If Citizen Kane's black and white photography or The Godfather's gargantuan running time are likely to put someone off watching a film, then Akira Kurosawa's 3 hour, black and white epic The Seven Samurai is unlikely to prove an enticing proposition. If you're someone who's never got round to watching The Seven Samurai then you're missing out on a real treat. The running time flies by - especially when it hits the action-packed finale - while the black and white photography perfectly captures the rain and mud-soaked combat. It's not without good reason that this too is one of those movies critics frequently cite as among the best of all time. The Seven Samurai later spawned an American remake (proving that Hollywood has been borrowing from foreign movies for far longer than most people realise), The Magnificent Seven, which is another classic movie that people rarely admit they've never actually seen.
