I have been on a real Kurosawa kick of late, and wish I could afford to get more of his films, but this is the last one for a while. This is an early film of Kurosawa’s before his first huge success with Roshomon, but already his flair is starting to show. This isn’t just a crime thriller because it delves into the psychology of the criminal, and we see the cop wavering in his conviction. And I have never seen Mifune Toshiro look so young, and while he does give a powerful performance, through most of the film he is so troubled and is just following in Shimura Takashi’s footsteps trying not to lose himself in his own guilt in the matter at hand. An excellent film, though possibly a bit slow paced compared to modern thrillers.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

Murakami (Mifune Toshiro) is a war veteran and your inexperience homicide cop, who while on a public tram gets his 7 shot automatic colt pistol stolen (strangely the subtitles call it a revolver though it obviously isn’t). He offers to resign, but his boss puts him on the case, and he goes to look at pickpockets, and doesn’t find the guy, but the detective their has him look at women, and he recognizes an older woman who was standing next to him. With the detective they go and visit her, but it comes to nothing so Murakami starts following her till finally she gives him and tells him where gun dealers might be if he looks desperate enough. So he gets dressed in his old tattered military uniform and wanders the slums until finally he is approached about a gun, and told to go meet a woman with a flower in her hair, who is going to sell him a gun for his ration card, but he arrests her. From her he finds out that the man with the colt was lent it and was there to return it when he took her. Murakami is then sent to work with Sato (Shimura Takashi) and older and more experienced detective who used to work at HQ, and the two follow the leads of the case, from the gun dealer to the criminal with the gun who does 2 armed robberies with 1 killing all with Murakami’s colt. Murakami is losing it with his own guilt and because he starts to feel for the criminal Yusa (Kimura Isao) who like him was an ex soldier who had his bad stolen on his return, and just amounted to nothing while Murakami decided to become a cop, but he still feels for him. He and Sato track down Harumi (Awaji Keiko) a showgirl and kind of girlfriend to Yusa, who won’t turn him in. Eventually Sato goes to the hotel that he left matches at Harumi’s, while Murakami waits to try and get her to say where he is. Sato tracks Yusa across town with Murakami’s new gun (Sato had forgotten his own) and eventually tracks Yusa down, but as he tries to call Murakami he is shot by Yusa, and Murakami must get the info from Harumi as to where the hotel was. At the hospital Murakami is despondent and won’t leave, until finally Harumi shows up and tells him that she is supposed to shortly meet Yusa and where. Murakami goes there and figures out who Yusa is and chases him, realizing he has no gun. He gets shot in the arm by Yusa, but Yusa panics and fires off the other 2 shots missing, and Murakami is able to take him. Still Murakami can’t stop thinking about him as he talks to Sato in the hospital, and Sato makes him look out the window and says that other crimes are happening and once his arm is healed and he is working he will forget about Yusa because he will be busy, but will always remember his first arrest.

An excellent film with 2 amazing lead actors. And it is so cool to see Murakami explode when talking to Harumi and saying how he had his bag stolen just like Yusa, but he didn’t turn to crime, and then again when Sato is hurt. And this after being so turned in, and just freaking out for the whole film. Great performances, and actually a similar backdrop as Gate of Flesh, though the films could not be more different.