FROM THE LEGENDARY DIRECTOR OF TOKYO DRIFTER AND BRANDED TO KILL — STARRING JAPANESE SUPERSTAR JO SHISHIDO (BRANDED TO KILL and A COLT IS MY PASSPORT) — Assigned a standard Yakuza film in the hardboiled vein pioneered at Jap... more »an s famed Nikkatsu Studios, director Seijun Suzuki (Branded to Kill) and his frequent leading man Jo Shishido used 1963 s Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards! to flip the Japanese gangster film genre on its ear. A rapid fire gun heist, credits with an infectious jazz pop score, and a wide-screen close-up of a burning car announce Detective Bureau 2-3 as the film that would both lampoon and redefine Asian crime films for an irreverent new decade of garish panache and ultra-violent cool. The story follows police detective Tajima (Shishido), who, tasked with tracking down stolen firearms, turns an underworld grudge into a bloodbath -- while Suzuki transforms a colorful potboiler into an on-target send-up of cultural colonialism and post-war greed. (This isn t an American TV series,) one of Tajima s doubting subordinates tells the sharkskin-suited, super suave sleuth. Anarchic, breakneck paced, darkly comic, and stylish to the extreme, Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards! was a movie unlike anything audiences had ever seen. It would cement Suzuki s fervent popularity at home and heralded his imminent cult status worldwide.
1963 Japan 88 min. Color In Japanese with Optional English Subtitles Letterboxed (2.35:1) Enhanced for 16x9 TVs« less
Actor:Jo Shishido Director:Seijun Suzuki Genres:Indie & Art House Sub-Genres:Indie & Art House Studio:KINO INTERNATIONAL Format:DVD - Color,Widescreen - Subtitled DVD Release Date: 05/19/2009 Original Release Date: 01/01/1963 Theatrical Release Date: 01/01/1963 Release Year: 2009 Run Time: 1hr 28min Screens: Color,Widescreen Number of Discs: 1 SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Total Copies: 0 Members Wishing: 3 MPAA Rating: Unrated Languages:Japanese Subtitles:English