A Gun Story Told with Fists

I think someone had a theory that any average yakuza movie could be punched up a lot with a lot of punches. And so we have 1964's Cruel Gun Story (拳銃残酷物語). One of the most bare-bones plots, that yet manages to have plenty of holes, I've seen from this era of Nikkatsu, the whole thing works because of how delightfully over the top it gets with the fisticuffs.

Togawa (Joe Shishido) has just been released from prison where he was doing time for murdering the truck driver who paralyzed his pretty sister (Chieko Matsubara). He's been sprung early by a big operator who's putting together a heist. Togawa will lead a team of hand picked crooks to hijack an armoured car transporting cash from the race track. Togawa visits his team one by one and tests them by punching them a lot. He even uses this technique with the boxer they're hiring specifically for his muscle (Shobun Inoue).

Once the weak links have been weeded out, Togawa goes over the plan and the deal, but is obliged to stop and start punching one member of the crew (Yuji Odaka), a gambler and heroin addict who can't stop interrupting. Then Togawa has to start punching him again because it turns out the guy's girlfriend, Keiko (Minako Kazuki), had been listening at the door.

She and Togawa abruptly fall in love in one scene and it's never mentioned again.

Once the heist is finally pulled off, there are a lot of the usual double crosses and misunderstandings, many of them not making any sense if you think about them, like how the boss (Hiroshi Nihonyanagi) gives up his spy before he betrays everyone. Somehow the excessive punching makes the absurdity seem natural.

Cruel Gun Story is available on The Criterion Channel.