Directed by:
Yasuzo MasumuraScreenplay:
Ryûzô KikushimaCinematography:
Setsuo KobayashiComposer:
Naozumi YamamotoCast:
Shintarô Katsu, Takahiro Tamura, 淡路恵子, Mikio Narita, 山茶花究, Asao Uchida, Akira Natsuki, Kôji FujiyamaPlots(1)
Vehement anti-militarism was a recurrent theme in Masumura’s work, and Hoodlum Soldier is his most disparaging take on the subject – a sardonic attack on Japan’s imperialism and the classist, hierarchical military system. This buddy comedy centers on the unlikely friendship that develops between Kisaburo, a hell-raising ex-yakuza gangster unwillingly turned into a military soldier (Shintarô Katsu, star of the Zatoichi series) and Arita (Takahiro Tamura), a meek pacifist intellectual, as they venture to find a way out of the army. Shot with a vivid realism uncommon in Masumura’s films, Hoodlum Soldier is a precursor to Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H: an uproariously funny, immensely entertaining war picture that champions survival and individualism over hollow patriotism. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)
(more)Cast
Shintarô Katsu
Japan
Best movies:
Zatoichi at the Fire Festival (1970)
Shintaro Katsu's Zatoichi (1989)
Zatoichi's Vengeance (1966)
Takahiro Tamura
Japan
Best movies:
Revenge (1964)
Twenty-Four Eyes (1954)
Last Samurai (1974)
淡路恵子
Japan
Best movies:
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960)
47 Ronin (1962)
Stray Dog (1949)
Mikio Narita
Japan
Best movies:
Hanzo The Razor 3: Who's Got the Gold? (1974)
Hoodlum Soldier (1965)
山茶花究
Japan
Best movies:
High and Low (1963)
The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959)
Yojimbo (1961)
Asao Uchida
Best movies:
Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (1972)
Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
The End of Summer (1961)
Akira Natsuki
Japan
Best movies:
Fires on the Plain (1959)
The Wife's Confession (1961)
The Black Test Car (1962)
Kôji Fujiyama
Japan
Best movies:
Zatoichi Challenged (1967)
Fight, Zatoichi, Fight (1964)
Shinobi no mono (1962)