Black Tight Killers (1966) User Reviews

Go go ninja women in 60's adventure spoof, a fun time

[Theatre_Guy · 8/10 · 10 March 2001]

The "Black Tight Killers" are a group of go-go dancing ninja women who use 45 rpm records and bubble gum as weapons. The central character is a war photographer who meets an airline stewardess and unknowingly enters into an adventure for money smuggled into the country by her father at the close of WWII. The money is pursued by Japanese yakuza, American gangsters and the title five with spirited action that very nicely reflects the colors and pop art flavor of the day. All is played with a tongue in cheek style that nicely parodies the spy adventure films of the time. Enjoy the fun. Supposedly also known as "Don't Touch Me, I'm Dangerous."

Fun Pre-Pinku Era Film From Yasuharu Hasebe...

[EVOL666 · 7/10 · 22 August 2006]

I knew enough about BLACK TIGHT KILLERS to not get my hopes up too high expecting a sleaze-fest like Yasuharu Hasebe's later-made and awesome pinku-shocker, ASSAULT! JACK THE RIPPER (which many - myself included - believe to be amongst the finest pinku films ever made). Even so - this one was a fun and quirky 60's-style crime/mystery that works well for what it is...

A military photographer takes a cute stewardess out to dinner where she is promptly kidnapped. Deciding that he has fallen in love with the girl, our "hero" decides to investigate her kidnapping himself, and ends up having run-ins with cops, gangsters, crooked businessmen, and a gang of go-go dancing ninja-girls who use chewing-gum bullets, deadly 45-records, and razor-sharp measuring tapes as weapons. It all revolves around the kidnapped girl and some stolen gold, and several groups attempts to retrieve the "goods"...

BLACK TIGHT KILLERS is a fun, brainless diversion. Hasebe makes good and stylish use of color, silly back-drops and eccentric characters to bring together an entertaining film. I can't say that I enjoyed it as much as the later, "rougher" pinku material to come out of Nikkatsu Studios, but it's interesting to see Hasebe's directing "progression". Fans of 60s-style neo-noirish crime/action films will get a kick out of this one. Hardcore sleaze and pinku fans who grab this one strictly because Hasebe's name is attached to it will more than likely be disappointed...7/10

Artistic with Elements of Humor Throughout

[Uriah43 · 6/10 · 20 March 2016]

"Daisuke Hondo" (Akira Kobayashi) is a professional photographer who is on his way back to Tokyo after a brief assignment in South Vietnam. On the flight there he meets a young stewardess named "Yoriko Sawanouchi" (Chieko Matsubara) and promptly asks her out on a date. She agrees and they go to a bar downtown. While dancing she notices a man who has been following her which results in Hondo going over to have a word with him. However, when he gets back to the table he finds that she is gone. This prompts Hondo to look for him and when he goes outside he notices three women clothed in black attacking the man who had been following Yoriko. Upon quickly killing the stalker, the three women then proceed to kidnap Yoriko and subsequently leaving Hondo to be interrogated by the police. As it turns out, the man who was beaten and killed was a member of the Yakuza and they want information which they believe Yoriko has. Likewise, the women are members of a female ninja organization who also want this same information. Since he realizes that both sides mean business Hondo knows he has to act fast if he is to somehow save Yoriko before it is too late. Now rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this particular movie was quite similar in style to the popular James Bond films of the time but with a smaller budget and a definite Japanese flavor. I especially liked the artistic manner in which the director (Yasuharu Hasebe) used color to amplify certain scenes along with certain elements of humor throughout the course of the movie as well. Having said that, I thought that this was a fairly decent film and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Great looking but not as fun as I'd hoped

[daustin · 6/10 · 11 September 2001]

This movie is very similar in atmosphere to Seijun Suzuki's Tokyo Drifter. The best thing about it is the incredibly wild use of color, something one surprisingly rarely sees exploited in movies (aside from the occasional Dick Tracy or Umbrellas of Cherbourg). The film really goes all out on wild stylization and campy action. Also, no movie that features go-go dancing at regular intervals can be completely bad, regardless of how poor the dancing the is. However, the plot never really becomes interesting enough to justify the the love lavished on the sets and look of the film. Suzuki does this better in Tokyo Drifter, and if you like surreal sixties Japanese nuttiness, Branded to Kill massacres both. This is worth a rental but don't have too high expectations.

Super cool! I'd love to see some boutique video label put it back in print.

