As many have noted, the ending confrontation s terrific. And the opening set-up --a hit man and his sidekick getting double-crossed by their boss, and having to hide out while they try to come up with an alternative getaway plan -- is also promising. But the long muddled middle drags the movie down to a non-classic level; the plot moves dutifully from point-to-point without generating much tension or interest in the mostly stoic characters. If you're a Jo Shishido aficionado, be aware that there were better vehicles for him -- in particular, this is not up to the level of Cruel Gun Story, Branded to Kill, or Youth of the Beast. Not a bad film, but from clips of the (admittedly great) ending and the cool title some have tried to portray this as the summit of Japanese noir, which it definitely is not.
20 Reviews
Fantastic Japanese Action Noir
loader89810 July 2016
CHIPMUNK. The lead actor looks like a chipmunk. It needs too be said because that's all you see initially. Apparently it was a result of cheek surgery.
Once you get past that this movie is a little treat. A Noir/Yakuza/Spaghetti Western mash-up that actually works.
Like "The Killers" we are in the company of a two-man hit team. With a tricked-out car complete with a massive two-way radio they are much in demand from the Yakuza. Then the job goes wrong and it's time to get out of town. However there's a gal at the motel who complicates matters.
The music is a combination of cool jazz (which could be in a contemporary Caine movie ) and a touch of the Morricones for the cowboy-like action sequences. It shouldn't work but it is really effective.
Once you get past that this movie is a little treat. A Noir/Yakuza/Spaghetti Western mash-up that actually works.
Like "The Killers" we are in the company of a two-man hit team. With a tricked-out car complete with a massive two-way radio they are much in demand from the Yakuza. Then the job goes wrong and it's time to get out of town. However there's a gal at the motel who complicates matters.
The music is a combination of cool jazz (which could be in a contemporary Caine movie ) and a touch of the Morricones for the cowboy-like action sequences. It shouldn't work but it is really effective.
Entertaining trans-cultural fusion noir with a great title
jamesrupert201411 May 2018
Like most of the other reviewers, I was struck by the similarities between this Japanese crime thriller, clearly modeled after 1950's American film noir, and Sergio Leone's iconic 'spaghetti' westerns. Briefly, hitman Shuji Kamimura (Joe Shishido) and his assistant Shun Shiozaki (Jerry Fujio) are hired to assassinate a yakusa boss only to be betrayed by their employer. On the run, they hole up in a seedy hotel, where Kamimura attracts the eye of former mob moll Mina (Chitose Kobayashi) who agrees to use her connections in the local merchant fleet to help them escape. The mob closes in and Kamimura has to make some tough decisions. Joe Shishido is very good in an atypical way as the impassive contract killer, as is the rest of the cast (especially Kobayashi), and the story moves along at a brisk pace to a satisfyingly bloody conclusion. The black and white cinematography is striking and, while the look is pure noir, the score is an unusual (but effective) mix of discordant jazz (typical of period crime thrillers) and music that is clearly an imitation of (or homage to) Ennio Marricione's iconic spaghetti-western themes. The climatic shoot-out, despite being fought between dapper Japanese gangsters, could have come from a '60's anti-hero western, with a stark landfill site substituting for the desert and choreographed gunplay featuring a variety of weapons and a number of ways to die. This was my introduction to the Japanese crime film (having run out of kaiju and tokusatsu films) and I was equally entertained and impressed and look forward to watching other films in the canon (many of which, I have noticed, have equally evocative titles).
A Colt Is My Passport (1967)
mevmijaumau26 May 2015
A Colt is My Passport (one of the most bad-ass titles ever?), starring Jo Shishido without his sunglasses, is the final, and definitely the best movie from the Nikkatsu Noir Eclipse box-set. It's directed by Takashi Nomura, by far the most obscure director on the set. Aside from this film, his only somewhat-not-that-obscure film is the Eastern- Western Fast-Draw-Guy (1961), which also starred Shishido and earned him the nickname Joe the Ace. As much as I'd like to see a spaghetti western made in Japan, it's unfortunately too obscure to be found.
