Take Aim At The Police Van

Take Aim at the Police Van ('Jûsangô taihisen' yori: Sono gosôsha o nerae) (1960)

Runtime: 79 minutes

Directed by: Seijun Suzuki

Starring: Michitaro Mizushima, Misako Watanabe, Shoichi Ozawa, Shinsuke Ashida, Mari Shiraki

From: Nikkatsu

Last night I realized it was a prudent decision to start viewing a few motion pictures from the iconoclastic Japanese director Seijun Suzuki. This is the earliest movie discovered after a cursory search and it seemed only logical to start off with what I heard was subdued compared to the wild pieces of work he would soon create and years later gain fame for in the Internet film fan community.

Plus, the matter of fact title tickled me pink.

This is in the style of a noir and follows a prison guard. He gets suspended for poppycock reasons: somehow it's his fault that as he is on a police van (i.e. bus) transporting prisoners, some nefarious fellows create an accident and via a sniper rifle, start shooting up the bus, resulting in two men being killed. At least he has time to investigate this on his own and the trek takes him to some seedy locations, including strip clubs and escort services. To my surprise, this features topless women, one of whom is shot right in the boob via a bow & arrow.

A plot point or two was perplexing and perhaps I shouldn't scrutinize the story that closely. Any way you slice it, I can look past that and say this was pretty good overall. Our hero Tamon is a badass who does some badass things. The other characters are usually memorable and the action includes shootouts, fights & a memorable bit involving a gas tanker truck. It was a breezy watch shot stylishly and the jazz score was great, so this movie was just cool. The deeper I go into Suzuki's career, the cooler the films will become, or so others have stated. As is, this is a rough example of a noir that genre fans may enjoy.