[zetes · 9/10 · 6 September 2015]

Hasebe's debut feature could definitely pass for a crazy '60s films from his mentor, Seijun Suzuki. It's a colorful spy spoof about a couple (Akira Kobayashi and Chieko Matsubara, who starred in Tokyo Drifter) who are caught between several groups, Americans, yakuza and lady ninjas, searching for lost WWII era gold that Matsubara's father is rumored to have hidden. It's the lady ninjas who give the film its American title (the Japanese title translates to "Don't Touch Me, I'm Dangerous"): dressed in black tights, they fight with razor sharp tape measurer swords, chewing gum bullets and 45 rpm records, used as ninja stars. The use of color is amazing and will definitely recall Tokyo Drifter. Released on DVD in the US in 2000 by Image, the disc is pretty terrible, with hardcoded and often misspelled subtitles which often disappear when anything white appears on screen. This probably accounts for why the story is difficult to follow at times, but this is the kind of movie you watch more for the image anyway. I'd kill to see this on a nice Blu Ray. Highly recommended.

AMAZING

[BandSAboutMovies · 8/10 · 21 February 2024]

Daisuke Honda (Akira Kobayashi) meets stewardess Yuriko Sawanouchi (Chieko Matsubara) on a plane from Vietnam to Japan. After a date at a Tokyo nightclub, they are attacked by female ninjas. She's kidnapped by men in trenchcoats, he's in love and that's all we need to get the action started.

Directed by Yasuharu Hasebe, the criminals all think that Yuriko's father has taken gold from Okinawa at the start of the war. The ninjas want to return it to the people, the masked men want the money for themselves and Honda just wants to save the girl. Also: the female ninjas have record album weapons and spit deadly gum at people. They also have side work as go go dancers. If it sounds incredible, well, it is.

I'm so glad that Radiance released this, as I may never have seen it. It's really something!

first film

[christopher-underwood · 5/10 · 9 March 2024]

I thought this would be wonderful but unfortunately it is just not as good as I expected. A tongue in cheek spy spoof and there are some great moments especially with the girls dancing routines and the colours and music rather splendid. I didn't think that Akira Kobayashi was really into this but went on with some 140 and he wanted more serious films like Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973). The lovely, Chieko Matsubara really captured the mood and she was even better later that year with the Tokyo Drifter, she went on to make more than 150 films and still working. This was Yasuharu Hasebe's first film and even if it wasn't splendid he would go on with his next one with Massacre Gun (1967) a really cool, jazzy yukuza crime drama. He made Female Prisoner Scorpion: 701's Grudge Song (1973) and considered the creator of the violent pink sub genre like the Stray Cat Rock series in 1970 and then some even more violent like the amazing, Assault! Jack the Ripper (1976). So you can't chuck this film away but it's just not as great as it might be, but will be just round the corner.

Tight Killers.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 8/10 · 24 September 2019]

A while ago fellow IMDber manfromplanetx recommended to me the film Black Tight Killers. Planning to watch it,I somehow got confused,and watched Killers on Parade (1961-also reviewed) instead (they both have "Killers" in the title!) Realising the mistake I'd made,I finally put the black tights on.

View on the film:

Roaring to life from psychedelic colours splashed over sexy Go-Go dancers moving to the opening credits, Yasuharu Hasebe makes a sparkling directing debut,pointing to the expert use of primary colours which would be painted across his credits.

Hasbe & cinematographer Kazue Nagatsuka spin a hip,Pop-Art atmosphere, drizzling to scatter-gun zoom-ins on the glamorous, Rock star swaggering,Black Tight gang busting killer fighting moves against a vibrant, colourful backdrop, and landing on slick panning shots tied to the exploding golf balls and killer records used in this chase for the gold.

Tapping into the spirit which made the earlier Michio Tsuzuki adaptation Danger Pays (1962-also reviewed) fizz, the screenplay by Ryuzo Nakanishi lands Daisuke Honda on his feet when he steps off the plane, only to send him straight off to a break-neck adventure which playfully taps at the Euro Spy jet-set chic.

Keeping the romance between Honda and Sawanouchi bubbly even when killer RPM records are being thrown from all directions, Nakanishi makes brightly drawn sketches of each gang, bouncing along on Power-Pop joy to the ninja Black tight gang ,hitting the sweating with greed rival (all-male) gang wanting Sawanouchi to give them her keys to the prize.

Not only being head over heels in love but over his head in what deadly games he's caught up in, Akira Kobayashi takes inspiration from 007 with his great turn as Hondo,who Kobayashi keeps as swave and sophisticated. Believed by all to be the key to unlock her dad's gold bundles, pretty Chieko Matsubara gives a smooth performance tinged with vagueness as Sawanouchi, who keeps the level of her knowledge closely under wraps,from the black tight killers.

Sometimes visually arresting, but frequently also boring

[gridoon2024 · 5/10 · 7 June 2014]

"Black Tight Killers" is a sometimes visually arresting movie, with a stylized use of color and a collection of pretty hot Japanese women making up the title bunch (one of the undisputed highlights of the film is the scene where one of them kills a man by squeezing his head between her legs while making faux-orgasmic sounds! - sadly, she is killed off only a couple of minutes later), but the story, about the search for a missing cache of gold, is meandering, uncompelling and frequently even boring. Ultimately, "Black Tight Killers" doesn't quite work, either as a serious action-spy adventure, or as a campy parody of the genre. ** out of 4.