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Tokyo Drifter (Criterion Collection Spine #39) | 
 enlarge | Director: Seijun Suzuki
Actors: Tetsuya Watari, Chieko Matsubara, Hideaki Nitani, Ryuji Kita, Tsuyoshi Yoshida
Studio: Criterion
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.95
Buy Used: $14.00
You Save: $15.95 (53%)
New (35) Used (20) Collectible (1) from $14.00
Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 22516
Format: Black & White, Color, Dvd-video, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: Japanese (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: Unrated
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
DVD Layers: 1
DVD Sides: 1
Picture Format: Letterbox
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 82 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: DTOK050D
ISBN: 0780022041
UPC: 374291361264
EAN: 9780780022041
ASIN: 0780022041
Theatrical Release Date: 1966
Release Date: February 23, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Plays fine.
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Amazon.com
Seijun Suzuki transforms the yakuza genre into a pop-art James Bond cartoon as directed by Jean-Luc Godard. The near-incomprehensible plot is almost negligible: hitman "Phoenix" Tetsu (Tetsuya Watari), a cool killer in dark shades who whistles his own theme song, discovers his own mob has betrayed his code of ethics and hits the road like a questing warrior, with not one but two mobs hot on his trail. In a world of shifting loyalties Tetsu is the last honorable man, a character who might have stepped out of a Jean-Pierre Melville film and into a delirious, color-soaked landscape of a Vincent Minnelli musical turned gangster war zone. The twisting narrative takes Tetsu from deliriously gaudy nightclubs, where killers hide behind every pillar, to the beautiful snowy plains of Northern Japan and back again, leaving a trail of corpses in his wake. Suzuki opens the widescreen production in stark, high-contrast black and white with isolated eruptions of color that finally explode in a screen that glows in oversaturated hues, like a comic book come to life. His extreme stylization, jarring narrative leaps, and wild plot devices combine to create a pulp fiction on acid, equal parts gangster parody and post-modern deconstruction. Andrew Sarris described Sam Fuller's films as works that "have to be seen to be understood," a characterization that applies even more in this case. Mere description cannot capture the visceral effect of Suzuki's surreal cinematic fireworks. --Sean Axmaker
Description
In this free-jazz gangster film, reformed killer "Phoenix" Tetsu drifts around Japan, awaiting his own execution until he's called back to Tokyo to help battle a rival gang. Seijun Suzuki's "barrage of aestheticised violence, visual gags, [and] mind-warping color effects" got him in more trouble with Nikkatsu studio heads, who had ordered him to "play it straight this time." Instead he gave them equal parts Russ Meyer, Samuel Fuller, and Nagisa Oshima. Criterion presents the DVD premiere of Tokyo Drifter in a lush color transfer from the original, glorious Nikkatsu-scope master.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
 Unlikely masterpiece September 20, 2008
Mr. T. J. Denman (London, UK)
Average acting, incomprehensible plot, irritating theme tune bursting out every few minutes: this film should really have nothing going for it. But it's masterly. One of the most stylish, inventive and engaging crime films you're likely to see. Seijun Suzuki is (still alive) a sort of Joseph H Lewis (Gun Crazy, Terror in a Texas Town) of Japan. Both are masters at turning genre movies inside out and transforming them into crazy visual romps that both honour and parody the genre. The Tokyo Drifter himself, Tetsuya Watari, dosen't have to do much but look cool in his powder blue suit; and boy does he do that. But to see him really act, get hold of Graveyard of Honour. A bit podgier, but still baby faced, he plays a psychopathic gangster with real majesty. And the theme song to Tokyo Drifter is not that irritating. In fact, I often hum it in the shower. 'Tokyo Drifter is perhaps the greatest triumph of style over content in the history of cinema.' Discuss.
Stylish August 21, 2007
Yoshi (Madtown, WI)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A stylish gangsta piece of work by the great late Seijun Suzuki. If you've watched Kurosawa or Ozu then this is much different. More comparable to Kinju Fukasaki(BATTLE ROYALE). Not as good as BRANDED TO KILL but a fine Criterion piece none the less. A lonely soul gets pulled back into one last score to settle. Visually masterful and the score is brilliant. A little slow at times but the action is pretty much non stop throughout. Plus a big payoff at the end. I know you will be amazed with what you see. Quentin Tarantino may not admit this is one of his inspirations for RESOVOIR DOGS, but when you have the blue room, red room, white room, etc, it's hard not to believe it's how he came up with Mr. White, Blond etc. A must see film if you're a lover of art and crime noir. One of Seijun's top 5 films.
High praise May 30, 2007
Susan Fong (Las Vegas, NV USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Tokyo Drifter" is a stylish Japanese mobster movie which pays homage and satirizes classic Hollywood movie genres. A good example of this is a scene in which a boisterous brawl occurs in a western style saloon located in downtown Tokyo, of all places. A feathered, plump burlesque dancer gets flung around amidst flying fists and furniture while impeccably attired gangsters go at each other without mussing up a well-groomed hair on their heads.
The music score, which is often performed on a harmonica, seems lifted from one of Clint Eastwood's spaghetti westerns. It adds comic relief. Brightly colored costumes and backdrops strongly suggest mood or situation. Appropriately, the actors speak in terse, succinct dialogue the kind found in pulp fiction novels. The story moves along swiftly.
Acclaimed director Quentin Tarantino has said that "Tokyo Drifter" so impressed him that it became the basis for his highly successful "Kill Bill" movies. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then this is high praise, indeed.
 Please just drift back to Japan where this film was made.... October 18, 2005
Nicholas Merchant (Bronx, NY)
2 out of 22 found this review helpful
A colorful explosion of boredom, complete with homosexual subplots between gangsters and their underlings. I mean, our protagonist is obsessed with his boss to the point that he literally ignores the advances of a sultry nightclub singer. Sure, the scenery is vibrant and Tarantino claims this is a "masterpiece" but so what. it is boring with little action. save your money: go buy a few cans of whipped-cream and head to the nearest carnival. It'll be much more fun.
 IT'S ARRTT! ARRTT! July 23, 2005
Evan Vella (Toronto, Canada)
5 out of 15 found this review helpful
Overrated. If you are a Japanese film enthusiast, see anything by Kurosawa, Ozu, Mizoguchi, Kobayashi, Miike or even Miyazaki before "Tokyo Drifter." This film gets two stars for its colorful sets and catchy theme song. The acting is terrible, impotent machismo is the only engine pulling the plot, and several scenes don't make sense within the context of the film. These scenes seem added for the effect of "having an all-yellow bar" or a "red gun disrupting a black & white shot". Also, while I applaud risk-taking visionaries-- some camera angles are so "unique," the viewer has trouble discerning the action. These original shots (for example, the ceiling view of a manga-reading moll accidently being killed by a stray bullet) have to be replayed a few times in order to understand them in the context of the scene. The unique angles are so outlandish that they are difficult to follow without a few rewinds.
The entire movie is deliberately artsy and stilted in the hopes of catapulting it from mere film to ARRRRTTT! Check out the great soundtrack, but I recommend watching something else.
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