Via Starwars.com:

THE LEGENDARY TOSHIRO MIFUNE STARS IN A FILM THAT WOULD GO ON TO INFLUENCE A CLASSIC EPISODE OF STAR WARS REBELS.

World War II films have been part of the DNA of Star Wars films since the beginning of the franchise. The other half of that DNA are the Samurai films of Akira Kurosawa, more often than not, starring Toshiro Mifune. What happens when you bring those two things together? You get the 1968 film Hell in the Pacific, directed by John Boorman.

Set on an uninhabited island in the middle of the pacific, Toshiro Mifune is a stranded Japanese soldier. Lee Marvin plays an American soldier who finds his way to the same island. Much of the movie is played out in their rivalry, but they realize quickly enough that if either of them are to survive, they’re going to have to work together.

This is a style of film that inspired much in the world of science fiction, from Enemy Mine to episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. It’s no wonder that the most recent iteration of the situation plays out in the episode of Star Wars Rebels called “The Honorable Ones.”

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