This movie, however, has a Morricone-like soundtrack that sounds like it should accompany a spaghetti western instead, with all the whistles and gunshots and everything that goes with it. But what's really surprising is that this music fits A Colt is My Passport perfectly, especially its final scene.
Unfortunately, most of the plot is nothing to write home about, as the cool beginning and the orgasmically epic ending are simply too good for the middle portion of the film. The plot isn't really handled in an interesting way, and the token female character here is basically pointless (really, what purpose did she serve to the plot again?). So as I said, this film has to be seen specifically for the well-shot intro which shows the mob boss being assassinated, and the ending. Oh God, that ending. It's flawless. One of the best movie endings I've ever seen. Just... Holy sh*t. Those final 15 minutes more than make up for the cluelessness of the majority of the storyline.
What makes the visuals of this film way better than the other ones from the same set is that it's not simply a copy of American noir photography. Nomura's movie is mostly bright grey and taking place during the day, with cool contemporary architecture and memorable set- pieces, like the tavern window that looks like a rifle scope frame. Technically, it's a superb film, and the final fifteen minutes are brilliant, but sadly the middle portion of the plot loses itself a little.
This movie, however, has a Morricone-like soundtrack that sounds like it should accompany a spaghetti western instead, with all the whistles and gunshots and everything that goes with it. But what's really surprising is that this music fits A Colt is My Passport perfectly, especially its final scene.
Unfortunately, most of the plot is nothing to write home about, as the cool beginning and the orgasmically epic ending are simply too good for the middle portion of the film. The plot isn't really handled in an interesting way, and the token female character here is basically pointless (really, what purpose did she serve to the plot again?). So as I said, this film has to be seen specifically for the well-shot intro which shows the mob boss being assassinated, and the ending. Oh God, that ending. It's flawless. One of the best movie endings I've ever seen. Just... Holy sh*t. Those final 15 minutes more than make up for the cluelessness of the majority of the storyline.
What makes the visuals of this film way better than the other ones from the same set is that it's not simply a copy of American noir photography. Nomura's movie is mostly bright grey and taking place during the day, with cool contemporary architecture and memorable set- pieces, like the tavern window that looks like a rifle scope frame. Technically, it's a superb film, and the final fifteen minutes are brilliant, but sadly the middle portion of the plot loses itself a little.
Terrific....
planktonrules21 March 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Jô Shishido, Chitose Kobayashi and Jerry Fujio star in this impressive fusion of styles. The film is a Japanese film noir movie with strong overtones of an Italian spaghetti western! Talk about an unusual combination--but it really worked well.
Jô Shishido is a top assassin (like he was in "Branded to Kill") that has been recruited by the mob to kill a rival mobster. Watching Jô setting up and executing this hit was pretty exciting--like watching a master at his craft. However, in a twist, after completing the job, the son of the now-dead mob boss decides on a truce with the rival mob--and to cement the merger, the son demands the death of the assassin...as well as his assistant (Jerry). Suddenly two mobs are out to kill them and it looks as if there's absolutely nothing they can do to stop this. Along the way, the duo meet up with a young lady (Chitose)--a woman whose fiancé was killed by the same mobsters trying to kill Jô and Jerry. She befriends them and tries to help them...it it's possible. All this leads to one of the best film noir/action movie endings I've seen in a long time when it's just Jô and a team of dirt-bags out for his head.
The film is very stylish and well made throughout. I wasn't the least surprised to see Jô Shishito in the film, as he made a ton of gangster films during this era. However, people not familiar with him might be a bit surprised, as he looks a bit like a chipmunk--thanks to cheek implants intended to make him look 'distinctive'. I could say more about this excellent film but won't, as it might tend to ruin the suspense--and the ending is very, very suspenseful.
