Black Tight Killers

Upon release of The Exorcist in 1973, televangelist Billy Graham warned that there was evil “in the fabric of the film itself.”   Using cinematic techniques to instill that kind of primordial fear is a rare accomplishment.  What’s even more rare?  Producing the very opposite effect on an audience: pure unadulterated joy.  A few Hollywood musicals make the cut, perhaps Raising Arizona, Amelie and an animated movie or two.  And now we can add the very unexpected Black Tight Killers (1966) to the list, a swinging Japanese spy thriller that so campy, colorful and uninhibited one can’t help but smile from the first frame to the last.

Returning from assignment as a combat photographer in Vietnam, Hondo (Akira Kobayashi) arranges a date with an attractive stewardess, Yuriko, who is promptly kidnapped by a gang of female ninjas in matching skin tight outfits.  But they’re not the only ones after his girl!  Yuriko is passed around between multiple captors each trying to locate her father’s stash of hidden military gold.  Meanwhile, Hondo uses his connections – and his fists –to ensure his first date is more than just a one-night stand. 

 

The directorial debut of Yasuharu Hasebe, Black Tight Killers is a deliciously wild ride.  It’s James Bond meets Austin Powers with a comic-book narrative that never takes its foot off the gas.  And while there’s plenty of girls, guns and gadgets on display, it’s the artistry of Kazue Nagatsuka’s cinematography that steals the show.  From primary-colored dreamscapes to splashes of neon,  psychedelic backdrops and glittering body paint, there isn’t a corner of the screen that doesn’t demand your full attention.  And Hasabe’s camera moves with manic energy to make sure you take it all in.

 

It's tough to keep up that sort of pace.  The film breathlessly spins from one scene to the next until collapsing before the final fight scene in a state of cinematic exhaustion.  But by that time, you can’t help but perform one of those slow-clap ovations over the credits as you realize you just bore witness to magic embedded in celluloid itself.  Or in this case 24p 1080 high definition.  

 

If you’re keeping score that’s another release Radiance has knocked out of the park.  Watch this one on the brightest, biggest, most expensive display possible!  Extras include a Jasper Sharp commentary track, archival interview with director Yasuharu Hasebe, trailer and limited-edition booklet.

 

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