Arguably the greatest Samurai movie in history. But let's be more specific.
- Kikuchiyo's killing spree in the last battle.
- When Kambei mentions how beneficial it would be to take one of the bandits' guns. Kyûzô takes it upon himself to go at it alone, a sure suicide for almost anyone else who would have volunteered, and runs off into the night. He returns at dawn, hands the musket over with one word (futari: two men [killed]) and goes to sit alone, proving his badassery once again.
- An out of universe example: Actor Seiji Miyaguchi who played Kyûzô had never handled a sword in his life. Through clever camera angles and brilliant editing, Kurosawa made him appear as the greatest swordsman in the film.
- Kyûzô's sparring match with another nameless samurai. The battle appears to be a draw, and the other samurai laughs about this. Kyûzô calmly states that it was not a draw, and that he won. The other samurai becomes very angry, and challenges him to a real duel. Kyûzô several times begs him not to, but the other insists. Kyûzô did win the previous duel, and he wins this one too; though this time, instead of standing in one place like he did during the spar, he uses a last-second dodge (like one would in a real duel) to effortlessly cut down his opponent.
- Kambei does nothing but watch, yet earns an awesome moment for himself by muttering as soon as the swords come out, "It's no contest."
- Kambei's clever and daring method of saving a peasant child from the desperate criminal holding the child hostage. Katsushirō, Kikuchiyo and the peasants all happen to be witnesses, and it impresses all of them. Katsushirō is an impressionable young man from a wealthy samurai family who decides on the spot to ask the veteran samurai to be his mentor; Kikuchiyo (who has his own reasons to admire the rescue of peasant children) is impressed and hopes to set up an Odd Couple partnership; and the peasants, of course, have been hoping desperately to find a samurai who can save them all.
- Not only clever and daring, but, for those who know anything about Samurai culture, incredibly humbling: as part of the plan he shaves his head and cuts off his topknot, which, under ordinary circumstances, would have been shameful enough to merit suicide. He basically threw away whatever official honor he had left in order to save a peasant child.
- When the villagers are first wary of the newly arrived samurai, the alarm bell in town goes off and all the villagers immediately beg the samurai for help. Kambei leads the others to the bell to find Kikuchiyo ringing it: he's doing it to show the villagers how desperate they really are for protection, and calls them on their hypocrisy in not accepting the samurai quick enough.
- A bit later, his blistering "The Reason You Suck" Speech to both the farmers and the samurai, one of the best pieces of acting in Toshiro Mifune's career.
- Kambei's old war buddy Shichirōji happens to wander through the town where Kambei is recruiting. Kimbei explains that he's about to take on a virtually impossible battle to the death on behalf of people who can't afford to pay more than a pittance, and asks, "Are you in?" And Shichirōji doesn't hesitate: "Yes."
- While out on evening patrol with Gorōbei by his side, Kambei catches Kikuchiyo asleep on watch. So he decides to teach him a lesson: he takes away Kikuchiyo's sword, which is a few feet away from him, hides and Gorōbei, also hidden from sight, wakes him up by throwing a heavy stone somewhere. Kikuchiyo panics when he realizes his sword is gone, and only has a piece of firewood to arm himself with, but Kambei, with Gorōbei at his side, approaches him to tell him that if it had been the bandits instead of them, they would have had Kikuchiyo's head already. After that, Kiku becomes a little more responsible a warrior.
- Shichirōji cheering with his men, inspiring Gorōbei to do the same with his own faction who were too frightened to come out and fight. Gorōbei's hoarse, piercing war cry is awesome on its own.
- When the farmers first plead to Kambei for help defending their village, Kambei turns them down, the reason being that he is done with fighting. Rikichi collapses and bursts into tears and for a moment it seems like all of their searching had been for nothing. But then one of the town labourers calls out Kambei and points out the sacrifices they have made, all the rice they have given, for someone like him to protect them.Labourer: That's your dinner. But do you know what they eat, those farmers? Millet. They eat millet so you can eat white rice. They're giving you everything they have.
Kambei: I see. (accepting the bowl of rice and addressing the peasants) I won't let this rice go to waste. - A despondent Kikuchiyo goes to sleep in the barn with Rikichi. However, Rikichi starts to leave, being in the presence of a warrior. Kikuchiyo then demands he stay and calls him out for lacking self esteem, after all he's done for the samurai.
- Kyûzô, despite being fatally shot with the final rifle, hurls his sword in the direction that he was shot from(not as a weapon, but to alert his comrades where the bandits are hidden).
- Kikuchiyo's Dying Moment of Awesome. The bandit leader shoots him straight in the gut, but Kikuchiyo pulls himself up, staggers into the doorway, and runs him through before dying himself. What a way to go.“Even if a samurai’s head were to be suddenly cut off, he should still be able to perform one more action with certainty. With martial valor in his life; if he can make himself to be like a revengeful ghost and show great determination, though his head be cut off, he should not die.”