Jô Shishido is a top assassin (like he was in "Branded to Kill") that has been recruited by the mob to kill a rival mobster. Watching Jô setting up and executing this hit was pretty exciting--like watching a master at his craft. However, in a twist, after completing the job, the son of the now-dead mob boss decides on a truce with the rival mob--and to cement the merger, the son demands the death of the assassin...as well as his assistant (Jerry). Suddenly two mobs are out to kill them and it looks as if there's absolutely nothing they can do to stop this. Along the way, the duo meet up with a young lady (Chitose)--a woman whose fiancé was killed by the same mobsters trying to kill Jô and Jerry. She befriends them and tries to help them...it it's possible. All this leads to one of the best film noir/action movie endings I've seen in a long time when it's just Jô and a team of dirt-bags out for his head.
The film is very stylish and well made throughout. I wasn't the least surprised to see Jô Shishito in the film, as he made a ton of gangster films during this era. However, people not familiar with him might be a bit surprised, as he looks a bit like a chipmunk--thanks to cheek implants intended to make him look 'distinctive'. I could say more about this excellent film but won't, as it might tend to ruin the suspense--and the ending is very, very suspenseful.
An uber-cool crime flick from the 1960's
HatWearer19532 September 2019
An uber-cool crime flick from the 1960's. The story is quite straight-forward, and I don't want to spoil any of it, just that it contains murder, betrayal, and a femme fatale.
As an action film, it is smart, well-paced and full of twists and "he got 'em!" moments. But it could also be read as a character study of a stoic, and nihilistic gangster facing a probable death-sentence.
There's not much else to say. It's a joyride, right up until the final shot - that made me at least - want to cheer out loud.
As an action film, it is smart, well-paced and full of twists and "he got 'em!" moments. But it could also be read as a character study of a stoic, and nihilistic gangster facing a probable death-sentence.
There's not much else to say. It's a joyride, right up until the final shot - that made me at least - want to cheer out loud.
If Sergio Leone Had Been Japanese....
boblipton9 May 2018
Imagine, if you will, that instead of making westerns, Sergio Leone had decided to make crime thrillers on the model of RIFIFI, but set in Japan. That's something like what you get here. Jô Shishido is a hit man hired to kill a rival crime boss muscling in on other territory. While waiting for his flight out of town, the dead man's son shows up and offers to make a deal for the assassin's head. Jules Dassin might want us to think there is honor among thieves, but Leone never would, and neither does the director of this movie, Takashi Nomura.
It had a deliberately 1950s 'B' movie look, with its b&w photography and "stolen shot" camerawork, but the constantly moving camerawork and stunt gags are clear signs that this is serious film making.... and talented, too; Nomura is not that well known, but this is a good flick. Harumi Ibe's soundtrack starts out sounding like Morricone, but then switches to jazz arrangements for the crime story.
It had a deliberately 1950s 'B' movie look, with its b&w photography and "stolen shot" camerawork, but the constantly moving camerawork and stunt gags are clear signs that this is serious film making.... and talented, too; Nomura is not that well known, but this is a good flick. Harumi Ibe's soundtrack starts out sounding like Morricone, but then switches to jazz arrangements for the crime story.
A tasty mix of styles
ArtVandelayImporterExporter9 May 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Noir, check.
French New Wave, check.
Spaghetti western, check.
Yakuza, check.
Rival bad #sses taking pot shots at each other. A Japanese femme fatale. Double crosses. Loyalty. An epic stand-off.
Holy smokes this movie was fun.
Great concept , but pacing is missing
jimniexperience6 May 2018
Beautiful cinematography with a slow-paced story ;; Hitman hired to kill his boss rival gets double-crossed . He and his driver are now on the run and hide out in a hotel by the pier and fall for a woman who longs to escape
Good concept , just slowly paced .
Good concept , just slowly paced .
Great simple noir tale
jellopuke25 November 2020
He really is the smartest guy in the room
evening19 February 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Fasten your seatbelt. This yakuza thriller is not what it appears.
Meet the stolid character of Shuji (Jo Shishido), who has been instructed to assassinate a rival crime-gang figure who has gotten "greedy." Shuji sets this up with surgical precision, tipping well along the way. His challenge, post-hit, is simple -- keeping the dead guy's goons from killing him and his sidekick Shun (Jerry Fugio).
