The Legacy of the 500,000 Reviews

Kurosawa favorite Mifune directed this fairly routine adventure. He also stars as a man who is abducted by the rich president of a maritime trading company because he knows the whereabouts of 10,000 gold coins left in the Philippines by the Japanese army during WW II. Mifune is brought to a boat captained by the businessman's brother and is made an unwilling member of a small group (which includes a driver and bodyguard) who enter the Philippines disguised as US Army troops and Chinese merchants. Eventually the treasure hunters make their way through the rugged, mountainous region of North Luzon and have a run-in with a group of native headhunters, but they never do find the gold. Mifune is okay in his dual role as actor-director, but he doesn't have that spark that only Kurosawa was able to evoke in their collaborations.