Well, it's not all one way. Kurosawa acknowledged a huge debt to John Ford. One of the reasons that Seven Samurai and Yojimbo were so easy to turn into westerns is that Kurosawa had already conceived them in those terms. The homage is flagrant. I mean the villain in Yojimbo even touts a six gun.

I guess the degree to which it's a rip off depends on how good the resulting films are. All artists steal from their predecessors. Sergio Leone, for instance, does something interesting with the things he's borrowed/stolen from Kurosawa. He takes the tradition a step further.

Kurosawa perfected a style of narrative cinema. It's no wonder everyone imitates him. He's the best.

I'm not a huge fan of Star Wars. Last time I saw it I thought, God but this is cheesy. Hidden Fortress is definitely not cheesy.

But Lucas and co. repaid their debt. They drummed up American backing for the final films of Kurosawa's career. Without Lucas, Coppola, Spielburg and Scorsese we wouldn't have Ran.

Have you seem Dreams? A supremely beautiful, defiantly uncommercial movie- and again made possible by Kurosawa's powerful American fans. Scorsese turns in an acting cameo as Van Gogh! Weird casting, weird movie- and a unique and touching instance of two great masters honouring one another while paying tribute to a third.