Skip over navigation

Toshiro Mifune

Toshiro Mifune
Born April 1, 1920 - Died December 24, 1997
A Japanese actor who appeared in almost 170 feature films. He is best known for his collaboration with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa in films such as ,Seven Samurai and Yojimbo. and the American Television miniseries Shogun



What members say | Filmography

Toshiro Mifune - what members say


  • Seven Samurai
  • Seven Samurai review by A customer from Essex
    Rated - 4.0 stars The Shogun of the big screen 20 September 2003
    ...of defending those unable to repay and unwilling to respect. For many people, Toshiro Mifune's rollicking extrovert Kikuchiyo is the most engaging character; but for me, Se...   Read customer review
  • Yojimbo
  • Yojimbo review by A customer from Northen Ireland
    Rated - 5.0 stars Fistfulls 6 March 2004
    ...Another classic from Kurasawa and Toshiro Mifune. Quite lighthearted in it's own way. Remade by Sergio Leone as Fistful of Dollars, so if it was good enough for him......   Read customer review
  • Hell In The Pacific
  • Hell In The Pacific review by from Leamington
    Rated - 3.0 stars Good try 14 April 2005
    ... uninhabited Pacific island. Well it would have been uninhabited if a Japanese (Toshiro Mifune) had not got there first. The bulk of the movie is about the fight the two have...   Read customer review

