Stray Dog (film)

For the 1991 film by Mamoru Oshii, see Stray Dog: Kerberos Panzer Cops.

Stray Dog
Directed by	Akira Kurosawa
Produced by	Sojiro Motoki
Written by	Akira Kurosawa Ryuzo Kikushima
Starring	Toshirō Mifune Takashi Shimura
Music by	Fumio Hayasaka
Cinematography	Asakazu Nakai
Editing by	Toshio Gotō Yoshi Sugihara
Distributed by	Toho
Release date(s)	October 17, 1949 (1949-10-17)
Running time	122 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Stray Dog (野良犬, Nora inu^?) is a 1949 film noir police procedural directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring frequent collaborators Toshirō Mifune and Takashi Shimura.

Plot

The questioning of Namika. Keiko Awaji on the right, Eiko Miyoshi, Toshirô Mifune (standing), Takashi Shimura (sitting)

Action takes place during a heatwave in a bombed-out, post-war Tokyo. Rookie homicide detective Murakami (Toshirō Mifune) has his Colt pistol stolen during a trolley ride and gives chase to the pickpocket, but when he fails to capture him he reports back to headquarters filled with guilt and shame. He goes on to prowl the city backstreets undercover, looking for suspects and picking up leads. He eventually picks up the trail of a gun racket. When the stolen gun is used in a crime, Murakami partners up with the veteran detective Sato (Takashi Shimura).

After questioning a suspect, Sato and Murakami end up at a baseball game looking for a gun dealer named Honda. They locate him and he points to Yusa, a disenchanted war veteran who's fallen to crime after the war. They investigate Yusa's sister's house and his sweetheart, showgirl Harumi Namiki, but to no avail.

Murakami's gun is used in another crime, this time as the murder weapon. They question Namiki at her mother's house. The girl is still reticent to talk, so Sato leaves off to investigate Yusa's trail while Murakami remains behind. Sato comes across Yusa's last hideout. He places a call for Murakami, but just as he is about to reveal Yusa's location, the criminal makes a run for it. Sato attempts to give chase, but is shot in the rain and left for dead. A desperate Murakami arrives soon enough to donate blood to his friend at the hospital.

The following morning, Namiki has a change of heart and informs Murakami at the hospital that she had an appointment with Yusa at a train station nearby. Murakami races to the meeting and deduces who Yusa from his mud spattered clothing. He gives chase into a forest and is wounded in the arm. After a chase, Murakami manages to cuff Yusa, taking him into custody. Back at the hospital, Sato has recovered and congratulates Murakami on his first citation. Murakami reflects on Yusa's plight, reflecting on the parallels between him and the criminal. Sato tells him to forget about Yusa, and get ready for the cases he will have to solve in the future.

Production Notes

Kurosawa mentioned in several interviews that his script was inspired by Jules Dassin’s The Naked City and the works of Georges Simenon. ^[1] Kurosawa wrote the script with Ryuzo Kikushima, a writer who had never written a script before.

During the opening credits, there is footage of a panting dog. However, when American censors saw the footage, they assumed that the dog had been harmed. This run-in with American censors caused Kurosawa to remark that this was the only time he wished Japan had not lost WWII.^[2]. The film released in the U.S in 1963.

Despite being noted as one of Akira Kurosawa's most critically renowned post-war films, Nora inu is not held in such high regard by he director himself. Kurosawa has been quoted as saying that he thinks little of the film, calling it "too technical" while also remarking that it contains "all that technique and not one real thought in it." His attitude had change by 1982 when Kurosawa's wrote in his autobiography that “no shooting ever went as smoothly,” and that “the excellent pace of the shooting and the good feeling of the crew can be sensed in the finished film.” ^[3]

Remake

The film was remade in 1973 as Nora Inu, starring Tetsuya Watari as Murakami and Shinsuke Ashida as Sato. The location was changed from Tokyo to Okinawa^[4].

Awards

At the 1950 Mainichi Film Concours it won awards for Best Actor (Takashi Shimura), Best Film Score (Fumio Hayasaka), Best Cinematography (Asakazu Nakai) and Best Art Direction (So Matsuyama).

Keiko Awaji as Harumi Namiki the showgirl

Partial cast

• Toshirō Mifune as Detective Murakami
• Takashi Shimura as Detective Sato
• Keiko Awaji as Harumi Namiki: showgirl
• Eiko Miyoshi as Harumi's mother
• Fumiko Honma as Wooden Tub Shop woman
• Isao Kimura as Yusa
• Minoru Chiaki as Girlie Show director
• Ichirô Sugai as Yayoi Hotel owner
• Gen Shimizu as Police Inspector Nakajima

Notes

1. ^ "DVD Review of Stray Dog by Gary Morris". imagesjournal.com. http://imagesjournal.com/2004/reviews/straydog/. Retrieved 2011-10-12. 
2. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041699/trivia
3. ^ "Stray Dog: Kurosawa Comes of Age". criterion.com. http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/323-stray-dog-kurosawa-comes-of-age. Retrieved 2011-10-12. 
4. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041699/trivia

External links

• Stray Dog at the Internet Movie Database
• Stray Dog at AllRovi
• Criterion Collection essay by Chris Fujiwara
• Stray Dog (Japanese) at the Japanese Movie Database