Nikkatsu Crime Retrospective: A Colt Is My Passport

Day number five, whew! The Lovely Wife and I are slowing down. We took off most today since we’d seen most of the films screening today, but we had check out this film out, and not just because of the brilliant name. Colt comes from the 60s heyday of crime films put out by Japan’s Nikkatsu studios. Very few Nikkatsu films ever made it to American theaters, let alone released on VHS or DVD. In fact, Fantastic Fest’s two screenings mark the first time this hard-boiled classic has been seen in North America. Since no English subtitled version exists, a special subtitle screen had to be rigged so specially transcribed subtitles could be projected. A big thanks to Mark Walkow for doing the subtitles and advancing them manually during the screening.

A yakuza gang hires a hitman and his sidekick to whack the boss of a rival gang. The pros do their job flawlessly but the rival gang pursues them and foils their plans to flee to France. Our heros retreat and formulate a plan to take a boat out of the country. Meanwhile, the two gangs unite and the deal is sealed by offering up the our heros. As gangsters close in, the hitman greets them in an impressive run and gun showdown. Jo Shishido plays the stone-faced, seen-it-all hitman in a stellar performance. Plus, the sidekick plays soulful song in the middle. You just don’t see that anymore.

If you ever have the chance to see this gem from a neglected corner of film history, do it. Hopefully the good folks at Criterion will pick this up and give it the love it deserves.