"Amidst the crumbling post-war city is Murakami (Toshiro Mifune), a recently-promoted homicide detective. In the overwhelming sticky heat, he's on an overcrowded bus, the waft of stale perfume and a screaming baby creating an unbearable atmosphere. As he finally exits, he realizes his gun has been stolen. Despite chasing the assailant, Murakami comes up short, unable to get his weapon back."
"For many, it would stop there. But in Akira Kurosawa's stellar 1949 thriller Stray Dog, Murakami cannot let it go. Mortified that he'd allow himself a lapse in judgment and awareness that led to the theft of his police gun, he goes undercover into Tokyo's seedy underbelly, infiltrating criminal networks in a manic mission to try and find the person who stole from him."
"Kurosawa's film examines the caustic nature of crime; with each step Murakami takes into the criminal underground, the more questionable his own behaviour becomes. His only hope seems to be Satō (Takashi Shimura), the steady, older officer he's been paired with on the case."
"Kurosawa is widely known as one of the great filmmakers for a reason. He's a gifted storyteller and visual artist who helped bridge the gap between Hollywood filmmaking and traditional Japanese cinema. His influences are everywhere-without Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (1958), there'd be no Star Wars, and it's hard to imagine what action cinema would have become without Seven Samurai (1954)."
A homicide detective in post-war Tokyo endures oppressive heat on an overcrowded bus until his police gun is stolen. He chases the thief but cannot recover the weapon. Instead of stopping, he goes undercover to infiltrate criminal networks and find the person who took his gun. As he moves deeper into the underworld, his own conduct becomes increasingly questionable. The story examines the corrosive nature of crime and the human motivations behind characters. An older partner officer provides the only hope as the investigation intensifies. A 4K UHD release enables a renewed viewing experience with improved image quality.
Read at Inverse
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