Toshiro Mifune Movies
Born in China to Japanese parents, Toshiro Mifune hoped to become an assistant cameraman after serving in World War II, but was deflected from this goal when he won a talent contest sponsored by Toho Studios. With no prior acting experience, he launched his movie career in 1946 and, two years later, worked for the first time with director Akira Kurosawa in Drunken Angel. In later interviews, Kurosawa said that, although worried about the untrained Mifune's lack of artistic discipline, he "still...did not want to smother that vitality." The director eventually came to realize that Mifune's willingness to do and try anything before the camera was -- for him, at least -- preferable to the introspection and motivation-searching practiced by other Japanese actors.Mifune's raw, unbridled masculinity was ideal for such Kurosawa films as Rashomon (1950) and The Seven Samurai (1954). But as he matured artistically, the actor proved he was no one-trick pony, as demonstrated by his low-key, carefully crafted performance as a tormented business executive in High and Low (1963). The first internationally popular Japanese film star since Sessue Hayakawa, Mifune was held in as high esteem by the film industry as he was by the public, winning Venice Film Festival awards for his performances in Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1960) and Red Beard (1965). Mifune's ability to shift from macho to subtle sensitivity was very similar to the work of Clint Eastwood, who, ironically, played the Mifune-character role in A Fistful of Dollars, the 1964 remake of Yojimbo.
In addition to his work for Kurosawa, Mifune starred in Hiroshi Inagaki's Samurai Trilogy, and was occasionally seen in English-language productions (often dubbed by his favorite voice-over artist, Paul Frees). The actor's non-Japanese efforts included John Frankenheimer's Grand Prix (1966) and Steven Spielberg's 1941 (1979); he also played Admiral Yamamoto in Midway (1976) and was teamed with another major male action star, Charles Bronson, in Red Sun (1971). Beginning in 1963, Mifune produced theatrical and TV films through his own company, and, in 1964, made his first (and only) attempt at directing with The Legacy of the 500,000. Mifune died in 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
In this drama, a student takes up judo to earn his peers' respect. As he studies and practices under the expert tutelage of his master, the youth is exposed to the spiritual side of the martial art. At first he resists these lessons. But when he fights his girlfriend's father, he begins to gain a deeper understanding of the ancient art. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1964
In this Japanese adventure, a man is kidnapped by the wealthy president of a wartime trading company. He is taken because he is the only one who knows the location of 10,000 gold coins that the Japanese army left in the Philippines during WW II. His captors take him to a boat helmed by the financier's brother. He is then forced to join a small group disguised as Chinese merchants and U.S. Army troops and enter the Philippines where they make an arduous journey through the thick jungles and rugged mountains of North Luzon. Along the way, they find headhunters, but never the gold. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1963
Also released as Kamizake, the Japanese Attack Squadron is a docudrama concerning the suicide pilots of World War 2. An acceptable amount of screen time is devoted to the psychological makeup of the pilots. There is also a cursory overview of the "Die for the Rising Sun" groupthink of the Japanese populace. The film's greatest value is its selection of rare wartime newsreel footage, showing the Kamikaze in action. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
In this Japanese adventure, a brave sailor--called Sinbad in the English language version Americans could relate to him--must stop a wicked premier from overtaking the kingdom. To do so he enlists the aide of a pirate band. In addition to ridding their land of the villain, they also get rid of the mean old witch who turns people to stone. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Toshiro Mifune, Jun Funado, (more)
This sweeping historical epic has sometimes been labelled the Gone with the Wind of Japan; at any rate, it's almost the same length as Gone (the film was originally released in two parts). Chusha Ichikawa plays a powerful and ruthless feudal lord who battles virtuous young noble Yuzo Kayama. Ichikawa is temporarily victorious when he tricks Kayama into committing Hara Kiri. Vengeance is meted out by Kayama's forty-seven samurai retainers. Based on a venerable Japanese legend, the story of Chushingura has been filmed several times, but only the 1941 version (47 Ronin) matched the grandeur of director Hiroshi Inagaki's 1962 version. In some English-speaking countries, Chushingura has been released in a shorter version titled The Loyal 47 Ronin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Koshiro Matsumoto, Yuzo Kayama, (more)
- 1962
