Joe Shishido

Infobox actor
name = Joe Shishido


image_caption = Shishido at the 2005 Udine Far East Film Festival
birthdate = birth date and age|1933|12|6|mf=y
location = Kita, Osaka, Japan
birthname = Jō Shishido
height = 1.74 m (5' 8½")nihongo|Joe Shishido|宍戸 錠|Shishido Jō|born December 6, 1933 in Kita, Osaka, Japan is a Japanese actor most recognizable for his intense, eccentric yakuza film roles and his artificially enlarged cheekbones. He has appeared in some 300 films but is best known in the West for his performance in the cult film "Branded to Kill" (1967). In Japan, he is also known by the nickname nihongo|Joe the Ace|エースのジョー|Eisu no Jō for his popular role in the Western "Fast-Draw Guy" (1961).

Early life

Joe Shishido was born in the Kita Ward of Osaka, Japan. He had two older brothers, one younger sister and a younger brother who also became an actor under the name Eiji Go. Shishido attended schools in Tokyo and Miyagi. In 1952, he graduated high school and enrolled in the theatre course at Nihon University. Two years later, he auditioned for the Nikkatsu Company's New Face contest. He was one of 21 selected from 8000 applicants. Shishido dropped out of school and began working for Nikkatsu, appearing in small film roles.cite book
last = Schilling
first = Mark
title = The Yakuza Movie Book: A Guide to Japanese Gangster Films
url = http://www.stonebridge.com/YAKUZA/yakuza.html
publisher = Stone Bridge Press
year = 2003
month = September
id = ISBN 1-880656-76-0
pages = pp. 128–130]

Nikkatsu

In 1954, Joe Shishido signed on as a contract player at Nikkatsu. Studio bosses encouraged Shishido to change his name, as popular tales of the samurai Miyamoto Musashi contained a villain named Shishido and they were modeling him into a romantic lead, but he refused. His first major role was in "Policeman's Diary" (1955), in which he played a young patrolman who challenges a police chief in a "kendo" (bamboo sword fighting) match.

Displeased with his middling success in melodramas and "blandly handsome features",cite web
last = Sharp
first = Jasper
coauthors = Stefan Nutz
title = Interview: Jo Shishido and Toshio Masuda
publisher = Midnight Eye
year = 2005
month = August
url = http://www.midnighteye.com/interviews/shishido_masuda.shtml
accessdate = 2007-10-17] Shishido underwent cheek augmentation surgery in 1957, increasing their size. Some have described his new look as "ruggedly handsome" and others equated it as being distinctly chipmunk-like.cite web
last = Atkinson
first = Michael
title = Fighting Elegy; Youth of the Beast
publisher = The Village Voice
year = 2005
month = February
url = http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0508,dvd2,61189,20.html
accessdate = 2007-10-17] cite web
last = Erickson
first = Glenn
authorlink = Glenn Erickson
title = Branded to Kill
publisher = DVD Talk
year = 2002
month = July
url = http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=4179&___rd=1
accessdate = 2007-10-17] Afterwards, he began getting bigger parts predominantly as villains in action movies. Two of his largest roles in the early 1960s were opposite Akira Kobayashi in the "Birds of Passage" series and Keiichiro Akagi in the "Record of Pistol Criminality" series. Akagi then died in a go-karting accident which left Nikkatsu in need of a new action star. Shishido was selected. His first starring role was in the comic buddy film "Dirty Work" (1961) with Hideaki Nitani. The film was a success and spawned two immediate sequels, "Bodyguard Work" (1961) and "Helper Work" (1961). He gained national popularity and the lifelong nickname "Joe the Ace" ("Eisu no Jō") for his eponymous role in the Eastern Western "Fast-Draw Guy" (1961), in which he played the "third-fastest draw in the world—0.65 seconds."cite web
title = nihongo2|早射ち野郎
publisher = Japanese Movie Database
url = http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1961/ck001630.htm
language = Japanese
accessdate = 2007-10-17]

Though he worked predominantly in comic action roles he also gained a "tough-guy loner image" in such films as Seijun Suzuki's "Youth of the Beast" (1963) in which he played an ex-cop who infiltrates two rival yakuza gangs. Shishido is best known in the West for the films he made with Suzuki including "" (1963) and "Gate of Flesh" (1964). Internationally, his best known film is Suzuki's "Branded to Kill" (1967), in which he starred as the number three hitman in Japan, although it received only moderate success on its original release. He later recalled seeing the film with friends and finding the theatre near deserted.

