Starring Toshiro Mifune

Starring Toshiro Mifune

28 Episodes

Akira Kurosawa once said, “The ordinary Japanese actor might need ten feet of film to get across an impression. Toshiro Mifune needed only three feet.” However, the filmmaker certainly gave Mifune—born on April 1, 1920—a lot of space: over the course of sixteen indelible collaborations, the actor and the director created some of the most dynamic characters ever put on-screen, all marked by an explosive physicality, live-wire intensity, and surprising tenderness. Discovered by Kurosawa during an open audition at Toho Studios, Mifune would go on to inhabit a wide variety of roles—from gangsters to samurai to salarymen—in the director’s greatest films, masterpieces like STRAY DOG, RASHOMON, SEVEN SAMURAI, THE BAD SLEEP WELL, and HIGH AND LOW. Further cementing his status as an icon of Japanese cinema with his commanding turns in classics by Kenji Mizoguchi, Keisuke Kinoshita, and Hiroshi Inagaki, Mifune left behind a formidable legacy as one of the most electrifying performers of the twentieth century.

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Starring Toshiro Mifune

28 Episodes

  • Red Beard
    3:05:22
    Red Beard
    Episode 1

    Red Beard

    Episode 1

    Directed by Akira Kurosawa • 1965 • Japan
    Starring Toshiro Mifune, Yuzo Kayama, Yoshio Tsuchiya

    A testament to the goodness of humankind, Akira Kurosawa’s RED BEARD (AKAHIGE) chronicles the tumultuous relationship between an arrogant young doctor and a compassionate clinic director. Toshiro Mifu...

  • The Sword of Doom
    2:00:27
    The Sword of Doom
    Episode 2

    The Sword of Doom

    Episode 2

    Directed by Kihachi Okamoto • 1966 • Japan
    Starring Tatsuya Nakadai, Toshiro Mifune

    Tatsuya Nakadai and Toshiro Mifune star in the story of a wandering samurai who exists in a maelstrom of violence. A gifted swordsman plying his craft during the turbulent final days of shogunate rule in Japan, R...

  • Samurai Rebellion
    2:01:21
    Samurai Rebellion
    Episode 3

    Samurai Rebellion

    Episode 3

    Directed by Masaki Kobayashi • 1967 • Japan
    Starring Toshiro Mifune, Yoko Tsukasa, Go Kato

    Toshiro Mifune stars as Isaburo Sasahara, an aging swordsman living a quiet life until his clan lord orders that his son marry the lord’s mistress, who has recently displeased the ruler. Reluctantly, fathe...

  • Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo
    1:56:01
    Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo
    Episode 4

    Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo

    Episode 4

    ZATOICHI #20
    Directed by Kihachi Okamoto • 1970 • Japan

    After a two-year absence from screens, the blind swordsman returns in one of his best adventures. Zatoichi treks to a village that has always been a favorite spot of his, only to discover that it’s become a living hell, plagued by feuding f...

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