Shuji -- hitman and man of integrity -- never reveals his hand. When it looks like he's abandoning Shun to save his own skin, think again.
I've read online that the yakuza films are descendants of the samurai genre, and one can believe that, with "Colt's" amazing climax.
The film bogs down a bit with scenes at a motel and a desultory effort to bring women into the story, but these little flaws are excusable given the overall quality of this production.
In all, this is an impressive paean to thinking ahead and planning well.
As Shuji assures Shun: "We've been in fixes like this before, and we've gotten out every time."
Good guidance for us all!
Meet the stolid character of Shuji (Jo Shishido), who has been instructed to assassinate a rival crime-gang figure who has gotten "greedy." Shuji sets this up with surgical precision, tipping well along the way. His challenge, post-hit, is simple -- keeping the dead guy's goons from killing him and his sidekick Shun (Jerry Fugio).
Shuji -- hitman and man of integrity -- never reveals his hand. When it looks like he's abandoning Shun to save his own skin, think again.
I've read online that the yakuza films are descendants of the samurai genre, and one can believe that, with "Colt's" amazing climax.
The film bogs down a bit with scenes at a motel and a desultory effort to bring women into the story, but these little flaws are excusable given the overall quality of this production.
In all, this is an impressive paean to thinking ahead and planning well.
As Shuji assures Shun: "We've been in fixes like this before, and we've gotten out every time."
Good guidance for us all!
Staight to hell, first class
DanTheMan2150AD21 January 2024
A Japanese New Wave Spaghetti Western-styled noir thriller and one of the rawest titles ever, A Colt is My Passport is a down-and-dirty but gorgeously photographed yakuza film, brimming with formal experimentation. The winning combination of Takashi Nomura's supreme emulation of the American noir formula with the sheer badassery of Jo Shishido trumps the often slow middle portion of the film. The climax alone, especially the final 15 minutes and masterful ending, more than makes up for the cluelessness of the majority of the storyline; ending not too dissimilarly to that of Sergio Leone's masterpieces. Rounding off the film with a musical score that sounds almost identical to that of Morricone's works, A Colt is My Passport is a lean, mean and efficiently entertaining piece of trans-cultural fusion where one's passport gives you a fast ride straight to hell.
Lean, efficient, and entertaining
Jeremy_Urquhart4 March 2022
Fifth film of five from the Nikkatsu Noir boxset, and this was a good one to save for last, as it was arguably the best of the bunch. Also, once again, it's a Japanese crime thriller with a great, eye catching title.
Plot? Nice and simple! I mean, there's some intricacies and double-crossings, but it's basically just about a dude (Jo Shishido) and his pal who pull off an assassination of a high-profile target, only to find escaping the fallout of the job greatly difficult.
While it might not have been as consistently thrilling as some of the other films in this boxset, I do think it ended the strongest out of all, with a fantastic action set piece. Shishido also creates a strong impression again, and funnily enough, I liked him more as a lone wolf in the couple of scenes where he's not partnered up with his buddy.
Plot? Nice and simple! I mean, there's some intricacies and double-crossings, but it's basically just about a dude (Jo Shishido) and his pal who pull off an assassination of a high-profile target, only to find escaping the fallout of the job greatly difficult.
While it might not have been as consistently thrilling as some of the other films in this boxset, I do think it ended the strongest out of all, with a fantastic action set piece. Shishido also creates a strong impression again, and funnily enough, I liked him more as a lone wolf in the couple of scenes where he's not partnered up with his buddy.
