Tokyo Drifter
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| Tokyo Drifter | |
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| Directed by | Seijun Suzuki |
| Produced by | Tetsuro Nakagawa |
| Written by | Yasunori Kawauchi |
| Starring | Tetsuya Watari Chieko Matsubara Hideaki Nitani |
| Music by | So Kaburagi |
| Cinematography | Shigeyoshi Mine |
| Editing by | Shinya Inoue |
| Distributed by | Nikkatsu |
| Release date(s) |  April 10, 1966 |
| Running time | 83 min |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Tokyo Drifter (東京流れ者 Tōkyō nagaremono?) is a 1966 yakuza action film directed by Seijun Suzuki. The story follows Tetsuya Watari as the reformed yakuza hitman "Phoenix" Tetsu who is forced to roam Japan awaiting his imminent execution by rival gangs.
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[edit] Synopsis
After the disbandment of the Kurata syndicate Tetsu is sought out by rival yakuza clan boss Otsuka. He attempts to enlist Tetsu into his gang but fails. Fearing that Tetsu will upset a real estate scam in the making Otsuka decides to have him eliminated. Sensing this Tetsu leaves Tokyo. Otsuka assigns his number one hitman, "Viper", to kill him. Tetsu evades Viper and his hit squad a number of times and arrives at the establishment of Umitani, an ally of boss Kurata. However, Kurata, coerced by Otsuka, has betrayed Tetsu and ordered Umitani to kill him. With help from one of Otsuka's men, "Shooting Star" Kenji, Tetsu is able to defeat Viper and escape. Tetsu then returns to Tokyo and confronts his former boss.
[edit] Production and reception
Nikkatsu bosses had been warning Suzuki to tone down his bizarre visual style for years and drastically reduced Tokyo Drifter's budget in hopes of getting results. This had the opposite affect in that Suzuki and art director Takeo Kimura pushed themselves to new heights of surrealism and absurdity. The studio's next move was to impose the further restriction of filming in black and white on his next films, which again Suzuki met with even greater bizarreness culminating in his dismissal for "incomprehensibility".[1]
[edit] Cast
Tetsuya Watari as Tetsuya "Phoenix Tetsu" Hondo
Chieko Matsubara as Chiharu
Hideaki Nitani as Kenji Aizawa
Tamio Kawaji as Tatsuzo The Viper
Tsuyoshi Yoshida as Keiichi
Ryuji Kita as Kurata
Hideaki Esumi as Otsuka
Eiji Go as Tanaka
[edit] References
- ^ Chris D. (2005). Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 1-84511-086-2. : p. 136-149
[edit] External links
- Tokyo Drifter at the Internet Movie Database
- Criterion Collection essay by Manohla Dargis
- (Japanese) Tokyo Drifter at the Japanese Movie Database
| Japanese Cinema |  |
|
| Films directed by Seijun Suzuki | ||
| 1950s | Victory Is Mine | Pure Emotions of the Sea | Satan's Town | Inn of the Floating Weeds | Eight Hours of Terror | The Naked Woman and the Gun | Underworld Beauty | Spring Never Came | Young Breasts | Voice Without a Shadow | Love Letter | Passport to Darkness | Age of Nudity | |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | Take Aim at the Police Van | Sleep of the Beast | Clandestine Zero Line | Everything Goes Wrong | Fighting Delinquents | Tokyo Knights | The Big Boss Who Needs No Gun | Man with a Shotgun | A New Wind Over the Mountain Pass | Blood Red Water in the Channel | Million Dollar Smash and Grab | Teen Yakuza | The Guys Who Put Money on Me | Detective Bureau 23: Go to Hell, Bastards! | Youth of the Beast | The Bastard | Kanto Wanderer | The Flower and the Angry Waves | Gate of Flesh | Our Blood Will Not Forgive | Story of a Prostitute | Story of a Bastard: Born Under a Bad Star | Tattooed Life | Carmen of Kawachi | Tokyo Drifter | Fighting Elegy | Branded to Kill | |
| 1970s | A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness | |
| 1980s | Zigeunerweisen |Kagero-za | Capone Cries a Lot | Lupin III: Legend of the Gold of Babylon | |
| 1990s | Yumeji | Marriage | |
| 2000s | Pistol Opera | Princess Raccoon | |