This lively Japanese adventure is set in a construction camp where laborers are paid a pittance and nearly worked to death by cruel guards. The story centers on one fellow who falls in love with a woman working in the mess hall. The woman is also wooed by another worker. In the end, the two rivals settle their differences with flying axes. The hero wins, but then learns that the girl is married. He ends up confiding his escape plan to her and offers to take her and her husband with him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Set in the mid-19th century when the disintegration of a rigid social structure was turning the once wealthy into paupers, or vice-versa, this kinetic drama by acclaimed Akira Kurosawa features the hero Sanjuro (Toshiro Mifune), one of many samurai whose once traditional positions were fast disappearing. In this tale of false perceptions and truth, of honor and dishonor, Sanjuro is a character who captures and holds attention from the moment he appears on screen. When he arrives in a small city, he discovers that a band of nine men are anxious to overthrow the corrupt ruling elite. Physically strong and agile, mentally sharp and clear-headed, Sanjuro still has an deep commitment to justice and honor underneath his dirty, abrasive, and cynical exterior. The nine men may doubt his nobility, but that is because they are only looking skin deep. While the sword fighting and action scenes are memorable, it is Toshiro Mifune's characterization and Kurosawa's camera eye that enhance the story. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Toshiro Mifune, Yuzo Kayama, (more)
Based on King's Ransom, an "87th Precinct" novel by Ed McBain (aka Evan Hunter), High and Low stars Toshiro Mifune as Gondo, a wealthy industrialist. Gondo is contacted by a gang of kidnappers, who inform him that they've kidnapped his son. The crooks demand a huge ransom for the boy's return -- an amount so huge that it will utterly bankrupt Gondo. As the harried businessman prepares to pay the ransom, he discovers that his son is safe at home: the kidnappers have accidentally snatched the son of his chauffeur. Does Gondo drop his payoff plans, or does he do the honorable thing and rescue his employee's son? This dilemma is but one aspect of the multilayered character study from the unbeatable team of star Toshiro Mifune and filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, who directs this superb film with his usual depth and impeccable eye for detail and character. As a man forced to make impossible decisions, Mifune gives a nuanced, perceptive and psychologically convincing performance. While not one of Kurosawa's master works, High and Low, with its grim reality and moral ambiguity stands as a superb example of film noir at its best. High and Low was originally released in Japan as Tengoku To-Jigoku. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Toshiro Mifune, Kyoko Kagawa, (more)
- 1961
The attack on Pearl Harbor is presented from the Japanese point of view in this war drama. The story centers upon Natsuki, the flight navigator for Admiral Isoroku Yamaguchi, the task force commander in charge of the fateful attack. After the bombing, Natsuki returns to Japan where his fiance waits. Though they are childhood sweethearts, he, fearing that marriage will affect his competence as an officer, refuses to marry her. The war continues, and Natsuki begins to wonder if the Japanese fleet is truly invincible after they suffer a series of crushing defeats. His own carrier is sunk by American bombers at Midway. As they sink, the crewman stand at attention and salute. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yosuke Natsuki, Toshiro Mifune, (more)
Toshiro Mifune portrays a Samurai who finds himself in the middle of a feud-torn Japanese village. Neither side is particularly honorable, but Mifune is hungry and impoverished, so he agrees to work as bodyguard (or Yojimbo) for a silk merchant (Kamatari Fujiwara) against a sake merchant (Takashi Shimura). He then pretends to go to work for the other, the better to let the enemies tear each other apart. Imprisoned for his "treachery," he escapes just in time to watch the two warring sides wipe each other out. This was his plan all along, and now that peace has been restored, he leaves the village for further exploits. Yes, Yojimbo was the prototype for the Clint Eastwood "Man with No Name" picture A Fistful of Dollars (1964). The difference is that Fistful relies on Eastwood for its success, whereas Yojimbo scores on every creative level, from director Akira Kurosawa to cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa to Mifune's classic lead performance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Toshiro Mifune, Eijiro Tono, (more)
- 1961
Two war buddies help each other defend their businesses against gangsters in this crime drama. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1961
Mohei (Toshiro Mifune) is the samurai warrior who battles against the Portuguese arsenal of guns and cannons. With these newly introduced weapons, two families battle for control of a valuable land parcel in 17th-century Japan. This feature was made in 1961 but obviously introduced in America to follow up the success of Hell In The Pacific which stars Mifune, one of Japan's most world-renown thespians. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Toshiro Mifune, Kyoko Kagawa, (more)
- 1961
This award-winning drama by noted director Ismael RodrÃguez revolves around a festival of mayordomÃa in the provinces, or something on the idea of "king for a day." In the annual celebration, the church elects one man as "chief," an honor that is gained by buying it, in effect. Whoever donates the most, gets the coveted title. Celebrated Japanese star Toshiro Mifune plays the lead character, Animas Trujano, a rough peasant who abuses his children and does nothing while his wife supports the family. Animas would like to be "chief" in the annual festival and begins to do everything he can to get the needed money. Meanwhile, Animas' wife is headed for some serious trouble in connection with a local woman of dubious morals that Animas has been seeing. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Toshiro Mifune, Flor Silvestre, (more)
