The Hidden Fortress influenced Star Wars

Of everything Lucas has been accused of borrowing, this is the one he names himself, repeatedly and in detail. The graph already holds Flash Gordon and Barsoom as his acknowledged sources; Kurosawa is the third and the most structural of the three.

• The story is told from the point of view of the two lowliest characters, Tahei and Matashichi, who bicker their way across a war they do not understand. C-3PO and R2-D2 open Star Wars doing exactly that
• A princess is smuggled through enemy territory disguised as a commoner, escorted by a warrior of the old order, which is the shape of the whole rescue
• The gold hidden in firewood becomes the plans hidden in a droid
• The horizontal wipe between scenes is a Kurosawa signature, and Lucas kept it as the film's punctuation