Stray Dog (Nora inu)
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Written by Akira Kurosawa and Ryûzô Kikushima
1949/Japan
Film Art Association/Shintoho Film Distribution Committee/Toho Company
Repeat viewing/Hulu Plus
[box] Det. Sato: A stray dog becomes a mad dog.[/box]
Kurasawa makes a solid police procedural that harkens back to films like The Naked City and Bicycle Thieves.
It is summer in Tokyo before air conditioning. Every one is covered in sweat and befuddled by the heat. After target practice, rookie Homicide Detective Murakami (Toshiro Mifune) is as drained as everyone else in town. He lets his guard down for just a second while riding the bus home and a thief pickpockets his service revolver. He chases the thief but can’t catch up with him.
He reports to headquarters filled with remorse and expecting to be fired. Instead, he is given the go-ahead to search for the gun. Disguised as a down-and-out war veteran, he scours the haunts of black marketeers and loose women.
Then the gun is used in a robbery in which the victim is wounded. Murakami grows more and more desperate to find the thief before the gun can be used again. He slowly begins to identify with the thief, who like him is a war veteran whose knapsack was stolen on the train home. Finally, he is teamed up with veteran Detective Sato (Takashi Shimura) and they begin to make some progress.
Kurosawa was still developing the mastery that would reach full flower in the next year’s Rosohomon.His view of crime land Tokyo has always struck me as a bit fanciful but its denizens are nevertheless a lot of gritty fun. He wrings every bit of heat out of the setting. Mifune and Shimura are great as always. Not a masterpiece but a very enjoyable film noir.
