BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Majorthebys Charming and brutal

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Winifred The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

Maddyclassicfilms Stray Dog is directed by Akira Kurosawa, is written by Kurosawa and Ryuzo Kikushima,has music by Fumio Hayasaka and stars Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura.During a heatwave young detective Murakami(Toshiro Mifune)is devastated when his police gun is stolen while he is on a bus. Working with a records detective, Murakami finds the woman who stole his gun. Long since having passed it on she directs him to some gun dealers.As time goes on his gun is linked with a crime and Murakami now feels personally responsible for crimes committed with his gun. He is paired with older and wiser detective Sato (Takashi Shimura). Sato makes him see that he has nothing to reproach himself for. He also teaches the younger and hot headed man to take a step back from what he's involved with and not get so caught up in the case. The pair track down several leads and soon get ever closer to the gun and it's current owner but not before the tragic murder of a housewife.This Japanese thriller is one of Kurosawa's best films, featuring strong performances from Mifune and Shimura who both convey more with a glance or expression than lines of dialogue ever could.The film also examines how emotionally tough being a police officer is.There will be cases officers just can't leave alone and they will put so much effort into solving. As Sato points out though, you devote time and emotion to one person or case when you should try not to get so personally involved, another case and person will come along and you can't get so involved each time because you'll wear yourself out. There's also no point in feeling sorry for every criminal you come across because there will always be another and another.Hayasaka's music greatly adds to the film, capturing the relentlessness of the heatwave and the urgency of the case.Mifune is excellent as the hot headed and desperate detective. You can see his anger and despair building up just waiting to explode. Shimura is (as ever)wonderful as the older and calmer Sato. Shimura makes you believe this man has seen a great deal and can help Murakami learn to stop taking cases personally.

Antonius Block Kurosawa's 'film noir' about a rookie police officer (Toshiro Mifune) who loses his gun, and then endures shame and guilt as it's used in robberies and murder while he tries to track it down with a more seasoned officer (Takashi Shimura). The film is gritty, realistic, and successful as a police drama set during a sweltering heat wave that has everyone sweating and fanning as the cops descend into the underbelly of Tokyo. The only miss on Kurosawa's part that I could see was a long stretch of time early on where Mifune wanders around through the streets; this was simply too long, but even then, it allows us some excellent scenes of postwar Japan. Kurosawa heightens the action by having it run through places like a baseball game and a risqué dance hall; the cinematography is excellent, and the tension is great particularly towards the end of the film.It was remarkable for me to reflect that the Japanese had been in such a bitter, violent war just years earlier, as the film's general themes are universal, and we're reminded of just how similar we all are. The older cop's traditional family life is shown in one scene, ending sweetly in them looking on at his little kids sleeping, "like pumpkins in a field".At the same time, the distinctive psyche of the Japanese in this time period is also revealed. Tellingly, the rookie policeman has had a similar background as the criminal they're pursuing and sympathizes with him; the older cop sees that as philosophy stemming 'après-guerre', and believes in more black/white, good/bad terms. There is certainly symbolism at play in both of the younger men having been dealt an unfair fate, robbed of an easier life in the world they're growing up in. One turns to a life of crime, which continues on until the 'stray dog' becomes a 'rabid dog'; the other is upright and moral to the point of even sympathizing with him, which is admirable. The older cop provides stability, and at the end cautions him to forget, and let time heal. Kurosawa seems to show validity in both views. One must understand why others may falter in such an environment, and yet remain righteous. One must remember the past, and yet move on.

