Sanjuro

Sanjuro (1962), directed by Akira Kurosawa, is ready to watch online on iFILM. The follow-up to Yojimbo brings back Toshiro Mifune as the same scruffy, scratching ronin who wanders into other people's trouble and fixes it with a shrug and a sword.

Nine eager young samurai have stumbled onto corruption in their clan. Their honest chamberlain has been seized, and a smiling schemer named Kikui is grabbing control. The boys want to charge in swinging and nearly get themselves killed. Sanjuro adopts the lot of them and drums in one lesson: think first, draw later. He bluffs, hides, waits, and only unsheathes his blade when there's no other way.

Kurosawa plays much of this for laughs — a bored, brilliant drifter babysitting hot-headed kids who idolize him while he just wants a nap. The whole thing builds to a duel against Tatsuya Nakadai that lasts a single second and ends on one of the most famous shots in film history. Stream Sanjuro (1962) online on iFILM.