A slick gunslinger rolls into town for blood money, but the locals want his soul instead.
One day, a lone horseman rides into town with a wounded man strapped behind him. Joe, the Ace, had captured one of the bandits who had held up the armored payroll car headed for the dam construction site, takes the wounded man to the police and claims the reward offered. He is told to wait until the driver of the armored car returns to identify the bandit and goes over to the Blue Star where he is introduced to Mishima, the owner of the cabaret, who is highly respected in the town. Joe then meets Saburo, while fishing, and his lovely sister, who seem to sense the real man beneath the rough appearance and take him into their home. Word reaches Joe that the bandit he'd captured had been shot and he hurries over to the hospital.
Acting
Joe Shishido's surgically-altered cheekbones are their own character.
Direction
Nomura's cramped wide shots make the West feel claustrophobic.
Cinematography
Shadow-drenched saloons lit like 1940s gangster flicks.
Director
Takashi Nomura
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Joe Shishido got those iconic chipmunk cheeks from 1957 plastic surgery after studio execs said his face was 'too narrow.' He later admitted it nearly ruined his career before making him a cult icon.
This is pure 'mukokuseki' Western—Japanese filmmakers aping American genres while the dam setting quietly critiques US infrastructure projects reshaping postwar Japan. The cowboys are Yakuza, the frontier is occupied territory.
JP
