High and Low (1963 film)

High and Low
Japanese Theatrical Poster
Directed by	Akira Kurosawa
Produced by	Ryuzo Kikushima Akira Kurosawa Tomoyuki Tanaka
Written by	Eijirō Hisaita Ryuzo Kikushima Akira Kurosawa Hideo Oguni
Starring	Toshirō Mifune Tatsuya Nakadai Kyōko Kagawa
Music by	Masaru Satō
Distributed by	Toho Company Ltd.
Release date(s)	March 1, 1963 (Japan) November 26, 1963 (US)
Running time	143 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

High and Low (天国と地獄, Tengoku to Jigoku^?, literally "Heaven and Hell") is a 1963 film directed by Akira Kurosawa, starring Toshirō Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai and Kyōko Kagawa. It was loosely based on King's Ransom, an 87th Precinct police procedural by Ed McBain.

Plot

A wealthy executive named Kingo Gondo (Toshirō Mifune) is caught between two sides in a struggle to gain control of a company called National Shoes. One faction wants the company to make cheap, low quality shoes for the impulse market while the founder of the company wants it to stick with sturdy but unfashionable shoes. Gondo believes that the long-term future of the company will be best served by well made shoes with modern styling, though this plan is unpopular because it means lower profits in the short term. He has secretly set up a leveraged buyout to gain control of the company, mortgaging all he has.

Just as he is about to put his plan into action, he receives a phone call from someone claiming to have kidnapped his son, Jun. Gondo is prepared to pay the ransom, but the call is dismissed as a prank when Jun comes in from playing outside. Jun's playmate Shinichi, the child of Gondo's chauffeur, is missing however and it's apparent that the kidnappers have mistakenly abducted him instead.

In another phone call the kidnapper reveals that he has discovered his mistake but still demands the same ransom. Gondo is now forced to make a decision about whether to pay the ransom to save the child or complete the buyout. After a long night of contemplation Gondo announces that he will not pay the ransom, explaining that doing so would not only mean the loss of his position in the company, but cause him to go into debt and throw the futures of his wife and son into jeopardy. His plans are weakened when his top aide warns the others in return for promotion. Finally, under pressure from his wife and the chauffeur, Gondo decides to pay the ransom. Following the kidnapper's instructions, the money is put into two small briefcases and thrown from a moving train; Shinichi is found unharmed.

Gondo is forced out of the company and his creditors demand the collateral in lieu of debt. The story is widely reported however, making Gondo a hero, while the National Shoe Company is vilified and boycotted. Meanwhile the police eventually find the hideout where Shinichi was kept prisoner. The bodies of the kidnapper's two accomplices are found there, killed by an overdose of heroin. The police surmise that the kidnapper engineered their deaths by supplying them with uncut drugs. Further clues lead to the identity of the kidnapper, a medical intern at a nearby hospital, but no hard evidence with which to make an arrest. The police lay a trap by first planting a story in the newspapers implying that the accomplices are still alive and then forging a note from them demanding more drugs. The kidnapper is apprehended in the act of trying to supply another lethal dose of uncut heroin to his accomplices. Most of the ransom money is recovered, but too late to save Gondo's property from auction. With the kidnapper facing a death sentence, he and Gondo finally meet face to face. Gondo has gone to work for a rival shoe company, earning less money but he is given a free hand in running it. The kidnapper reveals that envy from seeing Gondo's house on the hill every day led him to conceive of the crime.

Reception

The Washington Post wrote of the film: "High and Low is, in a way, the companion piece to Throne of Blood -- it's Macbeth, if Macbeth had married better. The movie shares the rigors of Shakespeare's construction, the symbolic and historical sweep, the pacing that makes the story expand organically in the mind.'^[1]

Cast

• Toshirō Mifune - Kingo Gondo
• Tatsuya Nakadai - Chief Detective Tokura
• Kyōko Kagawa - Reiko Gondo
• Tatsuya Mihashi - Kawanishi, Gondo's secretary
• Isao Kimura - Detective Arai
• Kenjiro Ishiyama - Chief Detective 'Bos'n' Taguchi
• Takeshi Katō - Detective Nakao
• Takashi Shimura - Chief of Investigation Section
• Tsutomu Yamazaki - Ginjirô Takeuchi

References

1. ^ Washington Post review of film by Paul Attanasio, 11/7/86

External links

• High and Low at the Internet Movie Database
• High and Low (Japanese) at the Japanese Movie Database
• High and Low at AllRovi
• Film Comment essay by Chuck Stephens at Criterion Collection