Toshiro Mifune stars as a wealthy industrialist whose family becomes the target of a ruthless kidnapper in Akira Kurosawa's exemplary film noir. Based on Ed McBain's detective novel "King's Ransom," "High and Low" is both a riveting thriller and a brilliant commentary on contemporary Japanese society.
"It is possibly Kurosawa's most underrated masterpiece, rich in characterization and structure, yet lost in the shuffle among such classics as 'Rashomon' and 'Seven Samurai.'" -San Francisco Chronicle
"As well as being a skilfully developed thriller and a study in moral dilemma, High and Low is a precise and devastating anatomy of postwar Japanese society." -The Observer