Nikkatsu action movies began to lose favour through the late 1960s and production was scaled back resulting in fewer jobs for Shishido. He began taking roles with other companies and in television, which were primarily of a comic nature. He also starred in Nikkatsu "new action" films such as the all-star vehicle "" (1969), with Akira Kobayashi and Tetsuya Watari, and "Bloody Battle" (1971). In 1971, Shishido ended his contract and left the failing company, which had transitioned into softcore "roman porno" ("romantic pornography") films in order to stay profitable.

Free agent

Joe Shishido continued to work in television and appeared in films for other studios such as the fifth installment of Toei's highly popular post-war yakuza series, "" (1974). By this time yakuza films had begun to lose favour with the public and Shishido ceased appearing in those types of roles. Over the next 20 years, he focused predominately on television with occasional film appearances including "Transfer Students" (1982), "Bound for the Fields, the Mountains, and the Seacoast" (1986) and "A Mature Woman" (1994). His roles in Kaizo Hayashi's Mike Hama: Private Eye trilogy marked a reemergence of his tough-guy persona. The trilogy included "The Most Terrible Time in My Life" (1994), "The Stairway to the Distant Past" (1995) and "The Trap" (1996).

Partial filmography

* 1958 "Voice Without a Shadow" (影なき声 "Kagenaki koe") - directed by Seijun Suzuki
* 1963 "" (探偵事務所２３　銭と女に弱い男 "Tantei jimusho 23: Kutabare akutōdomo") - directed by Seijun Suzuki
* 1963 "Youth of the Beast" (野獣の青春 "Yaju no seishun") - d. Seijun Suzuki
* 1964 "Gate of Flesh" (肉体の門 "Nikutai no mon") - d. Seijun Suzuki
* 1967 "A Colt Is My Passport" (拳銃は俺のパスポート "Koruto wa ore no pasupoto") - d. Takashi Nomura
* 1967 "Branded to Kill" (殺しの烙印 "Koroshi no rakuin") - d. Seijun Suzuki
* 1974 "" (仁義なき戦い　完結篇 "Jingi naki tatakai: Chojo sakusen") - d. Kinji Fukasaku
* 1977 "A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness" (悲愁物語 "Hishu monogatari") - d. Seijun Suzuki
* 1978 "Bandits vs. Samurai Squadron" (雲霧仁左衛門 "Kumokiri nizaemon") - d. Hideo Gosha
* 1981 "Edo Porn" (北斎漫画 "Hokusai manga") - d. Kaneto Shindō
* 1985 "" (カリブ・愛のシンフォニー "Karibu: Ai no shinfoni") - d. Norifumi Suzuki
* 1986 "The Samurai" (ザ・サムライ "Za samurai" - d. Norifumi Suzuki
* 1994 "The Most Terrible Time in My Life" (我が人生最悪の時 "Waga jinsei saiaku no toki") - d. Kaizo Hayashi
* 1995 "The Stairway to the Distant Past" (遥かな時代の階段を "Harukana jidai no kaidan") o - d. Kaizo Hayashi
* 1996 "The Trap" (罠 "Wana") - d. Kaizo Hayashi
* 1997 "To Love" (愛する "Aisuru") - d. Kei Kumai

References

External links

* [http://www.midnighteye.com/interviews/shishido_masuda.shtml Midnight Eye interview] : Joe Shishido and Toshio Masuda
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* [http://www.joeshishido.com/ Dirty Joker] ja icon Shishido's official website
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