
Toho
Red Beard marked the end of the creative collaboration between Mifune and Kurosawa, and while it was a bittersweet occasion, Mifune’s role in the film garnered both awards and attention. A local doctor and martial artist (Mifune) has been assigned a new protégé to train in medicine, but this recruit is arrogant and does not see the world for how it is: full of both suffering and joy. Instead of chasing after greed and sin, he is guided towards a life of serving others to change lives. The movie ultimately was very popular in Japan, but failed to resonate with a global audience.
5 Rashomon
Daiei Film
Now considered one of the best films to have been ever made, Rashomon tells a story from multiple different angles. A samurai has been murdered within a forest, but if trees cannot hear you scream, what else can? That is why many characters gather their side of the story and declare it to be the truth of what really happened here. Mifune portrays Tajomaru, a bandit who shamelessly kills the samurai and plots to take his wife as her own. The film was a smash hit globally and won the Golden Lion at the 1951 edition of the Venice Film Festival.
4 Samurai Trilogy
Toho Studios
Hiroshi Inigaki’s Samurai Trilogy consists of three different movies shot and produced over two years. It loosely takes the story of Miyamoto Musashi, portrayed here by Toshiro Mifune, a prominent swordsman, and writer active during the 1600s, and turns it into a character story. In this series, he is introduced as a young warrior who truly cannot be considered a samurai yet. Throughout three movies, he earns this label and thus becomes a seasoned warrior respected across the land.
3 Seven Samurai
The epic 1954 samurai film Seven Samurai is one of Kurosawa’s best-known films, and there is a good reason why. Mifune is Kikuchiyo, a man who serves no master and is considered to be a loose cannon by the other characters. His character represents someone who can see both sides of the same coin: he understands the struggles of everyday people due to the systemic issues in place, but, at the same time, he wants to be capable and prove that he is worthy of becoming a samurai.
2 High and Low
Kurosawa Films
Mifune returns in Kurosawa’s police detective story High and Low. Although its premise is familiar — an executive’s son is kidnapped and held for ransom, leading our hero to try and figure out how to save the day — the movie is a masterpiece. One key to this tense puzzle is Mifune’s performance as Kingo Gondo, the executive whose son has been kidnapped. A stark transition from the roles he was previously playing in Kurosawa films, this forgotten gem in his extensive filmography shows off his capabilities as an actor.
1 Yojimbo
Kurosawa Production
Yojimbo has gained infamous notoriety in the movie world ever since Sergio Leone was accused of plagiarizing Kurosawa’s film A Fistful of Dollars. It is 1860, and a samurai without a lord to serve (Mifune) roams the countryside in search of a greater purpose in his life. When he stumbles upon a small rural town infested with crime, he is asked to choose sides between the warring crime lords and finds himself in a tough predicament.
