Yojimbo

Akira Kurosawa's 1961 film YOJIMBO is a Japanese period drama where wily strategy is worth just as much as prowess with a sword. In the late Edo era (some decades before its end in 1868) a community is plagued by two opposing gangs who have built up a criminal empire of prostitution and gambling. E...

I was surprised when I saw this, how late it was set - 19th Century - as I'd always imagined it to be of a more historical nature. That doesn't remotely detract from the story though - as again Kurosawa casts Yoshirô Mifune ("Sanjûrô") in the leading role. Here he is a wandering samurai who arrives...