74 Akira Kurosawa Movies, Ranked Best to Worst

Shichinin no samurai also known as Seven Samurai is an Akira Kurosawa directed Japanese masterpiece. The plot revolves around seven rōnin or samurais with no masters who are hired by villagers to protect them against bandits. The final battle sees the eventual victory of the Samurai but at a very high cost. 

Akira Kurosawa’s police procedural crime film follows Kingo Gondo, an affluent shoe-company executive who mortgages his possessions, with plans to gain control of the shoe company. Then his driver’s son, mistaken as Gondo’s son, is kidnapped and the exorbitant ransom demand is almost the amount he has raised. He is in a dilemma………whether to save other man’s child or his business plans.

Rashômon is a period drama that showcases four characters retelling the same story from their own perspective, often self-serving and untrue. A samurai is murdered and his wife is raped by a bandit, and the story is retold by the wife, the bandit, the dead samurai's ghost and a woodcutter.

The Kurosawa directed masterpiece tells the story of a wandering rōnin, who arrives in a small village and takes up the name of Kuwabatake Sanjuro, to pit two rival businessmen against each other. Although Sanjuro wants to reap the benefits himself, a full-scale war breaks out, leaving Sanjuro questioning his choices. 

After obtaining his post graduate degree in medicine, Dr Noboru looks forward to serving wealthy clients and earning lots of money.  However, he is disappointed to learn that he is being sent to a small hospital in a remote village.   

Ikiru, which in English means ‘to live’, is a Japanese drama film, focusing on a Japanese bureaucrat, nearing his retirement. His wife is dead and his son is indifferent. A long part of bureaucratic inefficiency, he is not affected when a group ofparents wanting to turn a cesspool into a playground is endlessly harassed. Then, he is diagnosed with terminal cancer.    

Akira Kurosawa’s Oscar-winning directorial is based on Russian explorer Vladimir Arsenyev’s memoir. In 1902, Capt. Arsenyev is sent to far-east Russia on a surveying expedition where nomadic hunter Dersu Uzala works as a guide and saves Arsenyev’s life. Guiding another expedition years later, he earns deep friendship of Arsenyev, who invites Uzala to city, but unable to adapt, he returns to the hills.

This action thriller crime drama film tells the story of a samurai named Sanjuro who helps a young man save his uncle who has been framed and imprisoned. Sanjuro also helps him and his fellow young warriors weed out evil influences in their clan.  

Throne of Blood is a historical Japanese drama film, which tells the story of a war-hardened general, who receives a prophecy that says that he would become the Lord of Spider’s Web Castle. However, his wife asks him to speed up the prophecy by murdering the current lord and usurping his place. 

In feudal Japan, two peasants returning from war meet General Rokurota Makabe and Princess Yuki of the invaded country, who must cross the enemy line to reach the friendly territory and rebuild their clan with their gold cache. Unaware of their identity, the peasants agree to help in return for gold. The general fights his way through enemies while protecting his precious responsibility, Yuki.

This crime drama film tells the story of a man named Koichi Nishi who wants nothing more than to avenge his father’s death. Eventually, he gets married to Yoshiko, the daughter of a corrupt industrialist named Mr Iwabuchi. Soon, senior officials in Iwabuchi’s company start committing suicide, and the deaths begin to resemble the death of Nishi’s father several years ago.

A petty thief having a resemblance to a samurai warlord is given two options: Either to face the death penalty, or to impersonate the warlord.     

This crime drama mystery film tells us the story of a newly-promoted homicide detective in the Tokyo police, whose colt pistol is stolen while he is riding on a crowded trolley. Although he chases the pickpocket, he fails to catch him. Eventually he is asked to conduct an investigation to find the culprit, and he eventually finds himself trying to infiltrate the illicit arms market.

This crime thriller drama film which tells the story of an alcoholic doctor, who is visited by a small-time member of the Mafia, as the latter is suffering from an unfortunate bullet wound. The doctor soon discovers that the man is also suffering from tuberculosis.

