Akira Kurosawa: Every Movie Ranked Worst To Best
7. High And Low (1963)
Kurosawa inspired Star Wars, buddy cop comedy-dramas and an entire era of classic Westerns, but as is the case with High and Low, he also set the blueprint for every race-against-the-clock ransom thriller since its 1963 debut.
The story of a businessman (guess who) who's forced to pay the ransom for the son of his chauffer whilst the police search for the kidnapper, the drama is at once a thrilling police procedural and a gripping character study of a man caught between doing the right thing and losing his job.
Plotted to perfection and heart-pounding at every twist and turn of the kidnapper's demands, High and Low is the greatest noir thriller in Kurosawa's back catalogue, and a flawless example of how he could transcend genres whilst creating them.