Branded to Kill
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Branded to Kill | |
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| Directed by | Seijun Suzuki |
| Produced by | Kaneo Iwai |
| Written by | Hachiro Guryu |
| Starring | Joe Shishido Mariko Ogawa Annu Mari |
| Music by | Naozumi Yamamoto |
| Cinematography | Kazue Nagatsuka |
| Editing by | Matsuo Tanji |
| Distributed by | Nikkatsu |
| Release date(s) |  June 15, 1967 |
| Running time | 98 min |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Followed by | Pistol Opera |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Branded to Kill (殺しの烙印 Koroshi no rakuin?) is a 1967 Japanese film directed by Seijun Suzuki and starring Joe Shishido, Mariko Ogawa, Annu Mari and Koji Nanbara.
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[edit] Synopsis
Goro Hanada is the no. 3 ranked hitman in the Japanese underworld. After the deaths of the no. 2 and no. 4 ranked hitmen, Hanada takes a job offered by the morbid and mysterious Misako Nakajo. When the job goes wrong, he finds himself being hunted by the even more mysterious no. 1 hitman (Nambara); when no. 1 kidnaps Misako, Hanada resolves to dispose of him, taking the no. 1 spot for himself.
[edit] Reception
Branded to Kill was the last film Suzuki made for Nikkatsu Studios. He had clashed with the studio's bosses before, and this time his contract with the studio was terminated for deviating immensely from the original screenplay. Suzuki would not make another movie for over ten years.
Today, however, Branded to Kill is viewed as one of his greatest works, with a 100% approval rating at the website Rotten Tomatoes.[1]
The assassination of underboss Sonny Valerio through a sink drain in Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) is an homage to the similar assassination of the crooked optometrist in Branded to Kill.
[edit] Sequel
In 2001, Suzuki directed a sequel, entitled Pistol Opera. The film is a surreal - and frequently bewildering - continuation of the original's premise, in which hitmen try to kill each other in competition for the rank of no. 1. Hanada is not played by Joe Shishido this time, but by Mikijiro Hira; Suzuki has said that the original intent was for Shishido to play the character again, but that the film's producer, Satoru Ogura, wanted Hira to play the character instead.[2] The reasons for this are still unclear.
[edit] References
- ^ Branded to Kill (1967). Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
- ^ Mes, Tom (October 2001). Review: Pistol Opera. Midnight Eye. Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
[edit] External links
- Branded to Kill at the Internet Movie Database
- Criterion Collection essay by John Zorn
- (Japanese) Branded to Kill at the Japanese Movie Database
| Japanese Cinema |  |
|
| Films directed by Seijun Suzuki | ||
| 1950s | Victory Is Mine | Pure Emotions of the Sea | Satan's Town | Inn of the Floating Weeds | Eight Hours of Terror | The Naked Woman and the Gun | Underworld Beauty | Spring Never Came | Young Breasts | Voice Without a Shadow | Love Letter | Passport to Darkness | Age of Nudity | |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | Take Aim at the Police Van | Sleep of the Beast | Clandestine Zero Line | Everything Goes Wrong | Fighting Delinquents | Tokyo Knights | The Big Boss Who Needs No Gun | Man with a Shotgun | A New Wind Over the Mountain Pass | Blood Red Water in the Channel | Million Dollar Smash and Grab | Teen Yakuza | The Guys Who Put Money on Me | Detective Bureau 23: Go to Hell, Bastards! | Youth of the Beast | The Bastard | Kanto Wanderer | The Flower and the Angry Waves | Gate of Flesh | Our Blood Will Not Forgive | Story of a Prostitute | Story of a Bastard: Born Under a Bad Star | Tattooed Life | Carmen of Kawachi | Tokyo Drifter | Fighting Elegy | Branded to Kill | |
| 1970s | A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness | |
| 1980s | Zigeunerweisen |Kagero-za | Capone Cries a Lot | Lupin III: Legend of the Gold of Babylon | |
| 1990s | Yumeji | Marriage | |
| 2000s | Pistol Opera | Princess Raccoon | |
