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Movies that feel like The Hidden Fortress (1958)

If you loved The Hidden Fortress, the closest films we have are Throne of Blood (1957), Dersu Uzala (1975) and The Wages of Fear (1953). All three share The Hidden Fortress' contemplative and epic feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 12 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video and Criterion Channel and others, checked against today's data.

In feudal Japan, during a bloody war between clans, two cowardly and greedy peasants, soldiers of a defeated army, stumble upon a mysterious man who guides them to a fortress hidden in the mountains.

🍅 96% Rotten Tomatoes8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Akira Kurosawacontemplativekineticepicwarm
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If The Hidden Fortress hit the spot, these will too

Throne of Blood poster
Throne of Blood
1957 · dir. Akira Kurosawa
🍅 96%8drama · history

Akira Kurosawa working the same nerve twice

The difference: None of the momentum The Hidden Fortress is built on

Returning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part of the spirit's prophecy comes true, Washizu's scheming wife, Asaji, presses him to speed up the rest of the spirit's prophecy by murdering his lord and usurping his place. Director Akira Kurosawa's resetting of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" in feudal Japan is one of his most acclaimed films.

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Dersu Uzala poster
Dersu Uzala
1975 · dir. Akira Kurosawa
🍅 73%8.2adventure · drama

Akira Kurosawa directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

A military explorer meets and befriends a Goldi man in Russia’s unmapped forests. A deep and abiding bond evolves between the two men, one civilized in the usual sense, the other at home in the glacial Siberian woods.

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The Wages of Fear poster
The Wages of Fear
1953 · dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot
🍅 100%8.1drama · thriller · adventure

Common ground: male friendship

The difference: Leans harder into thriller than The Hidden Fortress does

In a run-down South American town, four men are paid to drive trucks loaded with nitroglycerin into the jungle through to the oil field. Friendships are tested and rivalries develop as they embark upon the perilous journey.

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Drunken Angel poster
Drunken Angel
1948 · dir. Akira Kurosawa
🍅 94%7.6drama

Both are built on the same subject: japan

In postwar Tokyo, a blunt, alcohol-soaked doctor diagnoses a swaggering young yakuza with tuberculosis, forging an uneasy bond that’s tested when the gangster’s ruthless former boss returns and drags him back toward the swampy underworld he can’t escape.

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The 7th Voyage of Sinbad poster
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
1958 · dir. Nathan Juran
🍅 100%7action · adventure · family

The same mix in both: momentum, then scale

The difference: Sits closer to family than The Hidden Fortress does

When a princess is shrunken by an evil wizard, Sinbad must undertake a quest to an island of monsters to cure her and prevent a war.

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Where Is The Friend's House? poster
Where Is The Friend's House?
1987 · dir. Abbas Kiarostami
🍅 100%8.1drama · adventure

Contemplative where it counts, warm underneath

The difference: 29 years apart, and the 1980s show

An 8-year-old boy must return his friend's notebook he took by mistake, lest his friend be punished by expulsion from school.

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Harakiri poster
Harakiri
1962 · dir. Masaki Kobayashi
🍅 100%8.6action · drama · history

The same preoccupation in both: jidaigeki

Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce in his suicide ritual. The senior counselor for the Iyi clan questions the ronin’s resolve and integrity, suspecting Hanshirō of seeking charity rather than an honorable end. What follows is a pair of interlocking stories which lay bare the difference between honor and respect, and promises to examine the legendary foundations of the Samurai code.

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Seven Samurai poster
Seven Samurai
1954 · dir. Akira Kurosawa
🍅 100%8.6action · drama

One thread runs through both: japan

A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.

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Come Drink with Me poster
Come Drink with Me
1966 · dir. King Hu
🍅 100%6.9action · adventure

Kinetic action, and it commits to that

Golden Sparrow is a fighter-for-hire who has been contracted by the local government to retrieve the governor's kidnapped son. Holding him is a group of rebels who are demanding that their leader be released from prison in return for the captured son. After a brief encounter with the gang at a local restaurant, Golden Sparrow is joined by an inebriated wanderer Drunken Cat who aids her in her mission.

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Ran poster
Ran
1985 · dir. Akira Kurosawa
🍅 96%8.2action · drama · history

Drama built on stillness, twice over

Shakespeare's King Lear is reimagined as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan where an aging warlord divides his kingdom between his three sons.

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13 Assassins poster
13 Assassins
2010 · dir. Takashi Miike
🍅 95%7.5adventure · drama · action

Adventure with a pulse of scale, in both cases

A bravado period action film set at the end of Japan's feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a war-torn future.

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The 36th Chamber of Shaolin poster
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
1978 · dir. Lau Kar-leung
🍅 83%7.6action · adventure

Both lean on momentum more than on action

During the Qing Dynasty, a fishmonger is killed by the reigning Manchu government for supporting the anti-government movement; his son manages to escape to Shaolin Temple, where he plans to learn its secretive brand of martial arts to seek revenge.

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In the mood for more contemplative?

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The best-reviewed films that share The Hidden Fortress’ defining feeling.