- 1961
In this Japanese drama, a ten-year-old boy lives in the country with his sister and his widowed father, a Buddhist priest. When the father decides to remarry, the boy is devastated. The father, wanting to avoid trouble, then sends the boy to live with a parishioner in a neighboring village. The old woman the boy lives with hates children and constantly nags at him. The poor lad tires of her and the work she assigns him. One day, he picks up a small idol and goes for a walk with it. He tells the idol all his troubles. He soon finds himself in more trouble when he is arrested for stealing the idol, which had come from a local shrine. The authorities return him to his father, who is having problems with his new wife. She then throws away the boy's beloved amulet. When he calls her on this, the woman leaves. The boy and his sister go looking for her. In the end, the boy is placed up for adoption. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1960
In the Japanese detective saga/action film Ankokugai no Taiketsu (AKA Last Gunfight), the legendary Toshiro Mifune portrays Fujioka, a detective facing corruption charges. As the story opens, he receives a demotion and gets reassigned to a crime-ridden district overrun by two notoriously violent and ruthless Yakuza clans: the Oka and the Kazuka. The Oka attempt to buy Fujioka off and recruit him as an ally against the Kazuka, but the detective befriends Murayama, a former Kazuka member hell-bent on revenge against the Oka for rubbing out his wife. Fujioka thus prepares to take on the Oka as adversaries. The tone of the film is (given its subject matter) somewhat atypical: light, playful and fun. Koji Tsuruta, Yoko Tsukasa, Jun Tazaki and Makoto Sato co-star. Though this film went long unreleased theatrically in the United States, students of Japanese cinema will be fascinated to know that it did air quietly on New York's Channel 7, late one night in March 1967. Ankokugai no Taiketsu also screened at the 2007 Berlin International Film Festival, 37 years after its Japanese premiere. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
In this engaging drama, acclaimed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa deftly splices together the nuances of hypocrisy, old feudal misconceptions lingering in modern corruption, and Shakespeare's Hamlet. The rotten corporate world is taken on by Koichi Nishi (Toshiro Mifune), who is looking for revenge in the death of his father. Koichi is a private secretary to a government official, and in the opening scene, at Koichi's wedding to the official's disabled daughter, a special cake is brought in which jolts those present -- it reminds them of the suicide that paved the way for their current positions of power. Then the police arrive and arrest one of the wedding guests. Unknown to the others, Koichi is the hidden force behind all the strange happenings that begin to sting their consciences and ruin their lives. Ghostly figures and would-be killers in the dark streets contrast with shining corporate offices as the plot maneuvers to its tragic conclusion. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Toshiro Mifune
- 1959
This well-wrought, visually stunning tale from Japanese mythology is directed by Hiroshi Inagaki and relates the adventures of a legendary Prince Yamato Takeru (Toshiro Mifune). The reason for those adventures is linked to the creation and/or discovery of the "three treasures" basic to the Shinto religion and the mythic origins of Japan (Yamato) and her emperors. These "three treasures" are a comma-shaped jewel, a mirror, and a sword. As the Prince goes about slaying dragons and surviving all manner of natural disasters -- earthquakes, volcanos, floods -- the heroic stories of how Japan and its imperial family came into being are told in epic style. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yoko Tsukasa, Kyoko Kagawa, (more)
- 1959
Released in Japan as Sengoku Gunto-Den, Saga of the Vagabonds stars Toshiro Mifune as a feudal bandit. Koji Tsuruta, entrusted with the money that will be used to fund the local warlords' battle against Mifune, is waylaid and robbed. Accused of stealing the money, the disgruntled Tsuruta casts his lot with Mifune. He assembles the bandits to storm his family castle and wreak vengeance on the younger brother who betrayed him. Based on a story by Juro Miyoshi, Saga of the Vagabonds was co-scripted by Akira Kurosawa. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
In this lively Japanese samurai epic, a brave 16th-century fighter challenges an evil warrior clan after he falls in love with a beautiful princess. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Isusu Yamada plays a pretty Japanese tea seller who befriends widowed laborer Toshiro Mifune. Before either party knows what has happened, the two have fallen in love. Celebrating their impending marriage, the couple spend a wonderful evening in downtown Tokyo, accompanied by the tea seller's young son (Harunori Kametani). Perhaps it is best that none of the participants in this nocturnal excursion are aware that tragedy looms just around the corner. Running a brief 59 minutes, Down Town is not so much a feature film as a profoundly moving tone poem. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Isuzu Yamada, Toshiro Mifune, (more)
