Murder, Extortion, and Morality

 High and Low (1963) – A business executive preparing to takeover his company, must decide between his ambitions and the life of an employee’s child.

Directed by Akira Kurosawa                             Starring Toshiro Mifune, Yutaka Sada, Tatsuya Nakadai

Why I Liked It:  When the stars (story, director, star) align, greatness happens.

Kingo Gondo (Mifune) has worked at the National Shoe Company since he was 16 years old.  He rose through the ranks to become the head of all manufacturing for the company.  As he prepares to outflank rivals trying to push him aside, disaster strikes.  An extortionist takes his driver’s son instead of Gondo’s.  Undeterred, the kidnapper still wants a record ransom or the boy will die.  Gondo can outwit his rivals, or ransom the boy.  There’s not enough money available to do both.

It’s hard to imagine any way this movie wouldn’t work.  You start with a story by police procedural icon Ed McBain (pen name for author/screenwriter Evan Hunter) called “King’s Ransom”.  The greatest of Japanese directors, and movie icon, Akira Kurosawa crafts the movie with his usual expertise.  Finally, it stars Toshiro Mifune, an international star in his own right.  Together they create a spellbinding mystery and morality play.  Gondo has mortgaged everything in his life (he says at one point that he doesn’t even own the clothes he is wearing) to snatch control of his company.  The ransom demand is for the majority of that stake.  If he doesn’t pay, the boy will die.  He is faced with personal ruin, or living with the decision to turn his back on the boy and his family.  Mifune shows him whipping back and forth right up to the final moment with the decision.

I have to admit that while I think the world of Kurosawa’s work, I tend to shy away at first.  There is this nagging idea that his work with be complex and hard to approach.  Yet every time I sit down to watch one, I am amazed at the storytelling skill that is highlighted by the master’s directorial skills.  Kurosawa isn’t usually brief (this one runs 203 minutes), but his work is immaculate.  Reading through the commentaries out there, I noted several who acknowledged they had little success looking for flaws here.  The story holds your attention from beginning to end.

You get the classic step by step pursuit of the bad guy, solid performances at every level, and then the director swerves at the end and takes to a different conclusion than the book.  I was thrilled the whole way through.

Yes, the dialogue is all in Japanese.  Yes, almost the entire movie is in black and white.

No, you shouldn’t let either of these facts keep from watching “High and Low”

Rating – ***** Highest Recommendation