Yep I own it and have seen it hundreds of times.
it is, to my mind, simply the best Samurai movie ever. I include in this, any of Kurosawa's works. There are only two fights in the whole movie, and they are important to the plot, but not the focus of the film. It is a travesty that it never won best foreign picture oscar, and to my mind it should have just won best picture full stop.
its a beautiful portrait of the gravity of the responsibility of truly being 'samurai' (one who serves) and how such loyalty can affect all those involved.
One of the best pieces of cinema ever.