Kurenai no nagareboshi (1967)

Kurenai no nagareboshi: Directed by Toshio Masuda. With Tetsuya Watari, Ruriko Asaoka, Jô Shishido, Kayo Matsuo. A young yakuza hitman named Goro does a job and needs to hideout away from Tokyo for a while. He hangs out with loose women and hard men and always manages to stay one step ahead of the law. In his exile, he comes under suspicion for a murder and meets the girlfriend of the murdered man. They develop a strange bond while unbeknown to Goro, another hitman is after him for the job he did in Tokyo.

“Much has been made of the debt this great film, by director Toshio Masuda, owes to Jean-Luc Godardu0026#39;s u0026quot;Breathlessu0026quot;–and to be sure, it has many (most likely intentional) similarities. Yet, u0026quot;Kurenai No Nagareboshiu0026quot; (known here as u0026quot;Velvet Hustleru0026quot;) is actually a faithful remake of Masudau0026#39;s own 1958 film, u0026quot;Crimson Seaportu0026quot;–a film made a full year before Godardu0026#39;s picture.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003enThat being said, u0026quot;Velvet Hustleru0026quot; is another in a long line of knock-out Nikkatsu action films from the 1960u0026#39;s. Though this film is highly entertaining, and very worthy of repeated watchings, it should be noted that it is a fairly typical example of the type of action/exploitation films Nikkatsu Studios turned out (by the scores!) at this time. In short, this is a greatly enjoyable programmer that we are lucky to have available to us here in the USA. I only hope that more of Nikkatsuu0026#39;s excellent 1960u0026#39;s output sees release on video stateside!”