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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about High and Low |
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Kingo Gondo (Mifune), a weatlthy shoe manufacturing executive, has leveraged all his personal income to gain control of the company and keep it from more greedy and incompetent executives. Unfortunately, at this critical moment a kidnapper calls in and says he has Gondo's son. Gondo will have to ruin himself financially to pay the ransom. But then it turns out the kidnapper(s) have screwed up and taken the son of the chauffeur's executive, not his own. Gondo must decide whether to pay the money to rescue him. The second half of the film shifts into police procedural mode and concentrates on the manhunt overseen by Chief Detective Tokura (Nakadai). Kurosawa combines character study, social commentary, and police procedural, as well as stressing the similarities between his "hero" and "villain" as much as the contrasts, in this 1963 film, based on the Evan Hunter (as Ed McBain) novel _King's Ransom_.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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High and Low is a 1963 movie directed by japanese director Akira Kurosawa starring Toshiro Mifune.
Toshiro Mifune is a wealthy executive in a shoe factory. His servant's only son is kidnapped by mistake. Nonetheless, the kidnapper wants Mifune to pay a ransom.
Adapted from an Ed McBain novel of the "87th Precinct" serie.
--Daniel Staebler, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of High and Low |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- 1960's-1970's
Crime & Scandal
Yes
Story of
- criminals stealing from honest people
- life in drug culture
- rescuing from kidnappers
Job/Profession/Poverty Story?
Yes
Job:
- businessman, big
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- business executive
Age:
- 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Black)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- (man) average
Events of movie makes character more...
- sad
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Japanese
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor?
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Hair color
- brunette (Black)
Hair style
- (man) short/standard straight
How much in movie?
- 60%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Japanese
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- student
Eccentric:
Yes
- emotionally unstable
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 20%
Hair color
- brunette (Black)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- (man) skinny
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Japanese
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Setting
Asia/Pacific/Middle East
Yes
Asian country:
- Japan
City?
Yes
City:
- dirty, grimy (like New York)
- dangerous
- wealthy
Misc setting
- fancy mansion
- prison
- moving train
- bar
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Movie makes you feel...
- excited
- thoughtful
Check here if B&W
Yes
Non-American film?
Yes
What language?
- Japanese
Subtitles?
- Yes
Is this movie based on a
- book
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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