Akira Kurosawa movies
by DumaDumel | created - 27 Nov 2015 | updated - 21 Feb 2016 | PublicAll of Akira Kurosawa's movies in chronological order. Note: Only includes films directed by Akira Kurosawa.
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1. Uma (1941)
128 min | Drama
Ine Onoda, the eldest daughter of a poor family of farmers, raises a colt from birth and comes to love the horse dearly. When the horse is grown, the government orders it auctioned and sold to the army. Ine struggles to prevent the sale.
Director: Kajirô Yamamoto | Stars: Hideko Takamine, Chieko Takehisa, Kamatari Fujiwara, Kaoru Futaba
Votes: 237
Some scenes. Uncredited.
2. Sanshiro Sugata (1943)
Not Rated | 79 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Sugata, a young man, struggles to learn the nuance and meaning of judo, and in doing so comes to learn something of the meaning of life.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Denjirô Ôkôchi, Susumu Fujita, Yukiko Todoroki, Ryûnosuke Tsukigata
Votes: 5,582
aka Judo Saga.
3. The Most Beautiful (1944)
Not Rated | 85 min | Drama
World War II film about female volunteer workers at an optics plant who do their best to meet production targets.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Takashi Shimura, Sôji Kiyokawa, Ichirô Sugai, Takako Irie
Votes: 2,392
aka The Most Beautiful.
4. Sanshiro Sugata, Part Two (1945)
Not Rated | 83 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Sugata returns to prove his judo mastery in a match against Western opponents.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Denjirô Ôkôchi, Susumu Fujita, Ryûnosuke Tsukigata, Akitake Kôno
Votes: 2,680
aka Judo Saga Part II.
5. The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1945)
Not Rated | 59 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
A Japanese general and his men disguise themselves as monks in order to pass an enemy border patrol.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Denjirô Ôkôchi, Susumu Fujita, Ken'ichi Enomoto, Masayuki Mori
Votes: 4,343
aka The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail, Released in 1952.
6. Those Who Make Tomorrow (1946)
82 min | Drama
Two sisters, one a dancer and the other a script supervisor at a big movie studio, become embroiled in union activities when a strike is called in sympathy with striking railroad workers, ... See full summary »
Directors: Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Sekigawa, Kajirô Yamamoto | Stars: Takashi Shimura, Kenji Susukida, Masayuki Mori, Sumie Tsubaki
Votes: 203
aka Those Who Make Tomorrow.
7. No Regrets for Our Youth (1946)
PG | 110 min | Drama
The daughter of a politically disgraced university professor struggles to find a place for herself in love and life, in the uncertain world of Japan leading into WWII.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Setsuko Hara, Susumu Fujita, Denjirô Ôkôchi, Haruko Sugimura
Votes: 3,946
aka No Regrets for My Youth. original title: Waga seishun ni kuinashi.
8. One Wonderful Sunday (1947)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama, Romance
During a Sunday trip into war-ravaged Tokyo, despairing Yuzo and optimistic Masako look for work and lodging, as well as affordable entertainments to pass the time.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Isao Numasaki, Chieko Nakakita, Atsushi Watanabe, Zekô Nakamura
Votes: 3,655
original title: Subarashiki Nichiyōbi.
9. Drunken Angel (1948)
Not Rated | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A drunken doctor with a hot temper and a violence-prone gangster with tuberculosis form a quicksilver bond.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Takashi Shimura, Toshirô Mifune, Reizaburô Yamamoto, Michiyo Kogure
Votes: 13,312
original title: Yoidore tenshi
10. The Quiet Duel (1949)
95 min | Drama
A surgeon gets syphilis from a patient when he cuts himself during an operation. The doctor's life is destroyed, but unlike the patient, he doesn't destroy others along with him.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Miki Sanjô, Kenjirô Uemura
Votes: 3,870
original title: Shizukanaru Kettō.
11. Stray Dog (1949)
Not Rated | 122 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
During a sweltering summer, a rookie homicide detective tries to track down his stolen Colt pistol.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Awaji, Eiko Miyoshi
Votes: 18,849
original title: Nora Inu.
12. Scandal (1950)
Approved | 105 min | Drama
A celebrity photograph sparks a court case as a tabloid magazine spins a scandalous yarn over a painter and a famous singer.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Shirley Yamaguchi, Yôko Katsuragi, Noriko Sengoku
Votes: 4,640
aka Scandal.
13. Rashomon (1950)
Not Rated | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The rape of a bride and the murder of her samurai husband are recalled from the perspectives of a bandit, the bride, the samurai's ghost and a woodcutter.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura
Votes: 179,748 | Gross: $0.10M
original title: Rashōmon.
14. The Idiot (1951)
Not Rated | 166 min | Drama, Romance
A Japanese veteran, driven partially mad from the war, travels to the snowy island of Hokkaido where he soon enters a love triangle with his best friend and a disgraced woman.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Setsuko Hara, Masayuki Mori, Toshirô Mifune, Yoshiko Kuga
Votes: 5,628
aka The Idiot.
15. Ikiru (1952)
Not Rated | 143 min | Drama
A bureaucrat tries to find meaning in his life after he discovers he has terminal cancer.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Takashi Shimura, Nobuo Kaneko, Shin'ichi Himori, Haruo Tanaka
Votes: 87,065 | Gross: $0.06M
aka To Live
16. Seven Samurai (1954)
Not Rated | 207 min | Action, Drama
Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, Yukiko Shimazaki
Votes: 365,714 | Gross: $0.27M
original title: Shichinin no Samurai.