Toshiro Mifune - filmography


  • Shogun Warrior on DVD (1991)
    Starring: David Essex,  Sho Kosugi,  Toshiro Mifune
    Director: Gordon Hessler
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    SHOGUN WARRIOR presents an epic set in 17th-century Japan. One clan, led by the warlord Takugawa Ieyasu (Toshiro Mifune), is locked in a bloody feud with a rival clan. Ieyasu decides that the only way to achieve victory is to send a band of soldiers to Spain to obtain flintlock muskets that will ..read more »
    2.5 stars out of 5 50% from 179 members
    Sign up
  • Princess From The Moon on DVD (1987)
    Starring: Toshiro Mifune,  Ayako Wakao,  Yasuko Sawaguchi
    Director: Kon Ichikawa
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    When a mysterious light appears in the sky a poor couple investigate and find a small pod near the grave of their daughter. The pod breaks open to reveal a small baby who looks very much like their daughter. They decide to adopt her and she grows up to be a young lady of exceptional beauty who is ..read more »
    2.5 stars out of 5 48% from 196 members
    Sign up
  • Shogun (5 discs) on DVD (1981)
    Starring: Richard Chamberlain,  Toshiro Mifune
    Director: Jerry London
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Based on James Clavell's bestselling novel, the story of an English navigator whose shipwreck lands him in the middle of the political power struggle between Shogun and Emperor in feudal Japan. The complete nine hour acclaimed television mini-series.
    3.5 stars out of 5 73% from 2,352 members
    Sign up
  • 1941 (1979)
    Starring: John Belushi,  Dan Aykroyd,  Ned Beatty
    Director: Steven Spielberg
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    An utterly wild comedy epic directed by Steven Spielberg and nominated for three Academy Awards®. Lavish effects sequences highlight this hilarious, all star extravaganza set in Los Angeles just days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, when fear of a Japanese Invasion threw the city into a state of ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 57% from 426 members
    Not available for rental
  • Shogun's Samurai on DVD (1978)
    Starring: Sonny Chiba,  Etsuko Shihomi,  Yoshio Harada
    Director: Kinji Fukasaku
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Set in feudal Japan, SHOGUN'S SAMURAI is Kinji Fukasaku's story of a brutal imperial struggle. The legendary samurai epic stars Sonny Chiba as one of the two sons of the recently deceased instructor of the Shogun. After the death of their father, the two men lock horns in a struggle for the ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 61% from 604 members
    Sign up
  • Paper Tiger (1975)
    Starring: David Niven,  Toshirô Mifune,  Toshiro Mifune
    Director: Ken Annakin
    Certificate: Certificate: TBC
    A somewhat prim and proper Englishman is hired as the tutor to the son of the Japanese ambassador. His life changes when he and the boy are kidnapped by terrorists for political purposes.
    3.5 stars out of 5 66% from 11 members
    Currently unavailable
    Sign up
  • Red Sun on DVD (1971)
    Starring: Charles Bronson,  Alain Delon,  Toshiro Mifune
    Director: Terence Young
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
    It is the 19th century, and two criminals, Link and Gotch, have a falling out after robbing a train. As a result, Gotch not only takes off with the money, but with a priceless golden sword owned by a Samurai passenger named Kuroda. Despite their cultural differences and initial hostility, Kuroda ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 60% from 91 members
    Sign up Watch now (With package)
  • Soleil Rouge on DVD (1971)
    Starring: Charles Bronson,  Alain Delon,  Toshiro Mifune
    Director: Terence Young
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    It is the 19th century, and two criminals, Link and Gotch, have a falling out after robbing a train. As a result, Gotch not only takes off with the money, but with a priceless golden sword owned by a Samurai passenger named Kuroda. Despite their cultural differences and initial hostility, Kuroda ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 60% from 522 members
    Sign up
  • Hell In The Pacific on DVD (1969)
    Starring: Lee Marvin,  Toshiro Mifune
    Director: John Boorman
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    Director John Boorman's typical bravado is somewhat muted in this WWII parable. Set in the Pacific in 1944, the film focuses on two combatants stranded on the same barren atoll: a Japanese naval officer (Toshiro Mifune) and a U.S. marine pilot (Lee Marvin). At first the two men warily stalk each ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 69% from 522 members
    Sign up
  • Grand Prix (1966)
    Starring: James Garner,  Eva Marie Saint,  Yves Montand
    Director: John Frankenheimer
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    GRAND PRIX is John Frankenheimer's film about the nine-leg world championship of Formula 1 auto racing stars James Garner as driver Pete Aron. During the opening race in Monaco, a collision sends Pete's car flying into the Monte Carlo harbor, and British driver Scott Stoddard (Brian Bedford) into a ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 73% from 442 members
