Doberman Cop

Doberman Cop (Doberuman Deka) (1977)

Runtime: 90 minutes

Directed by: Kinji Fukasaku

Starring: Sonny Chiba, Janet Hatta, Eiko Matsuda, Hideo Murota, Jukei Fujioka

From: Toei

There is such a thing as “country bumpkins from Okinawa.”

I was hoping to see a better tribute to the late Sonny Chiba, and this effort on Arrow's streaming site did just that. While uneven and sloppy, this jam from Kinji Fukasaku did just that. I know it'd be a good time once the opening credits happen and to a J-Pop version of 70's soul is hear as Chiba (dressed as a country bumpkin) walks around what I presume is Shinjuku... while carrying around a pet pig! Why the hell not... is it a surprise this was based on a manga?

Sonny is a cop from Okinawa-in town as a woman burned alive is believed to be from his home area-who is disrespected by the Tokyo cops in part due to his sometimes superstitious ways. Yet, he's a kung fu master who does a daring hostage rescue and is such a badass that his pig does the opposite of cockblock him... it actually helps him get laid! This story contains: bikers, the Yakuza, a suspected serial killer, J-pop that isn't quite yet the City Pop which some go bananas for, a .44 Magnum, funky music, an American Idol-esque show, a scene set at a Kentucky Fried Chicken (that chain in The Land of the Rising Sun is quite popular, and what a story it is that over there, eating the food at Christmas is now a tradition), a few moments of graphic violence, and someone who wears a face mask as if he time traveled to the late 70's from either last year or this one.

The story is rather wacky yet in the end you see it's not illogical. It was simply a movie that appealed to my tastes and was pretty good-not to mention made that era of Tokyo look rather groovy. It was a treat watching Chiba kick some ass this Labor Day weekend.