Ore ni sawaru to abunaize

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.