Tales of the Underground:
The Last Gunfight
Director: Kihachi
Okamoto
Year: 1960
Rating: 7.5
Crime is on the upbeat in Kojin City just as is the accompanying jazz beat.
Drugs, guns and murder. This is where the criminals are coming because of
a lax look the other way police department and a welcoming environment of
clubs, bars, imported booze and willing women. Oka (Sizaburô Kawazu)
owns most of the city and what he doesn't the Kozuka crime family does. It
begins in style when a cop with a paper lantern stops a car on the highway
at night and is shot point blank in the head but not before he grabs a case
from the back seat. It is full of guns and director Kihachi Okamoto puts
an exclamation point on this by having pistols aimed at the camera blasting
away. So begins this wonderfully stylish crime thriller infused with color
and camera movement. Much of the pleasure of the film is just how good it
looks. In the first ten minutes it jumps around from character to character
before it settles down into a narrative.
A train arrives with a few professional killers on board, a woman and her
manager who want to set up a strip show and a man in a beige trench coat
who watches everything and gives one fellow a quick beating when he tries
to steal his suitcase. All we see is his arm flashing back and forth in rapid
speed and the unseen man yelling. He is sleek, handsome with his black hair
combed back and a glint of amusement in his eyes. This is Fujioka, a cop
who has been transferred to Kojin after being found corrupt in his last assignment.
He should be a nice fit. He is played by Toshiro Mifune absolutely pulsing
with charisma and cool as he proudly tells the police and Oka that he is
as corrupt as an apple core. Just pay him he tells Oka.
His character feels influenced to me by Hammet's The Continental Detective
as he slowly stirs up trouble between the two gangs always looking the innocent
bystander. He digs around about the accidental death of a woman three years
ago. She was the wife of Tetsuo ( Kôji Tsuruta), an ex member of the
Kozuka family who has gone straight and has opened a bar. But Tetsuo has
his doubts about her death as well and wants justice. In the middle of this
is Sally (Yôko Tsukasa), Oka's mistress but also the sister of the
man in the truck who ran over the wife and has since disappeared. Oka is
ready to take over the whole town and knock off the other gang. He hires
four killers all dressed in black with skinny ties and tells them in the
meantime to be an act on stage where they sing Kill the Moon.
A lot of the film plays out as expected - Fujioka and Tetsuo have their fights
and arguments but realize eventually that they are on the same side and bond.
These were two big stars who were only to get bigger during the 1960s. This
is an early example of ninkyo eiga Yakuza films where honor and obligation
were the touchstones. They proliferated in the 1960s with either Tsuruta,
Ken Takakura or Junko Fuji starring in them. This one was produced by Toho
though while most of them were made by Toei after they signed up Tsuruta.
