I think it's definitely one of his top five. Not to mention it's always good to see his non jidai-geki films.

Plus I

I think it's right up there with Yojimbo and Seven Samurai.

The weird thing about Kurosawa in retrospect is that so many of his movies are about on par with each other in terms of being masterworks. I've never been one to get all gay about Japanese shit, but I can sit down and watch just about any Mifune/Kurosawa movie and know that it's going to be an entertaining three hours, and that's not even talking about Ikiru and Ran and etc.

Oddly enough one of my favorite movies of his is Sanjuro. Probably the best action comedy I've ever seen, and I don't mean that in a dismissive way.

Kurosawa is one of the few it's permissible to circlejerk about.

If you ever get a chance, this is definitely one of those moves you HAVE to see in a theater. There are so many scenes that depend on the wide screen (the snow scene in particular) that even a nice TV or home projection setup don't do it justice.

I have no idea where I will find a theater that plays this.