That’s not what you said last time.
I liked Throne of Blood! Macbeth in medieval Japan, they didn’t have to change all that much.
It was me who said that! 
…
Anyway, for those who simply cannot decide, Criterion has a 4-disk set, which has Yojimbo, Sanjuro, Seven Samurai and The Hidden Fortress: http://www.amazon.ca/Akira-Kurosawa-Widescreen-Criterion-Collection/dp/B00006IUI5/sr=8-2/qid=1170952207/ref=pd_ka_2/701-0924374-5554728?ie=UTF8&s=dvd
At $60, not cheap exactly but a good investment! I have this set, and I’ve done many a re-watch. 
If absolutely forced to choose only one, I’d go with Seven Samurai. To my mind, an almost perfect movie in many ways - luminously beautiful in black and white. Ran was good too, of course - heck, with Kurosawa, they are pretty well all good. Rashimon is an intellectual treat, very different from his other movies …
Put me down in the not a big fan of Ran camp. I doubt I will ever watch it again. I think the Throne of Blood and Rashamon are AK’s best films and there has to be some pretty cool box sets that feature these movies along with Yojimbo, Hidden Fortress et al.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) that set is old news, as Criterion has re-released all those titles except The Hidden Fortress with massive upgrades (as mentioned, Seven Samurai is now a 3-disc set). I’d go for the newer versions - more bang for the buck.
I did not know that. 
I got this set some time ago.
Have you seen both and, if so, is there significant additional value in getting the new releases?
Depends on how geeky you are (I’m plenty geeky myself). I had all the older Criterion editions and I have all the newer ones, but I’ve only watched some of Seven Samurai (just to check out the transfer) and some of its special features - Yojimbo and Sanjuro were just re-released a week or so ago, so I haven’t got around to them yet. But they all have much better/more extensive extra features (commentary, documentaries, etc.) and booklets, and the transfers are much improved over the previous editions (which were still damn good). Seven Samurai, especially, has tons more stuff, and is split across 2 discs (where the intermission is), allowing for more features all around. As with all Criterion, it’s pricey, but well worth the investment if you’re a fan.
I also own and highly reccomend this set. After all, why limit yourself to only 1?
Double-reccomend High and Low, it’s one of my all-time favorite film-noir movies. It has no sword fights or fights of any kind but it’s as exciting a movie as you’ll ever see.
When you say “color”, I assume you mean “Shakespeare”, since ToB is in B&W.
Another vote for Seven Samurai, as well as digging up Mizoguchi and Ozu (the latter is well-represented by Criterion).
The German remake, Ran Lola Ran, is pretty good though.
I’d be much more interested in “increased quality of transfer” over “more features” – I’m not much of a serious student of film, I just like to watch 'em.
That being said, I think I’ll spend the money on increasing my coverage rather than going for the increased-quality versions - the quality of the current versions is definitely watchable. 
I have yet to get a copy of Rashimon for example, and that’s a major omission.
What did you think about the sci-fi version, Logan’s Ran?
There are unhappy endings, there are tragedies, and then there’s Ran—the bleakest movie I’ve ever seen. I think Kurosawa’s is even darker than the original Shakespeare. I like it a lot, but I find it tough to watch.
My favorite Kurosawa movies are The Magnificent Seven, Star Wars and Last Man Standing. I hear he did some Japanese versions of these, but they’re not as good. For one thing, everyone speaks Japanese in them. What was Kurosawa thinkng?
On the other hand, Throne of Blood is a fine portrait of rage. Mifune wears a scowl more fierce than any samurai mask, and his Lady Macbeth counterpart is coldly vicious and a little crazy.
It wasn’t, really; there is a bit about rescuing a princess in there, but it was just the two thief characters (forget their names) and the comic interplay between them that Lucas says inspired R2D2 and C3PO.
Of course, Hollywood did do a remake of “Ran” - and they went and called it “A Thousand Acres” or something like that.
I’d still go for Ran if you’re only going to buy one. All the others mentioned are worth seeing (especially Ikiru) if you haven’t already, though.
I have the Criterion collection as well, but The Seven Samurai in on one disk. And at 94$, it was pricey enough. I would love, love, love to see it on three disks, but what in the world would be on there that is not on the one I have ? And I have to say, all of the remakes pale considerbly to the original. It is possibly, IMHO, the greatest male bonding movie that both sexes can enjoy.
Thankfully, the Criterion collection contains the other Kurosawa movies I cherish, Yojimbo, The Hidden Fortress and Sanjuro.
I recommend highly High and Low. I saw it when I was a kid and it wowed me, it still does and I’m now 50.
Throne of Blood and Rashoman are fantastic.
lI have, but have not yet watched, The Lower Depths and Dreams. I’ll watch them one day, but for some reason, they just don’t appeal to me. Go figure.
They are both based on King Lear. I don’t know if A Thousand Acres borrows anything specifically from Ran.
I guess you could narrow things by deciding if you like black and white or color movies only, also if you want a slasher samaurai or not. Color I think is limited to Dreams, Dersu Uzala, Kagemusha and Ran.
IMHO, Yojimbo is the best “entry” and most accessable of the Samaurai flicks. It defines single badass stranger comes to town movie. Seven Samaurai is my favorite, but it is long. IIRC there number of bad guys at the end don’t add up. As in, there was an extra bad guy or something. It’s been a looooong while since the last time I saw it.
Ran was the movie that Kurosawa always wanted to make and waited until spielberg and others bankrolled it. Kurosawa actually had an ancient castle hand built in a traditional manner so he could burn it down and have it look and sound authentic.
High and Low has the coolest drug deal/dance party you’ve ever seen.
I think only Dersu Uzala is the only one I haven’t seen and I’m really interested in the story.
Personally, I don’t think you can go wrong with any Kurosawa flick, although Hidden Fortress is probably my least favorite.
Kurosawa films are like Lays potato chips.
If I had to pick just one, though, it would be… I’d have to get Rashomon and Seven Samurai.