    Not currently released
    Sign up
  • Sword Of Doom (1966)
    Starring: Toshiro Mifune,  Tatsuya Nakadai
    Director: Kihachi Okamoto
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    A child is brought up by his father to be a man of the sword - for whom killing is a pleasure. This man uses his sword as the only family he recognises. Japanese dialogue.
    3 stars out of 5 63% from 727 members
    Not currently released
    Sign up
  • Red Beard on DVD (1965)
    Starring: Toshiro Mifune,  Yuzo Kayama
    Director: Akira Kurosawa
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    The last and most ambitious of Akira Kurosawa's collaborations with Toshiro Mifune, Red Beard, marked the end of one of the most remarkable actor-director relationships in the history of cinema. Toshiro Mifune plays a commanding but humane doctor in a rural clinic in late 19th-century Japan. An ..read more »
    4 stars out of 5 75% from 2,118 members
    Sign up
  • Samurai Assassin (1965)
    Starring: Toshiro Mifune,  Ito Yunosuke
    Director: Kihachi Okamoto
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    It's 1860 and Niiro Tsurichiyo, the illegitimate son of a nobleman, dreams of becoming a samurai. But he is suspected of being a spy by the Mito Clan... Japanese dialogue with subtitles.
    3 stars out of 5 63% from 506 members
    Currently unavailable
    Sign up
  • High And Low on DVD (1963)
    Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai,  Toshiro Mifune,  Kyoko Kagawa
    Director: Akira Kurosawa
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Based on King's Ransom, an 87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain (aka Evan Hunter), High and Low stars Toshiro Mifune as Gondo, a wealthy industrialist. Gondo is contacted by a gang of kidnappers, who inform him that they've kidnapped his son. The crooks demand a huge ransom for the boy's return -- an ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 74% from 1,556 member
    Sign up
  • Sanjuro on DVD (1962)
    Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai,  Toshiro Mifune,  Masao Shimizu
    Director: Akira Kurosawa
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Set in the mid-19th century when the disintegration of a rigid social structure was turning the once wealthy into paupers, or vice-versa, this kinetic drama by acclaimed Akira Kurosawa features the hero Sanjuro (Toshiro Mifune), one of many samurai whose once traditional positions were fast ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 74% from 4,012 members
    Sign up
  • Yojimbo on DVD (1961)
    Starring: Toshiro Mifune,  Eijiro Tono,  Seisaburo Kawazu
    Director: Akira Kurosawa
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    In director Akira Kurosawa's comedic YOJIMBO, a masterless samurai, Sanjuro (Toshiro Mifune), wanders into a town divided by two warring clans. After displaying his formidable swordsmanship before both clans in a brawl with street thugs, Sanjuro offers his services to the highest bidder. When one ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 73% from 10,236 members
    Sign up
  • The Bad Sleep Well on DVD (1960)
    Starring: Toshiro Mifune,  Masayuki Mori,  Kyoko Kagawa
    Director: Akira Kurosawa
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    In this engaging drama, acclaimed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa deftly splices together the nuances of hypocrisy, old feudal misconceptions lingering in modern corruption, and Shakespeare's Hamlet. The rotten corporate world is taken on by Koichi Nishi (Toshiro Mifune), who is looking for ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 70% from 822 members
    Sign up
  • Hidden Fortress on DVD (1958)
    Starring: Toshiro Mifune,  Misa Uehara,  Minoru Chiaki
    Director: Akira Kurosawa
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (original Japanese title: Kakushi Toride No San Akunin) stars Minoru Chiaki and Kamatari Fujiwara as a pair of misfit soldiers. Running from the enemy after a disastrous defeat, the two soldiers fall in with general Toshiro Mifune, who is in search of a huge ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 72% from 5,007 members
    Sign up
  • Throne Of Blood on DVD (1957)
    Starring: Toshiro Mifune,  Isuzu Yamada,  Minoru Chiaki
    Director: Akira Kurosawa
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    Macbeth is reimagined as a samurai in feudal Japan in director Akira Kurosawa's classic adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy. Familiar with Orson Welles's more faithful adaptation, Kurosawa chose to place a more personal stamp on his version by translating the events and characters to historical ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 72% from 5,891 members
    Sign up
  • I Live In Fear on DVD (1955)
    Starring: Toshiro Mifune,  Eiko Miyoshi,  Minoru Chiaki
    Director: Akira Kurosawa
