Seven Samurai (1954)

Kurosawa spends the first hour of Seven Samurai on recruiting, and yes, it plays like the world’s longest hiring process. The movie runs 207 minutes with an intermission, and the side romance between the youngest samurai and a farmer’s daughter is the one thread that never earns its time. Then the bandits arrive, and everything every team-up movie since has borrowed is suddenly right there on screen. Takashi Shimura plays Kambei as the calmest man alive, a leader who thinks three moves ahead and never raises his voice. Toshiro Mifune’s Kikuchiyo is pure noise, loud and showing off and desperate to belong, and he turns into the beating heart of the whole thing. The farmers aren’t saints, and the movie lets them be scared, stingy and human. The final battle in pouring rain and deep mud is still one of the greatest fights ever filmed. A 9.5 because decades of imitators still haven’t caught up to it. $3,309 says you try picking a crew of seven for anything this week and get stuck at number four.

What works: Toshiro Mifune’s wild, wounded Kikuchiyo, Takashi Shimura’s calm leader, and a rain-soaked final battle that still looks like nothing else.

What doesn’t: The recruiting stretch is long, and the romance between Katsushiro and the farmer’s daughter never earns the time it takes.

Who it’s for: Team-up fans ready to meet the original crew, with a long open afternoon and plenty of snacks.