Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru (1960)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

Shinobu Hashimoto (writer)
Eijirô Hisaita (writer)

Release Date:

22 January 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

A vengeful young man marries the daughter of a corrupt industrialist in order to seek justice for his father's suicide.

Plot Keywords:

Suicide | Scandal | Nervous Breakdown | Illegitimate Son | Wedding

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Toshirô Mifune	...	Koichi Nishi
Masayuki Mori	...	Public Corporation Vice President Iwabuchi
Kyôko Kagawa	...	Keiko Nishi
Tatsuya Mihashi	...	Tatsuo Iwabuchi
Takashi Shimura	...	Administrative Officer Moriyama
Kô Nishimura	...	Contract Officer Shirai
Takeshi Katô	...	Itakura
Kamatari Fujiwara	...	Assistant-to-the-Chief Wada
Chishu Ryu	...	Public Prosecutor Nonaka
Seiji Miyaguchi	...	Prosecutor Okakura
Koji Mitsui	...	Reporter A
Ken Mitsuda	...	Public Corporation President Arimura
Nobuo Nakamura	...	Legal Adviser
Susumu Fujita	...	Detective
Koji Nambara	...	Prosecutor Horiuchi

Also Known As:

The Bad Sleep Well (International: English title)
The Rose in the Mud
The Worse You Are, the Better You Sleep (Japan) (informal literal English title)

Runtime:

151 min | USA:135 min | UK:132 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Perspecta Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-7 (2005) | Netherlands:6 | Australia:PG | Singapore:PG | UK:PG (video rating) (1992) | UK:A (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Toho Studios, Tokyo, Japan

Company:

Kurosawa Production Co.

Trivia:

The smashed car at the film's dramatic climax is a Studebaker.

Quotes:

Tatsuo Iwabuchi: [to Nishi about his father who is cooking barbeque wearing an apron] He hardly looks the part of a bad guy.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kurosawa: The Last Emperor (1999) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Roses from the South (Rosen aus dem Süden, Op. 388)

wonderful and often overlooked

While the Seven Sumarai and Rashomon are wonderful Kurasawa flicks, too few people are aware that he made other great films that are NOT samurai films because they are rarely seen in the United States. Only osscasionally, they are shown on Turner Classic Movies or other channels and should not be missed.

One of the best examples of this is this movie. The Bad Sleep Well is extremely well-written and acted and keeps your attention from start (the cake scene) to finish (the final showdown). I love how Kurasawa does NOT follow the expected path in this and his other pictures. Anyone wanting something DIFFERENT should give Kurasawa a try. In addition, I would strongly recommend Kurasawa's Madadayo ("Not Yet") or Shubun ("Scandal") as among his lesser-known flicks you MUST see. Among his slightly more famous, try Throne of Blood (a GREAT remake of MacBeth) or Yojimbo.

FYI--this story is a slight re-working of Hamlet, though you might not notice it unless you are looking.