Branded to Kill (1967) Koroshi no rakuin (original title)

Director:

Seijun Suzuki

Writers:

Takeo Kimura
Atsushi Yamatoya
(more)

Release Date:

15 June 1967 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama

Plot:

A hit-man, with a fetish for sniffing boiling rice, fumbles his latest job, putting him into conflict with his treacherous wife, with a mysterious woman eager for death and with the phantom-like hit-man known only as Number One.

Plot Keywords:

Fetish | Boiling Rice | Rice | Butterfly | Death

Cast

Jô Shishido	...	Goro Hanada
Kôji Nanbara	...	No. 1
Isao Tamagawa	...	Michihiko Yabuhara
Anne Mari	...	Misako Nakajo
Mariko Ogawa	...	Mami Hanada
Hiroshi Minami	...	Gihei Kasuga
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Iwae Arai
Franz Gruber	...	Western man
Akira Hisamatsu		(as Kosuke Hisamatsu)
Hiroshi Midorikawa
Tokuhei Miyahara
Hiroshi Naga
Takashi Nomura
Atsushi Yamatoya

Directed by
Seijun Suzuki

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Hachiro Guryu
Mitsutoshi Ishigami		screenplay (uncredited)
Takeo Kimura
Chûsei Sone
Atsushi Yamatoya

Produced by
Kaneo Iwai	....	producer
Takiko Mizunoe	....	producer

Original Music by
Naozumi Yamamoto

Cinematography by
Kazue Nagatsuka

Film Editing by
Mutsuo Tanji

Art Direction by
Sukezo Kawahara

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

Sound Department
Yoshinobu Akino	....	sound recordist (as Y. Akino)

Camera and Electrical Department
S. Mio	....	gaffer

Production Companies

• Nikkatsu

Distributors

• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2011) (USA) (DVD)
• Home Vision Cinema (USA) (VHS)
• Home Vision Entertainment (HVE) (1967) (USA) (DVD)
• Janus Films (USA) (subtitled)
• Nikkatsu (1987) (Japan) (VHS)
• Nikkatsu (1994) (Japan) (VHS)
• Nikkatsu (2001) (Japan) (DVD)
• Nikkatsu (2006) (Japan) (DVD)
• Nikkatsu (Japan)
• Nikkatsu (USA) (subtitled)
• Yume Pictures (2007) (UK) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Koroshi no rakuin" - Japan (original title)

Runtime:

98 min | Argentina:99 min | USA:91 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | Germany:16 | Australia:M | USA:Not Rated

Company:

Nikkatsu

Trivia:

When Nikkatsu studio executives saw the finished product, they thought it was too terrible to be released, so they shelved it. Director Seijun Suzuki along with others in the film business, film critics, and students protested in unfairness since by contract Nikkatsu was supposed to release the finished film theatrically. It went to court, with a ruling in favor of the director. Nikkatsu had to pay for damages and have the film released. Suzuki's contract with Nikkatsu was terminated, and with the bad reputation, was unable to work on a feature film for the next 10 years.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)

So cool Jarmusch ripped it off

Seijun Suzuki refers to his films as "entertainment" and without critical merit. Yet, this was somewhat tongue in cheek as he stated that critics feel a movie must have a "moral or some social commentary" to be worthy of attention. Be that as it may, "Branded to Kill" is simply a fantastic achievement. Suzuki was working with both a lead man and a script provided to him by the Nikkatsu Corporation. As such, when you evaluate his films, you do so by focusing on the technical merits. Personally, I find his disconnected editing, and surreal lighting styles to be amazing. Suzuki's skill turns what is otherwise a laughable boiler plate film noir into something more. The lighting and editing make the exclamations that the script doesn't, and the decision to shoot the final scene in a boxing ring is brilliant.

It was entertaining to watch person after person jump up and down about the originality of "Ghost Dog" with no mention of the fact that Jarmusch lifted one of the assassination sequences unchanged from "Branded to Kill". Hopefully as more of Suzuki's work comes to DVD, people and critics alike will recognize a blatant tribute when it is given. Suzuki deserves them all.