Take Aim at the Police Van
| Take Aim at the Police Van | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Seijun Suzuki |
| Produced by | Ryoji Motegi |
| Written by |
Shinichi Sekizawa Kazuo Shimada (Story) |
| Starring |
Michitaro Mizushima Mari Shiraki Misako Watanabe Shinsuke Ashida |
| Music by | Koichi Kawabe |
| Cinematography | Shigeyoshi Mine |
| Edited by | Akira Suzuki |
Production company | |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 79 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Take Aim at the Police Van (１３号待避線より その護送車を狙え Jūsangō taihisen yori: Sono gosōsha o nerae) is a 1960 Japanese film directed by Seijun Suzuki and starring Michitaro Mizushima.
Production
The Nikkatsu Company conceived Take Aim at the Police Van as a borderless action film, a studio subgenre with internationalized characters and setting. Contract director Seijun Suzuki had previously worked mainly on pop song films, a youth subgenre in which the films were built around an already popular song, and yakuza films with an occasional film noir bent.[1] It also marked the beginning of his practice of co-writing his films.[2] Leading man Michitaro Mizushima had also starred in Suzuki's Underworld Beauty two years earlier. He was atypical of borderless action films by virtue of his age, forty-eight at the time, as they typically featured Nikkatsu's younger stars such as Yujiro Ishihara and Akira Kobayashi.[1]
Release
Take Aim at the Police Van was released in Japan by the Nikkatsu Company on January 27, 1960.[3] It was subsequently released in a five-film DVD box set, titled Nikkatsu Noir, in North America on August 25, 2009, under The Criterion Collection's Eclipse label. The set focuses on noir-themed Nikkatsu Action films and also includes I Am Waiting (1957), Rusty Knife (1958), Cruel Gun Story (1964) and A Colt Is My Passport (1967) with liner notes by film historian Chuck Stephens.[4]
The A.V. Club's Noel Murray felt the film holds up against contemporary Hollywood film noirs. Rating it less abstract than Seijun Suzuki's films of a few years later, he highlighted its vim and social candor and named it "[a testament] to how artists pumping out quickie exploitation product can often work in truths about their times that prestige filmmakers can't."[5]
References
- 1 2 Stephens, Chuck (August 2009). "Eclipse Series 17: Nikkatsu Noir". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
- ↑ Weisser, Thomas (1998). "The Films of Seijun Suzuki". Asian Cult Cinema. Vital Books. 21: 47.
- ↑ １３号待避線より その護送車を狙え (in Japanese). Kinema Junpo Movie Database. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
- ↑ Erickson, Glenn (August 2009). "Eclipse Series 17: Nikkatsu Noir". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
- ↑ Murray, Noel (September 2009). "Eclipse Series 17: Nikkatsu Noir". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
External links
- Original trailer at The Criterion Collection
- Take Aim at the Police Van at the Internet Movie Database
- Take Aim at the Police Van (Japanese) at the Kinema Junpo Movie Database