With the production of Seven Samurai (1954), the most popular and important Japanese film of its time, Kurosawa began a long and fruitful obsession with medieval Japan. From The Hidden Fortress (1958), which pioneered widescreen cinematography in Japan, to the samurai-for-hire pair of Yojimbo (1961) and Sanjuro (1962), which launched the “Spaghetti Western” genre in Italy, Kurosawa reinvigorated the samurai film genre and revitalized the American Western in the process.