17. I Live in Fear (1955)
103 min | Drama
An aging Japanese industrialist becomes so fearful of nuclear war that it begins to take a toll on his life and family.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Minoru Chiaki, Eiko Miyoshi
Votes: 5,505
aka Record of a Living Being or What the Birds Knew. original title: Ikimono no kiroku.
18. Throne of Blood (1957)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama
A war-hardened general, egged on by his ambitious wife, works to fulfill a prophecy that he would become lord of Spider's Web Castle.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Minoru Chiaki, Isuzu Yamada, Takashi Shimura
Votes: 55,725
original title: Kumonosu-jō.
19. The Lower Depths (1957)
Not Rated | 137 min | Drama
In a Japanese slum, various residents play out their lives, dreaming of better things or settling for their lot. Among them is a man who pines for a young woman but is stymied by her deceptive family.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Kyôko Kagawa, Ganjirô Nakamura
Votes: 5,921
aka The Lower Depths.
20. The Hidden Fortress (1958)
Not Rated | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Lured by gold, two greedy peasants unknowingly escort a princess and her general across enemy lines.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Misa Uehara, Minoru Chiaki, Kamatari Fujiwara
Votes: 42,089
original title: Kakushi toride no san akunin.
21. The Bad Sleep Well (1960)
Not Rated | 151 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A vengeful young man marries the daughter of a corrupt industrialist in order to seek justice for his father's suicide.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Masayuki Mori, Kyôko Kagawa, Tatsuya Mihashi
Votes: 13,957
original title: Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru.
22. Yojimbo (1961)
Not Rated | 110 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Eijirô Tôno, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yôko Tsukasa
Votes: 130,884
original title: Yōjinbō.
23. Sanjuro (1962)
Not Rated | 96 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A crafty samurai helps a young man and his fellow clansmen trying to save his uncle, who has been framed and imprisoned by a corrupt superintendent.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Keiju Kobayashi, Yûnosuke Itô
Votes: 40,960
original title: Tsubaki Sanjūrō.
24. High and Low (1963)
Not Rated | 143 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An executive of a Yokohama shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Yutaka Sada, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyôko Kagawa
Votes: 52,739
original title: Tengoku to Jigoku.
25. Red Beard (1965)
Not Rated | 185 min | Drama
In 19th-century Japan, a rough-tempered yet charitable town doctor trains a young intern.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Yûzô Kayama, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Reiko Dan
Votes: 20,994
original title: Akahige.
26. Song of the Horse (1970 TV Movie)
73 min | Documentary
An old man talks about a horse and human relations to his grandchild through the growth of the Derby horse. Akira Kurosawa's visual poem for the horse, the creature which he loved.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Hiroyuki Kawase, Noboru Mitani
Votes: 134
27. Dodes'ka-den (1970)
Not Rated | 140 min | Drama
Various tales in the lives of Tokyo slum dwellers, including a mentally deficient young man obsessed with driving his own commuter trolley.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Yoshitaka Zushi, Kin Sugai, Toshiyuki Tonomura, Shinsuke Minami
Votes: 7,595
original title: Dodesukaden.
28. Dersu Uzala (1975)
G | 142 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
The Russian army sends an explorer on an expedition to the snowy Siberian wilderness where he makes friends with a seasoned local hunter.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Maksim Munzuk, Yuriy Solomin, Mikhail Bychkov, Vladimir Khrulyov
Votes: 33,365
As Akira Kurosava.
29. Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior (1980)
PG | 162 min | Drama, History, War
A petty thief with an utter resemblance to a samurai warlord is hired as the lord's double. When the warlord later dies the thief is forced to take up arms in his place.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ken'ichi Hagiwara, Jinpachi Nezu
Votes: 38,048
literally translates to Shadow Warrior.
30. Ran (1985)
R | 160 min | Action, Drama, War
In Medieval Japan, an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the new-found power will corrupt them and cause them to turn on each other...and him.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryû
Votes: 135,596 | Gross: $4.14M
Chinese and Japanese for chaos or revolt.
31. Dreams (1990)
PG | 119 min | Drama, Fantasy
A collection of tales based upon eight of director Akira Kurosawa's recurring dreams.
Directors: Akira Kurosawa, Ishirô Honda | Stars: Akira Terao, Mitsuko Baishô, Toshie Negishi, Mieko Harada
Votes: 29,058 | Gross: $1.96M
aka Akira Kurosawa's Dreams. original title: Yume.
32. Rhapsody in August (1991)
PG | 98 min | Drama
Three generations' responses to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Sachiko Murase, Richard Gere, Hisashi Igawa, Narumi Kayashima
Votes: 7,514 | Gross: $0.52M
original title: Hachigatsu no kyōshikyoku.
33. Madadayo (1993)
134 min | Drama
Following World War II, a retired professor approaching his autumn years finds his quality of life drastically reduced in war-torn Tokyo. Denying despair, he pursues writing and celebrates his birthday with his adoring students.
Directors: Akira Kurosawa, Ishirô Honda | Stars: Tatsuo Matsumura, Hisashi Igawa, George Tokoro, Masayuki Yui
Votes: 6,125 | Gross: $0.05M
original title: Mādadayo. Literally translates to Not Yet.
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