Samurai Rebellion (1967)

The strongest single performance on this list. Mifune plays Isaburo, an aging retainer who has spent his life obeying, until his lord demands the return of the woman his son has married and grown to love. Watching a man of total self-control decide that conscience matters more than service is devastating. Masaki Kobayashi, who made Harakiri, frames it with severe, elegant compositions, and the final face-off with Tatsuya Nakadai as his old friend Asano is among the most tense duels Mifune ever filmed.