Tim Kidner So says Toshiro Mifune's rookie homicide detective's superior. They're on the hunt for a killer who has, by various means and routes, gotten hold of Mifune's gun, pick-pocketed from him on a bus.That stray dog could also possibly be seen as the desperate cop trying to pick up on any lead possible, walking miles in the heat, his sweated, frustrated brow superimposed onto shots of a bustling postwar Tokyo.I watched this from the BFI's very nice Kurosawa Crime Collection and is an early Kurosawa, from 1949. Always having seen Toshiro Mifune as either an arrogant gangster in Drunken Angel or more usually a shouting and menacing samurai in Kurosawa's later classics, it was both nice and refreshing to see him humble and troubled as guilt sets in about losing his 'piece'.Images I found remarkable were 50,000 spectators in a stadium, watching baseball, just four years after the end of WW2. Here, the two detectives are trying to spot their prey, a scene so reminiscent of so many '70s U.S cop movies. With an intelligent script, the story sees both methodical police work rub shoulders with Tokyo lowlife - petty criminals, their dodgy pals etc.There are a number of standout scenes, of which the downpour when they are at their most frantic and about to nab their man and the final chase across waste-ground are among the best. Some say that Stray Dog is a minor work by the master director but it is assured, intelligent and very, very watchable.

robert-temple-1 Anyone interested in the genre of film noir dare not fail to see this amazing contribution from Japan, positively oozing with postwar angst and dwelling upon the dazed, uncomprehending, and often despairing ex-soldiers who have become 'stray dogs' in society. 'Sometimes a stray dog can become a mad dog,' says the wise detective Sato in this atmospheric drama. The film is written and directed by the greatest of Japanese filmmakers, Akira Kurosawa. He made this film immediately following his very downbeat and depressing medical drama, THE SILENT DUEL (1949). This was the third successive film Kurosawa made with the brilliant actor Toshiro Mifune, with whom he would go on collaborating on films for many years to come. The finest performance in the film is by Takashi Shimura (1905-1982), as Detective Sato. He infuses so much deep character and poignancy into his role, that it is a marvel to watch. He was certainly a very great actor indeed. Mifune, who was later to become a master himself, was at this stage still just a handsome young leading man. In watching this film for the first time, I was struck by the jerky movements of most of the men in the film, especially those of Mifune. This strange body language is apparently meant amongst that strange race to show respect. But it really resembles nothing so much as the sudden, alarming, jerky movements of lizards. Have you ever watched a resting lizard on a wall? It suddenly jerks its head around, suddenly changes its stance, suddenly stands erect, suddenly runs off. That is what formal Japanese men are like in these Kurosawa movies, and it is not an endearing quality. Shimura does none of this, thank God. That is another reason why he seems so much more human, someone a Westerner can comprehend and relate to. The film also features a marvellous performance by Keiko Awaji as Harumi Namaki, the showgirl girlfriend of the 'mad dog' killer, Yusa. Mifune plays a young detective named Murakami, who has just begun his job, hoping it will focus him and purge him of the memories of the War and its immediate aftermath, when he had his pack and all his money stolen as he made his way home. Throughout this film everyone is sweltering in the most horrendous heatwave and they all wipe their brows continuously. There is of course no air conditioning, there are only little hand-held fans. Murakami is nearly fainting with the heat in a crowded bus after work, becomes distracted, and his pocket is picked, and his detective's Colt pistol is stolen. This initiates the complex chain of events which constitute the rambling and tortuous plot of the film, which becomes Murakami's first case, which he shares with the uncle figure, Sato. One of the most amazing scenes in the film is when we see the troupe of girl dancers leave the stage and retreat to a room where they can rest between shows. They all lie down gasping with the heat, like beached fish. It is, I do believe, one of the most remarkable scenes I have ever seen on film, and it is impossible to describe the intensity of the atmosphere and the intimacy of it all sufficiently. This film is extraordinary for daring, dynamic, and imaginative camera work. It is simply dazzling, right from the first scenes. The moving camera as it follows people running is a marvel. So many shots are original, everything about the composition is charged with energy and unique visual power. The film is a true work of genius. Sometimes there are countries fortunate enough to produce a film director of such stature that his images and films come to constitute the way in which one thinks of the country. India had Satyajit Ray, Italy had Luchino Visconti, Argentina had Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, Sweden had Ingmar Bergman, and Japan had Akira Kurosawa. Without such towering giants of the cinema, we would understand so much less of those countries. Cinematic geniuses are often the megaphones through which the voice of a nation is magnified to the world.