- 1958
Tough and ready Mitsu, the rickshaw man, goes in for anything rough and tumble. His life changes, however, when he crosses paths with Toshio, a young boy who has injured himself. As thanks for helping the boy to the doctor, Toshio's parents, the Yoshiokas, invite Mitsu to dinner and he gladly accepts their offer. They become close and when Mr. Yoshioka dies from an illness, the family asks Mitsu to serve as the young boy's tutor. Mitsu does an exemplary job readying Toshio for school, instilling in him the honesty and honor which are so much a part of his own character. After Toshio leaves for school, Mitsu evidences an interest in Mrs. Yoshioka, but their difference in station keeps him from expressing his desire. Mitsu's repressed attraction for the lovely widow grows, driving him to his death at the film's climactic end. The Rickshaw Man is a sentimental favorite of Japanese cinema. ~ Brian Whitener, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Toshiro Mifune, Hideko Takamine, (more)
Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (original Japanese title: Kakushi Toride No San Akunin) stars Minoru Chiaki and Kamatari Fujiwara as a pair of misfit soldiers. Running from the enemy after a disastrous defeat, the two soldiers fall in with general Toshiro Mifune, who is in search of a huge cache of gold. Mifune is also desirous of freeing princess-in-exile Misa Uehara from the clutches of the evil victorious army. Several large and small battles ensue before Mifune can realize his goal. If the plot of Hidden Fortress sounds vaguely familiar to you, try this exercise: substitute two robots for Chiaki and Fujiwara, Mark Hamill for Mifune, and Carrie Fisher for Uehara. George Lucas himself admitted that Hidden Fortress was a principal inspiration for his Star Wars saga; stretching the point farther, both Hidden Fortress and Star Wars had their roots in John Ford's The Searchers. Originally released in a 137-minute form, The Hidden Fortress was sliced to ribbons by its American distributors, and years later received extensive restoration. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Toshiro Mifune, Misa Uehara, (more)
Macbeth is reimagined as a samurai in feudal Japan in director Akira Kurosawa's classic adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy. Familiar with Orson Welles's more faithful adaptation, Kurosawa chose to place a more personal stamp on his version by translating the events and characters to historical Japan. The equivalent of the tragic Scottish lord is Taketoki Washizu (Toshiro Mifune), a valiant warrior whose life is transformed by an encounter with a ghostly female spirit. The spirit offers several predictions, finally stating that Washizu will rise to power over the current warlord. When these predictions begin coming true, he and his ambitious wife decide to ensure his ascendancy to power by murdering the current ruler. As with Macbeth, Washizu achieves his goal, but his guilt and the suspicions of others soon bring about his downfall. The shift to Japanese settings is seamless, creating a historically accurate and resonant work with a culturally distinct visual style. The supporting performances also recall Japanese tradition, particularly Isuzu Yamada's creepily unemotional take on Lady Macbeth, while Mifune proves consistently gripping in the sheer intensity of his performance. The intelligence of Kurosawa's alterations retains the drama's tragic impact, especially during the conclusion, in which Washizu makes a memorable final stand against an advancing army. Impressive in every regard, Throne of Blood seems secure in the pantheon of superior film adaptations of William Shakespeare. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Toshiro Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, (more)
Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa transferred the setting of Maxim Gorky's play The Lower Depths from Imperial Russia to his own country's Edo Period--which, like Gorky's 19th-century setting, was an era of great cultural advances, offset by the miseries of those who weren't in the aristocracy. Kurosawa's film concentrates on Toshiro Mifune, playing a crooked gambler who falls in love with the sister (Kyoko Kagawa) of his cruel landlady (Isuzu Yamada). Herself carrying a torch for Mifune, the landlady exacts a roundabout revenge by killing her own husband and pinning the blame on the gambler. As the landlady descends into madness, those whom she has treated wretchedly laugh at her plight. Originally titled Donzoko, The Lower Depths was renamed Les Bas-Fonds for its French release--the same title bestowed upon Jean Renoir's 1937 adaptation of the Gorky play. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Toshiro Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, (more)
- 1956
- Add Samurai 3: Duel at Ganryu Island to QueueAdd Samurai 3: Duel at Ganryu Island to top of Queue
Samurai 3: Duel At Ganryu Island is the final movie in director Hiroshi Inagacki's trilogy following a samurai played by Toshiro Mifune. In this film, Mifune is challenged to a duel by his arch-rival (Koji Tsuruta). Before he fights the duel, Mifune is tested by a number of bandits and has to cope with the affections of two different women. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Toshiro Mifune, Koji Tsuruta, (more)
