massacre gun

Arrow Video USA is making quite a statement with its first four titles released in North America. The company has a well-established reputation for delivering exquisite collector’s editions of cult and classic titles alike in European markets. But here in the States they’re competing with a number of niche entities with loyal fans of their own like Blue Underground, Shout Factory and Twilight Time. So, just like the first day of school, first impressions are important. And films like Massacre Gun, a Japanese noir-gangster entry from 1967, prove that the company isn’t going to succumb to peer pressure.

Starring Jo Shishido (Branded to Kill) as weary middle-management gangster Ryuichi Kuroda, he begins the film by murdering the woman he loves. Although Kuroda pulled the trigger, he was following the orders of his boss, Akazawa. Things reach the breaking point when Kuroda’s brother, a boxer, has his hands crippled for speaking out, ruining his career. Push finally comes to shove and Kuroda decides to take on Akazawa, even though it means a showdown with one of his closest friends, the boss’ second in command.

Massacre Gun is built from the spare parts of 1940’s American film noirs, complete with jazz clubs, femme fatales and plenty of automatic gunfire (it takes anywhere between 20 – 40 shots to put a man down). Yet mixed with the traditional Japanese code of honor and loyalty, the format is uniquely its own.

Produced by Nikkatsu Studios, who found a profitable niche in this new breed of action movies after making a killing distributing American films in the post-WW2 era, the movie coasts on its cool shot compositions and retro vibe. Director Yasuharu Hasebe may be simply emulating the American noir experience, but he does so with confidence and style.

The turf war eventually comes to a head with Kuroda taking on what’s left of Akazawa thugs on an empty stretch of freeway, armed with the titular repeating rifle. It’s the sort of payoff one always hopes to get out of a slow-burn thriller, but rarely does. And the explosion of violence (although largely bloodless) puts even more distance between Massacre Gun and its American inspirations.

Arrow’s Blu-ray offers up a beautiful black-and-white transfer restored for hi-def. The disc itself is limited to 3000 copies and includes a trailer, liner notes and two interviews; the first with star Jo Shishido (whose age makes this one a bit of a challenge to sit through) and film historian Tony Rayns, who runs through the history of Nikkatsu studios from its first beginnings in 1914 through the Roman-Porno days of the ‘70s and ‘80s.