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Yabai Koto Nara Zeni ni Naru
Danger Pays
Japan 1962
produced by Keinosuke Kubo for Nikkatsu
directed by Ko Nakahira
starring Jo Shishido, Hiroyuki Nagato, Ruriko Asaoka, Arihiro Fujimura, Eiji Go, Bokuzen Hidari, Kojiro Kusanagi, Torahiko Hamada, Daizaburo Hirata, Toyoko Takechi, Zenji Yamada, Keisuke Noro, Shuntaro Tamamura, Shobun Inoue, Go Kuroda, Densuke Mitsuzawa, Takashi Koshiba, Hyoe Enoki, Koji Seyama, Takashi Nomura, Koji Yashiro, Masayuki Kawamura, Shiro Tonami, Tetsuro Mikasa, Yuzo Harumi, Akira Nakao, Tatsuzo Omichi, Hisateru Ichihara, Kensuke Tamai, Masako Urushizawa, Keiko Kitaide, Saori Seto, Michiyo Yamashita, Kaoru Sera, Kenichi Shikita, Tetsuya Nakahira, Yoshio Tsuchida, Eijiro Kawai, Koichi Sasaki, Kyoko Kita
screenplay by Ichiro Ikeda, Tadaaki Yamazaki, based on a story by Michio Tsuzuki, music by Harumi Ibe
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Money printing paper to print more than a billion Yen is stolen from
the mint ... and now smart but small fry gangster Joe (Jo Shishido) thinks
he can make it big if he can only snatch the country's leading
counterfeiter Sakamoto (Bokuzen Hidari) once he returns at the airport
from Hong Kong ... but unfortunately crime writer Tetsu (Hiroyuki Nagato)
and street-wise dump truck driver Ken (Kojiro Kusanagi) had the exact same
idea, and while the three of them still try to trick each other out of the
old man, mobster Hijikata (Torahiko Hamada) and his gang already get hold
of Sakamoto and get him to work in the basement of a strip club - with a
glass ceiling to the stage, which Sakamoto likes quite a bit. Still, Joe
finds a way to track Sakamoto down, even if that costs a girl working for
Hijikata, Tomoko (Ruriko Asaoka), her job, and Joe, good guy that he
actually is, now feels responsible for her - and she also proves a great
asset since she's versed in martial arts. But once he has - with tons of
tickery - snatched Sakamoto from Hijikata's stripclub, he finds
competition in Ken and Tetsu, and while they all try to outsmart one
another, they lose Sakamoto again. Eventually, Joe,Tomoko, Tetsu and Ken
figure it would be best working with one another, and they do manage to
trick Hijikata every trick along the way ... until eventually landing in
his lion's den and completely at his mercy. And it seems there's no way
out of this other than using violence - but sadly enough, our heroic
quartet is grossly outgunned ... Basically, Danger Pays
is a crime caper comedy for one of Nikkatsu's
Diamond Guys (roughly translated matinee idol), a light crime caper
full of slightly quirky, even a bit racy, yet totally family friendly
humour ... until of course the shootout at the end that's violent and
bloody not only by 1962 standards - but event hen, the film doesn't lose
its light-hearted approach. Now all of this doesn't make Danger Pays
a masterpiece or a hidden gem, it's more a document of its time that
doesn't claim to have much depth or significance ... but if you let it it
will greatly entertain you all the same!
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review © by Mike Haberfelner
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Thanks for watching !!!
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Robots and rats,
demons and potholes, cuddly toys and shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill Your Bones to is all of that.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to -
a collection of short stories and mini-plays ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle,
all thought up by the twisted mind of screenwriter and film reviewer Michael Haberfelner.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to
the new anthology by Michael Haberfelner
Out now from Amazon!!! |
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