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    When an elderly, wealthy man decides that nuclear holocaust is eminent in his country, he decides to move his family to Brazil at all costs-a place which, for some mysterious reason, he believes to be safe. His family refuses to move because they fear that the move will jeopardize their financial ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 64% from 641 members
    Sign up
  • Musashi Miyamoto (1955)
    Starring: Toshiro Mifune,  Eijiro Tono
    Director: Hiroshi Inagaki
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    Young Miyamoto (Mifune) dreams of becoming a heroic warrior in the midst of battle. When civil war grips the land, however, he finds himself becoming fighting on the wrong side and is forced to become a fugitive. Later, when he meets a caring woman and a priest who puts him on the path of the ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 64% from 552 members
    Currently unavailable
    Sign up
  • Seven Samurai on DVD (1954)
    Starring: Keiko Tsushima,  Takashi Shimura,  Toshiro Mifune
    Director: Akira Kurosawa
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
    Set in 16th Century Japan, Akira Kurosawa's epic SEVEN SAMURAI follows the plight of a defenseless farming village that lives in constant fear of marauding bandits. The farmers know that when their crops are harvested, the thugs will attack, so four men go to town in hopes of employing samurai to ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 73% from 38,267 members
    Sign up Watch now (With package)
  • The Life Of Oharu on DVD (1952)
    Starring: Kinuyo Tanaka,  Toshiro Mifune
    Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    The story chronicles the decline through exile, concubinage and prostitution of Oharu Okui. Her sufferings and treatment are analysed until she is finally discarded like an inanimate object. Japanese dialogue with subtitles.
    3.5 stars out of 5 70% from 1,358 member
    Sign up
  • The Idiot on DVD (1951)
    Starring: Toshiro Mifune,  Setsuko Hara,  Masayuki Mori
    Director: Akira Kurosawa
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    Retelling of Fydor Dostoyevsky's novel, where the action is transferred from Russia to Northern Japan. An unstable war criminal acquitted of charges gets involved with two women...
    3 stars out of 5 64% from 741 members
    Sign up
  • Rashomon on DVD (1950)
    Starring: Toshiro Mifune,  Masayuki Mori,  Machiko Kyo
    Director: Akira Kurosawa
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
    Akira Kurosawa's highly acclaimed film, set in feudal Japan, presents an intriguing tale of violent crime in the woods, told from the perspective of four different characters--a bandit (Toshiro Mifune), a woman (Machiko Kyo), her husband (Masayuki Mori), and a woodcutter (Takashi Shimura). Only two ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 72% from 9,958 members
    Sign up Watch now (With package)
  • Scandal on DVD (1950)
    Starring: Toshiro Mifune,  Shirley Yamaguchi,  Noriko Sengoku
    Director: Akira Kurosawa
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    When a young painter meets up by chance with a popular singer, he is unaware that the paparazzi are following them. When a magazine runs a story exposing their 'secret romance', the painter battles to restore his honour.
    3.5 stars out of 5 67% from 388 members
    Sign up
  • Stray Dog on DVD (1949)
    Starring: Toshiro Mifune,  Takashi Shimura,  Keiko Awaji
    Director: Akira Kurosawa
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    Akira Kurosawa's "Stray Dog" is a masterful mix of film noir and police thriller set on the sweltering mean streets of Occupied Tokyo. When rookie detective Murakami (Toshiro Mifune) has his pistol stolen from his pocket while on a bus, his frantic attempts to track down the thief lead him to an ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 71% from 2,346 members
    Sign up
  • Drunken Angel on DVD (1948)
    Starring: Takashi Shimura,  Toshiro Mifune,  Reizaburo Yamamoto
    Director: Akira Kurosawa
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    Originally titled Yoidore tenshi, Drunken Angel was director Akira Kurosawa's first auteur project. I finally discovered myself, he explained later. It was my picture: I was doing it and no one else. Takashi Shimura plays an alcoholic doctor, running a fleabitten clinic in the slums of Tokyo. ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 71% from 902 members
    Sign up

Toshiro Mifune facts

5 most recent films

Shadow of the Wolf - 2.0 stars
Shogun Warrior - 2.5 stars
Princess From The Moon - 2.5 stars
Shogun - 3.5 stars
1941 - 3.0 stars

5 highest-rated films

Red Beard - 4.0 stars
High And Low - 3.5 stars
Sanjuro - 3.5 stars
Shogun - 3.5 stars
Yojimbo - 3.5 stars

5 lowest-rated films

Shadow of the Wolf - 2.0 stars
Paper Tiger - 3.5 stars
Princess From The Moon - 2.5 stars
Shogun Warrior - 2.5 stars
1941 - 3.0 stars

Most frequent co-stars

Takashi Shimura - 11 times - show films
Richard Chamberlain - 6 times - show films
Minoru Chiaki - 5 times - show films
Tatsuya Nakadai - 4 times - show films
Masayuki Mori - 4 times - show films

Most frequent directors

Akira Kurosawa - 17 times - show films
Jerry London - 6 times - show films
Hiroshi Inagaki - 4 times - show films
Terence Young - 3 times - show films
Kihachi Okamoto - 3 times - show films