Tokyo Drifter (1966) Tôkyô nagaremono (original title)

Director:

Seijun Suzuki

Writer:

Kôhan Kawauchi

Release Date:

10 April 1966 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama

Plot:

After his gang disbands, a yakuza enforcer looks forward to life outside of organized crime but soon must become a drifter after his old rivals attempt to assassinate him.

Plot Keywords:

Drifter | Yakuza | Gangster | Japan | Bar Fight

Cast

Tetsuya Watari	...	Tetsuya 'Phoenix Tetsu' Hondo
Chieko Matsubara	...	Chiharu
Hideaki Nitani	...	Kenji Aizawa
Ryûji Kita	...	Kurata
Tsuyoshi Yoshida	...	Keiichi
Eimei Esumi	...	Otsuka
Tamio Kawaji	...	Tatsuzo, The Viper
Eiji Gô	...	Tanaka
Tomoko Hamakawa	...	Mutsuko
Isao Tamagawa	...	Umetani
Michio Hino	...	Yoshii
Shuntaro Tamamura	...	Koyanagi
Hiroshi Midorikawa
Hiroshi Chô	...	Kumamoto
Akira Hisamatsu		(as Kosuke Hisamatsu)
Shinzo Shibata	...	Otoyoshi
Yuzo Kiura	...	Fujimura
Yu Izumi	...	Detective Sakai
Ikuo Nikaido
Masaaki Honme
Shirô Tonami
Wataru Kobayashi
Mitsuru Sawa
Iwae Arai
Yoko Yokota
Hiroshi Takao
Kiyoshi Oba
Tessen Nakahira
Ken Mizoguchi
Tadayuki Kitakami
Masatoshi Takase

Directed by
Seijun Suzuki

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Kôhan Kawauchi

Produced by
Tetsuro Nakagawa	....	producer

Original Music by
Hajime Kaburagi

Cinematography by
Shigeyoshi Mine

Film Editing by
Shinya Inoue

Production Design by
Takeo Kimura

Production Management
Yasufusa Okada	....	executive in charge of production

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Masami Kuzuu	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Yoshinobu Akino	....	sound

Visual Effects by
Masaru Mori	....	colorist

Camera and Electrical Department
Hideo Kumagai	....	gaffer

Production Companies

• Nikkatsu

Distributors

• Nikkatsu (1966) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Alive (1994) (France) (theatrical)
• Criterion Collection, The (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2011) (USA) (DVD)
• Total Film Home Entertainment (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Yume Pictures (2007) (UK) (DVD)
• Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) (1995) (Germany) (TV)

Also Known As:

"Tôkyô nagaremono" - Japan (original title)

Runtime:

89 min | USA:82 min | Germany:82 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Sweden:15 | UK:12 | Singapore:PG | Germany:12 | Australia:M (2007) | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Akasaka, Minato, Japan

Company:

Nikkatsu

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Spartan (2004)

Seijun Suzuki's Masterwork...

I will argue until my death that TOKYO DRIFTER is superior to BRANDED TO KILL, but that's for another time...

I am amazed every time I see this film that Suzuki could take such an obviously inferior product -- as Nikkatsu Studios was churning out at an obscene rate in those days, giving directors a script and saying "Shoot it fast and cheap so we can give you your next job" -- and turn it into one of the most beautiful and intriguing films I've ever seen.

Best plot ever? No. Easy to follow? Yes. Beautiful? Yes. And that theme...I could never forget that theme if I tried, even after my first viewing.

I'd ramble on about history and plot and so on, but so many others have, I'll just leave it at this: TOKYO DRIFTER makes me happy every time I see it.