1962 Classic 'Harakiri' Named Best Action Movie of All Time - And It's Still Incredible

Some movies, upon release, feel perfectly attuned to the time they were made. Whether it's the flashy maximalism of '90s action movies or the glitzy pulp of '80s blockbusters, there are some tropes that simply go out of style. Conversely, there are some movies whose craft and artistry simply feel timeless.

Released in 1962, Harakiri is certainly the latter. The action spectacle was directed by Masaki Kobayashi from a screenplay by Shinobu Hashimoto, detailing the final days of a disgraced samurai who asks for an audience of his fellow soldiers to detail the events that led him to demand seppuku.

Seppuku was the ancient Japanese tradition employed by samurai whereby they would commit suicide by disembowelment to restore honor to their families upon breaking their code of honor and thereby bringing shame to their name.

The film was enormously popular upon release, with critics praising its ability to blend genre-defining action sequences with richer social commentary about pride, honor, and sacrifice in this particular historical period. Today, the film is fondly remembered as the shining jewel of Japanese cinema in the 1960s.

Harakiri remains the highest-rated action movie on Letterboxd, proving that its popularity isn't confined to the generation it was released. Younger audiences are still discovering and falling in love with the film, which is a testament to its timeless storytelling and progressive filmmaking.

The movie was entirely different from anything that Western audiences had seen before, adopting a very different tone to most Hollywood productions, even within the action genre. Viewers were used to Hitchcockian action/thrillers like North by Northwest and Vertigo, or sprawling Western adventures like The Searchers-not rich, meditative action/dramas like Harakiri.

Reviews were immediately strong for Harakiri. The Monthly Film Bulletin praised the epic action drama as "beautifully constructed", noting that the "slow, measured cadence perfectly matches [Kobayashi's] subject". Today, the film's legendary reputation has endured with a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 20, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published June 20, 2026 at 9:00 AM.