is a 1964 Japanese action film directed by

Takumi Furukawa was a Japanese film director. Career Born in Tokyo, Furukawa graduated from the College of Art at Nihon University in 1941 and entered the Nikkatsu studio first in the screenwriting division before becoming an assistant director. After serving i ...

. This film was made available in North America when

Janus Films Janus Films is an American film distribution company. The distributor is credited with introducing numerous films, now considered masterpieces of world cinema, to American audiences, including the films of Michelangelo Antonioni, Sergei Eisenstein ...

released a special set of Nikkatsu studio's Noir films as part of

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...

, also including '' I Am Waiting'', ''

Rusty Knife is a 1958 action Japanese film directed by Toshio Masuda. ''Rusty Knife'' was part of the Nikkatsu film studio's wave of Japanese ''noir'' films, made in order to compete with popular American and French films at the Japanese box office. The fil ...

'', ''

Take Aim at the Police Van is a 1960 Japanese film directed by Seijun Suzuki and starring Michitaro Mizushima. Production The Nikkatsu Company conceived ''Take Aim at the Police Van'' as a borderless action film, a studio subgenre with internationalized characters and set ...

'', and ''

A Colt Is My Passport is a 1967 Japanese yakuza film directed by Takashi Nomura for the Nikkatsu Corporation. It is based on the novel '' Tobosha'' by Shinji Fujihara. It stars Joe Shishido as a hitman and Jerry Fujio as his partner; reprising his usual roles of c ...

''.

Cast

Joe Shishido was a Japanese actor most recognizable for his intense, eccentric yakuza film roles and his artificially enlarged cheekbones. He appeared in some 300 films but is best known in the West for his performance in the cult film ''Branded to Kill'' ( ...

- Togawa *

Chieko Matsubara is a Japanese actress from Nagoya, Spotted at a beauty contest sponsored by the Nikkatsu studio, Matsubara made her debut in 1961 at age 16 in ''Yoru no chōsensha''. Matsubara won popularity and became one of the representative actresses of th ...

- Rie *

Tamio Kawaji was a Japanese actor. Career Kawachi was a student at Kanto Gakuin University when Yujiro Ishihara, one of his neighbors in Zushi, Kanagawa, invited him to join the Nikkatsu studio. He made his debut in ''A Slope in the Sun'' (1958) playing Is ...

- Takizawa *

Shōbun Inoue was a Japanese actor. Inoue started his acting career at the Haiyuza Theatre Company. Later, he signed his contract with Nikkatsu film company. Filmography Films * ''Throne of Blood'' (1957) as Tsuzuki's messenger * ''Sun in the Last Days of t ...

- Okada * Yuji Odaka - Shirai * Minako Kazuki - Keiko * Hiroshi Nihonyanagi - Matsumoto * Hiroshi Kondo - Kondo * Saburo Hiromatsu - Saeki * Junichi Yamanobe - Yanagida

Plot

A wealthy Yakuza boss has arranged for the early prison release of Togawa, played by Joe Shishido, who has been serving time for having taken revenge on the man whose reckless driving has consigned his sister, Rei, to a wheelchair. Togawa has no chance to go straight as he is immediately coerced by the mob boss into organizing the hijacking of an armored car carrying 127 million yen in racetrack proceeds. The crime boss promises Togawa a cut which will allow Togawa to pay for surgery to help his sister to walk. After assembling a ragtag crew to undertake the robbery, Togawa must now pull off the hijacking and navigate through unanticipated developments and a series of double crosses arising from all sides.

References

External links

*
Cruel Gun Story
at

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...

1960s action films Yakuza films 1960s Japanese films {{1960s-Japan-film-stub