The Black Gambler

                      
Director: Ko Nakahira
Year: 1969
Rating: 6.0
Aka - Kuroi Tobakushi

Akira Kobayashi stars in this film which is part of a Nikkatsu series in which he plays a handsome smooth as silk lone-wolf gambler who knows all the angles and all the cheats. Gambling may be his game but his innate decency keeps getting him in trouble with the mob. Nicely shot film that has a cool air about it with the cars, women and gambling establishments but it feels too detached and slick to generate your involvement with the characters. It is light on its feet with charm to spare but the story never feels real and when a few people are killed it barely registers. 




Koji Himuro (Kobayashi) introduces himself as Himuro the Gambler. I wish we all could do that. Mine would be Brian the Slacker. He has come to play bridge with the French Ambassador and two other Japanese players - Inumaru (Asao Koike) and his female partner Reiko (Manami Fuji), who he won from her father in a gamble of cards years before. The game is for high stakes and they have every intention on cleaning out the Ambassador but Himuro spoils their plans with his gifted left-handed deal. Inumaru swears revenge and tells Reiko to get friendly with Himuro. Perhaps too friendly. There is a certain global aspect to this film - the Ambassador, a Chinese gambler who cheats and causes trouble for Himuro and the Syndicate that is run by an American. None of them come off well. The film ends interestingly with a close-up of a newspaper headline reading "US bets on bombing Vietnam".