After repeated terrorizing attacks from pillaging bandits led by Calvera, farmers of an oppressed Mexican village hire seven master gunmen to defend their village. The gunslingers train the villagers and help them fight off the goons. The next time, Calvera’s men capture and drive the gunmen away. The seven men decide not to run off, but to return and confront the outlaws. 

A Sengoku-period warlord, Hidetora Ichimonji, decides to step down and divides his kingdom among his three sons. The eldest two agree, while third son Saburo states that it’s unlikely that the three will stay united, displeasing Hidetora who banishes him. Later, Saburo’s warnings prove true as the eldest two fight for power and turn against Hidetora, so Saburo is his only hope. 

Sanchiro Sugata tells the story of a young man who wants to learn the new art of judo. He meets a wise teacher who tells him that judo is not merely a means of combat nor a demonstration of physical skill. However, it is an art which can help the artist reveal himself.

In this drama film, we are shown the lives of various slum dwellers in Tokyo, including the life of a mentally deficient young boy who wishes to become a tram conductor some day. Meanwhile, he spends his time riding an imaginary trolley into a junkyard.

The film illustrates the American and Japanese perspectives about the events leading up to the Japanese air-raid on the Pearl Harbor naval base in 1941. US economic embargo results in strained relations with Japan, which leads the Japanese to plot an early morning surprise air-strike on Pearl Harbor. Though US intelligence succeeds in intercepting the Japanese messages, they are dismissed as implausible. 

Yume is a fantasy drama film directed by Akira Kurosawa, in which he portrays eight different dreams he had experienced.

Sugata Sanshiro

Hayatenosuke and Kagami are two soldiers who leave their besieged castle on a secret mission into the enemy camp. Hayatenosuke gets injured in the camp, after which he is cared for by Oryo, who falls for him. However, things take an ugly turn when Hayatenosuke kills her father accidentally. He is forced to flee, with Oryo in pursuit.

After being falsely accused of a theft, Lord Taro decides to join an outlaw band. Along with them, he begins to rob from the nobles and distribute the wealth among the poor and the oppressed.  

This action crime drama film revolves around three bank robbers who escape the police and go hiding into the mountains. Soon, they encounter a young woman and her father, who welcome them as guests, but they have no idea that the men are criminals.

Maadadayo is a drama film which revolves around the story of an aging professor, living in Tokyo, during the time after the Second World War. After his retirement, he decides to take up writing, while living in a small hut.

This drama film revolves around three different generations of a family, who were affected by the atomic bomb that was dropped in Nagasaki in 1945.

Tough convict Manny, with younger fellow-prisoner Buck, escapes from a remote Alaskan prison. After an arduous travel across country terrain and freezing river, they board an empty freight train, with only one other traveler, a female. But their joy of freedom is short-lived as the old driver falls off after a heart attack, while the train hurtles through wilderness without any control. 

This Japanese action adventure drama film tells the story of a renowned swordsman who decides to help a young man in his quest for vengeance.

Uma is a drama film which tells the story of Ine Onoda, a girl belonging to a poor peasant family, who has been raising a colt from birth. Things get complicated after it becomes a fully grown horse, and the government orders it to be auctioned and sold to the army. Ine struggles to prevent her horse from getting sold.

Bartholomew Bogue takes control of the American frontier town Rose Creek and forces its citizens to forced labor. When a group of locals, led by Matthew Cullen stand up to him, he has them killed. Cullen’s widow then recruits U.S. Marshal Sam Chisholm who forms a group of seven fighters to take on Bogue and his army. 

During the Prohibition Era, drifting gun-for-hire John Smith, who is on the run, reaches Jericho, Texas, a ghost town where warring Irish and Italian mobs have driven away the townsfolk. John Smith decides to take advantage of the situation and play the rival gangs against each other for his benefit. But while at it, the mercenary gunslinger learns the value of honor.