Yojimbo

Kill one or a hundred... you only hang once

A darkly clever samurai thriller where a cynical ronin manipulates two greedy rivals into mutual destruction, blending period grandeur with wry moral ambiguity.

A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.