Shinkansen daibakuha (1975)

Criminals plant a bomb on a high-speed train. It will explode when the train slows down, unless a ransom is paid.

Director:

Jun'ya Satô

Writers:

Ryûnosuke Ono (screenplay), Jun'ya Satô (screenplay)

Stars:

Ken Takakura, Shin'ichi Chiba, Kei Yamamoto

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ken Takakura	...	Tetsuo Okita
Shin'ichi Chiba	...	Aoki (as Sonny Chiba)
Kei Yamamoto	...	Masaru Koga
Eiji Gô	...	Shinji Fujio
Akira Oda	...	Hiroshi Ôshiro
Raita Ryû	...	Kikuchi
Masayo Utsunomiya	...	Yasuko
Yumiko Fujita	...	Akiyama
Yumi Takigawa	...	SAS Staff
Etsuko Shihomi	...	Telephone Operator
Fumio Watanabe	...	Miyashita
Toyoto Fukuda	...	Tashiro
Hiroko Fuji	...	Female Teacher
Junko Matsudaira	...	Cashier
Koreharu Hisatomi	...	Hirota

Storyline

One of the Japanese Shinkansen "Bullet Trains" is threatened with a bomb that will explode automatically if the train slows below 80 km/h, unless a ransom is paid. Police race to find the bombers and to learn how to defuse the bomb.

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Plot Keywords:

blackmail | bullet train | loot | railroad | conductor | 

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Taglines:

They said it couldn't happen... But for 1500 passengers Bullet Train 109 became a nightmare journey that just couldn't be stopped!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

1 January 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bullet Train

Filming Locations:

Airport, Chitose, Hokkaido, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toei Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

152 min 115 min (DVD) 115 min (edited/dubbed) 96 min (cut theatrical) 98 min (Cut theatrical)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie is considered to be the film that inspired the Hollywood action movie Speed (1994).

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Alternate Versions

West German theatrical version was cut down to ca. 96 minutes. This version was the basis for all subsequent home video releases. Only in 2013 the complete version was released.

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Connections

Featured in Big Movie, Big Panic: Junya Sato on the Bullet Train (2016)

User Reviews

And I wonder, still I wonder, who'll stop the TRAIN

Now here's a brief little plot description I'm sure will sound familiar to most people! Terrorists plant a bomb somewhere on a crowded public transportation vehicle. The device activates itself once the vehicle reaches a certain speed and will explode if the vehicle lowers its speed beneath this mark. The authorities as well as the driver are aware of the danger, but a ransom needs to be paid before the terrorists gives the exact location of the bomb. Now where have I heard that before? Hey wait a minute, it's that movie "Speed" with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock! Well sure, 99% of the world will be able to guess that, but sadly only a miserable 1% (or even less) know that "Speed" is, in fact, some sort of remake of this modestly produced but hugely exhilarating Japanese 70's disaster flick. Here in this case, the public transportation vehicle is an elite high-speed express train instead of a bus, so there are even more possibilities to hide the explosives. There are two versions of "Bullet Train" available, albeit both of them are quite obscure, but they're a world of difference. The international version is barely 90 minutes long and pretty much cuts all the background and intrigues surrounding the act of terrorism. The Japanese version runs slightly over 150 minutes and is the complete opposite! In this extended version you get to know literally everything about the terrorists, including how they got acquainted and even what they prefer to have for lunch. I'm usually quite allergic to long (2+ hours) movies, but I read that the heavily cut version comes across as incoherent and clumsy, and also that it doesn't feature the social criticism and melodrama. This may very well be true, but the 150 minutes slightly exaggerates with illustrating background stories and dramatic subplots. At numerous times during the film, it even felts like the booby trapped train was merely an unimportant sub plot while the real movie revolved on the life story of main terrorist Tetsuo Okita. Still, it's a compelling and at times adrenalin-rushing adventure with a solid script and terrific performances. Ken Takakura excels as the embittered terrorist and martial arts legend Sonny Chiba is very impressive in the for him very unusual role of ordinary machinist. One thing about "Bullet Train" I will surely NEVER forget for as long as I live is how this movie features the single most worst case of bad luck ever! After he received the ransom, the terrorists reveals that he left a bag in a restaurant. In the bag there's a map with a detailed drawing of where exactly in the train the bomb is located. The authorities rush to the restaurant, but notice upon arrival that the place just burned to the ground due to a short circuit! What are the odds of that happening?