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Reviews
Murdoch Mysteries: Rich Boy, Poor Boy (2010)
A nod to Kurosawa?
The plot line of this episode is, until the conclusion, virtually identical to that of Kurosawa's film High and Low: the kidnappers mistakenly take the child of the poor(er) parents; the wealthy father provides the ransom money to save the life of the child; the ransom money is even picked up by the kidnappers adjacent to the train tracks as it was in the 1963 film.
All in all, not a bad source to weave into a Murdoch episode! In fairness, many of Kurosawa's films have been copied/re-made over the years, but this is the first time I've seen it done with High and Low. Well done, too.
Gohiki no shinshi (1966)
Hideo Gosha churns out a beautiful film noir!
After viewing a heist (in negative black-and-white) during the opening credits, we find our protagonist, Oida -- Tatsuya Nakadai, excellent as usual -- in prison. Sent there for killing two people in an automobile accident (the result of a split-second lapse in attention), he's now to be released.
Having lost everything, he has nowhere and nobody to turn to upon his release, so Oida uncomfortably enters into an agreement with his cell mate: in exchange for a half-share of 30,000,000 yen, he is to assassinate three strangers given to him on a list. Unknown to him, drug dealers, seeking to get back money stolen in the heist years earlier, are after the same three men. Upon meeting his first potential victim, Oida immediately regrets his decision, but, needless to say, the body count starts climbing, and he's drawn irreversibly into the vortex. Complicating matters, Oida is "adopted" as a father-figure by the orphan of the first victim, and then encounters the widow of the man he killed years earlier, backstage in a seedy club.
Oida decides he must now try to alert the people on his list of their impending danger, and find out why they are being targeted in the first place.
Complete with grotesque characters, questionable alliances, double-crosses, a chance of redemption, and fabulous black-and-white photography, "Cash Calls Hell" is pure noir, and is easily equal to Kurosawa's justly praised "The Bad Sleep Well" and "High and Low." While director Hideo Gosha obviously made some fine samurai movies during his career, I can't help thinking the world would be a richer place if he'd made more films like this overlooked gem. No fan of film noir, Hideo Gosha or Tatsuya Nakadai should miss "Cash Calls Hell."