stray dog stand a the legendary akira kurosawa first real masterpiece and noteworthy for at least two big reason represent the style classic american film noir ( rich and velvety b and w atmosphere ) and enhance with a touch of italian neo realism ( great use of diverse location and which provide a great view of day to day postwar japan ) and and the star and a young toshiro mifune and whose truly collaborative association with kurosawa be cement here and and would grow in spectacular fashion during the subsequent 16 year . mifune become a much of an international icon a kurosawa and and this be the first film where it easily evident why . a an example of film noir and stray dog offer plenty of grip suspense and moral complexity and and hold up well alongside classic like the big heat and the killing or the maltese falcon . kurosawa touched upon international influence to an unprecedented degree in japanese film ( the internationalist impulse of ozu and kenji mizoguchi or mikio naruse be just a deep and varied and but far more discreetly deploy ) and kurosawa also skillfully highlight japanese specific ( the rookie cop expect to be fire and even accept the possibility in an apologetic fashion and only to be assure that he will not be fire this would not occur in a similar american setting ) and while always link the same detail to universal represent honor and nobility and responsibility . this would become the thread link kurosawa celebrated period or samurai film to his contemporary drama . stray dog be perhaps the first of his film where it truly resonate in a global fashion a timeless and classic film .