Black Tight Killers

Summary

“Now the pajamas are back together.”

My first exposure to the Japanese films of Nikkatsu Corporation came from Criterion’s release of Seijun Suzuki’s Tokyo Drifter. That film quickly made me a fan of the wild and colorful direction of Seijun Suzuki. It also made me curious about the film studio that would allow Seijun the free rein to make such interesting films. Of course, Nikkatsu seemingly was never pleased by Suzuki’s more abstract endeavors, but thankfully for some reason they continued to fund his projects. The world is a better place for it. Seijun Suzuki has been given a pretty nice amount of exposure with a number of releases by Arrow Video and, most recently, a 4K UHD Criterion release of his truly wild black and white film Branded to Kill. Radiance Films has recently released the Nikkatsu produced 1966 film Black Tight Killers which was directed by Suzuki’s protege Yasuharu Hasebe. Arrow Video had previously released on Blu-ray Hasebe’s films Massacre Gun and Retaliation, along with the Stray Cat Rock films that he had directed, but I had not watched any of those films. I am admittedly a procrastinator and despite owning those films, I have not watched them yet. Based on my enjoyment of Black Tight Killers, I will need to rectify that soon. I tend to watch anything that Radiance Films put out, and when I realized it was a colorful 1960’s Japanese spy spoof from one of Suzuki’s protégés, I pushed it to the top of my pile of films to view. I’m glad that I did. I had a lot of fun watching it the other night.

The movie starts in a military conflict as military photographer Hondo (Akira Kobayashi) braves the battlefield to get his footage. Afterwards, Hondo is on a plane back to Tokyo with an attractive stewardess named Yoriko (Chieko Matsubara.) When the plane touches down in Tokyo, there are men watching the plane arrive through binoculars. Hondo asks the stewardess to join him for dinner. She agrees to the date. At the lounge during the date, a man is following her. Hondo walks away from the table for a moment and when he comes back the girl is gone. He searches for her. Outside, in an alley, a gang of ninja women (wearing black tights and leather jackets) kill the man that was following Yoriko. His name was Fernando Lopez. Hondo arrives in the alley looking for Yoriko and is attacked by the three girls. He holds his own until one of the girls throws a “chewing gum bullet” which hits his face. He defends himself well before they flee. Yoriko is kidnapped while Hondo tries to phone the police about the murdered man. Meanwhile, two men in trench coats and fedoras look on. Hondo will be forced to navigate different rivalries that are in search of a fortune while staying ahead of the law if he wants to retrieve Yoriko from her kidnappers.

Black Tight Killers has a lot going on. It has go-go dancers, female ninjas, laughing gas, paint torture, exploding golf balls, Japanese jazz and rockabilly, and so much more. In short, the film is a blast. It has the wild spirit of a Seijun Suzuki film, but is still completely its own thing. Hasebe and his screenwriter Ryuzo Nakanishi, working from a novel by Michio Tsuzuki, were not at all worried about realism. This film is all about style and allowing surreal moments to occur frequently. In the interview included on the disc, Hasebe explained that he was trying to make a different type of action film. This film is in many ways a celebration of tropes – noir, detective stories, spy films, adventure serials – all through the haze of Sixties Japanese pop cinema filmmaking. The violence is never over the top, and the monologues that are delivered by every dying vixen in the film are as wonderful as they are unnecessary. When Nikkatsu finally saw the different type of action film that Hasebe had made, he was out of work for eighteen months. In my estimation from watching the film, it was worth the sacrifice to his career that he made.

Black Tight Killers in many ways is a stylistic triumph. It’s a very colorful film. I noticed that the same purple and green color gels are used repeatedly for lighting scenes, but the ways in which the gels are used and reused created a great look. There are moments where characters are driving in cars against rear projection where the background film stock changes colors from blue to yellow. It’s jarring, but interesting. None of these sequences achieve any sense of realism, but they definitely look cool. This film is all about swagger and fun ideas, allowing Yasuharu and his cinematographer Kazue Nagatsuka to completely run wild with whatever ideas felt interesting to them. The music and musical numbers in the film are awesome. Some of the music is jazz based, and some of it has that Sixties rockabilly guitar sound that the Japanese did so well. The soundtrack is fantastic with a strong score by Naozumi Yamamoto. The elements all add up to create a really appealing pop cinema film.

The cast in the film is likable. Akira Kobayashi is a solid leading man, and carries his scenes with the proper amount of confidence. He would go on to a prominent role in Kinji Fukusaku’s classic Battles Without Honor and Humanity. Chieko Matsubara is enjoyable as his kidnapped love interest Yoriko. Akema Kita does well as the strongest of the ninja women, Akiko. The performances are all energetically performed by the cast who throw themselves into all the wild moments that the script asks of them.

Overall – fans of Seijun Suzuki’s work and Japanese pop cinema from the Sixties will find a lot to enjoy about Black Tight Killers. I had a blast watching the movie.

Video

Radiance Films presents Black Tight Killers in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio in 1080p. The transfer was provided by the Nikkatsu Corporation. Additional restoration work was performed by Radiance. Like other Radiance releases, the film has been finessed into good shape. The work that they have done thus far on all of their Japanese film releases has been of very good quality. They have brought the best out of the materials. Fine detail is for the most part pretty solid, but like many Japanese films there is a little bit of softness from the source. The film has a fine filmic grain and I didn’t detect any compression issues. From what I have read online, fans have been blown away by how much better this presentation looks than the dated DVD.

Audio

Radiance Films have provided a restored LPCM mono track. As one might guess, the mono track is limited in how immersive it feels. That said, this film has a very energetic and enjoyable score by Naozumi Yamamoto. It is one of my favorite scores I have heard this year. Dialogue is rendered clearly. This is a good track overall.

Supplements:

• Audio Commentary by Jasper Sharp – as one might expect, the commentary by Jasper Sharp is very knowledgable. Jasper is one of the best regarded authorities on all things related to Japanese Cinema and his commentary on the picture is very thoughtful. 
• Yasuharu Hasebe – this short but excellent archival interview from 2000 with the director sheds good light on the production and reception of Black Tight Killers. Definitely check this out.
• Trailer 

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.25/5

Audio – 4.25/5

Supplements – 3.5/5

Overall – 4.5/5

Black Tight Killers will absolutely scratch the itch of any film lovers who are fans of Seijun Suzuki. Suzuki’s influence on Yasuharu Hasebe is apparent, but Yasuharu had plenty of skill and imagination which will be apparent to anyone who watches the film. Black Tight Killers is an extremely entertaining film from the school of Japanese pop cinema. Nikkatsu Coproration was so displeased with the film that Yasuharu did not work for another eighteen months, but this film was not made to satisfy them. Viewers who like surreal and ridiculous action pictures will have a blast watching Black Tight Killers. The film has swagger and energy thanks to some colorful cinematography and a great rockabilly and jazz score. Radiance Films has done a very solid job on the presentation of the film and the supplements are very good (even though they are not extensive.) If you are a fan of Yasuharu or of Seijun Suzuki, this film comes highly recommended.