Akai hatoba (1958)
23KAkai hatoba: Directed by Toshio Masuda. With Yûjirô Ishihara, Mie Kitahara, Yukiko Todoroki, Shirô Ôsaka. 50s subculture icon Yujiro Ishihara (Crazed Fruit) stars in Masuda’s Red Pier as “Jiro the Lefty
“Yûjirô Ishihara is a killer from Tokyo, come to Kobe to lie low. His plans are thwarted almost immediately when he witnesses a brutal mob hit on the waterfront, and he becomes involved with the sister of a dead Yakuza. The cops are trailing him, the Yakuza want to put him to work, but he stubbornly resists.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMy research shows that this was roughly based on PEPE LE MOKO, but I find its brutal side and plot give it a linkage to another well known crime drama, HIGH SIERRA Ishihara may not be Bogart with flour in his hair to make him look old and tired, but he is weary of a life in the shadows, a life he cannot escape, caught between the police and the Japanese crime organization. This is a Japanese movie, however, and the brutality and open sexuality of the docks makes this a less human film. In all three, the question remains: can a man outrun his fate?”
