The Seven Samurai, as a film, takes place in the warring states of Japan, in the late16th century, around 1587-1588. The story of the film revolves around a village of farmers that hire seven masterless samurai or traditional warriors of Japan, for the sake of combating the badits who are destined to return after the harvest to steal the crops of villagers. It is to be noted, that the Seven Samurai has been often described as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made, and is one of a selected few Japanese films to become widely known in the West for an extended period of time. Besides it has also been a known subject of both popular and critical acclaim and has been ranking high on the list of top movies on the IMDb Top 250 List and was voted onto Sight & Sound's list of the ten greatest films of all time in 1982 and 1992. In addition, the Seven Samurai also remains on the director's top ten films in the 2002 poll. The film from the very beginning depicts how the latent strength of the common innocent human beings can be utilized and the need of it in the opportune times. The seven samurai are the mere representations of that common zeal, although it is seen in the film at the very outset that the village farmers are initially wary of the samurai, partly because they fear for the safety of their daughters, but possibly also because the samurai are, regardless of their good intentions, still warriors and thus something to fear. However, with the effective leadership of Kikuchiyo, all the seven samurai and the entire village move closer to each other. This new mood is best reflected in the second part of the film when the preparations for the defense of the village are shown. This new mood among the common villagers is also found when there is the battle between the samurai-led village militia and the bandits, who remain confounded by the fortifications put in place by the samurai, and several are killed attempting to scale the defences or cross moats, an unthinkable saga in the previous days! At the times of these struggles, four samurai who die in the film are killed by distant gunfire, rather than in single combat. Many of the subplots of the battle revolve around capturing or disabling the guns. Therefore, there remains only three samruai , Kambei, Katsushirō, and Shichirōji, to witness how the villagers plant their next rice crop, but in a joyous mood. The farmers henceforth ignore the samurai, as they no longer have any use for them, which shows eloquently that their life-sustainigng work has prevailed over the war, leaving all the warriors as the defeated party.

Seven Samurai was, in reality, a technical and creative watershed that became the highest-grossing movie of Japan, giving birth to the notion of a new benchmark for the industry. Its influence can be most strongly felt in the western The Magnificient Seven, a film that was thoroughly adapted from the Seven Samurai. Director John Sturges borrowed the Seven Samurai and updated it to the Old West, with the Samurai replaced by cowboys. Even the impact of the film was such that even India could not remain aloof from its influence. The Indian film Sholay borrowed its entire story from Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven. The film was declared BBC India's "Film of the Millennium" and is the highest-grossing Indian film of all time.