Criminalized Nonsense.
net_orders29 August 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Viewed on DVD. Restoration = ten (10) stars; score = three (3) stars; sound dubbing = (3) stars. Director Takashi Nomura's photo play places style way above substance. How the film looks seems paramount. All else is secondary, starting with the movie's title which is catchy but an illusion. The script is all over the place, but is basically trying to illustrate the lack of honor among gangsters as well as the stupidity within ranks of organized crime that reaches right to top management. (If you are a leader of a large, prosperous gang, would you risk your life by going into the field instead of just sending your foot-shoulder killers?) The Director seems obsessed with attributes (mostly invented by early American movie makers) of the mythical American "Wild West," and is striving hard to cast Japan of the middle 1960's as some sort of "Wild East." (Silly and nonsensical as it may seem.) Acting is no great shakes with the lead male actor (Jo Shishido) looking like he has a very bad case of the mumps (or a kilogram of cotton stuffed into his cheeks). This facial distortion does not add to his hit-man "ganger persona," but, instead, seriously distracts from his performance (apparently he underwent plastic to achieve this look!) The score apes music from contemporary Italian/Spanish westerns; it is out of place, usually irritating, and distracts from scenes when on the sound track. Sound effects are impoverished, seem to be an after thought, and often unintentionally humorous especially when male actors are always made to sound like they are wearing high heals, even when climbing gangways! Cinematography (wide screen, black and white), lighting, and editing are okay. Subtitles are about right for line readings, but often fail to translate signage even when the camera lingers on it. Yet another film that gives Yakusa (Gokudou) a bad name. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.
cheeks
RResende4 April 2016
There was a lot going on in film world at the beginning of the 60′. The french critics (re)defined how we should see films: the idea that film is unlike literature or other art forms, and has rules of its own: visual narrative. Thus when we look today at the work of people like Hitchcock or Depalma, we can look at what they are doing, in the eye, although the stories they use to hang their visual ideas are (from a literature point of view) empty.
Truffaut/Godard went further ahead and became filmmakers, playing and poking fun at American stereotypes, specially the gangster film (the hat, the smoke style basically).
At the same time something even more interesting to me was happening in Italy, where western was being reworked, with irony and love, by a few Italians, led masterfully by Leone. The dollars films killed any chance we had to ever look at a classic western without clearly understanding how crooked is the whole Ford/Wayne concept of good/evil, and how prejudiced can pop culture actually be (Spielberg made recently a Ford inspired Bridge of Spies which, after the Iraq war, is still more offensive).
The fun thing is that Leone, soaked in westerns and American pop culture (the guy grew literally in Cinecittà) got his lessons from Japan. The first dollars film is a remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo.
So this fun film closes the circle: a Japanese film which incorporates notions of American gangster films filtered through new wave french irony, and places the thing in a western context, taking the pace from Leone (and the music from Morricone), who himself went to Japan to start his adventure as a director. It really is fun just to get the references straight...
Truffaut/Godard went further ahead and became filmmakers, playing and poking fun at American stereotypes, specially the gangster film (the hat, the smoke style basically).
At the same time something even more interesting to me was happening in Italy, where western was being reworked, with irony and love, by a few Italians, led masterfully by Leone. The dollars films killed any chance we had to ever look at a classic western without clearly understanding how crooked is the whole Ford/Wayne concept of good/evil, and how prejudiced can pop culture actually be (Spielberg made recently a Ford inspired Bridge of Spies which, after the Iraq war, is still more offensive).
The fun thing is that Leone, soaked in westerns and American pop culture (the guy grew literally in Cinecittà) got his lessons from Japan. The first dollars film is a remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo.
So this fun film closes the circle: a Japanese film which incorporates notions of American gangster films filtered through new wave french irony, and places the thing in a western context, taking the pace from Leone (and the music from Morricone), who himself went to Japan to start his adventure as a director. It really is fun just to get the references straight...
Passport to hell
MissSimonetta12 February 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Gotta admit, A COLT IS MY PASSPORT is the coolest movie title ever. It just oozes pulpy awesomeness. The movie itself is a stylish if workmanlike thriller. The characters and tropes are right out of the American hardboiled style of the 40s and 50s, right down to the common motif of existential entrapment. Most notable is the music, which is pure Morricone in style. Heck, the climax wouldn't have been out of place in a spaghetti western made around the same period.
Actor Jo Shishido shines as a memorable hitman
jordondave-2808512 April 2023
(1967) A Colt is My Passport/ Koruto wa ore no pasupooto
(In Japanese with English subtitles)
ACTION THRILLER
Consist of remnants of "Yojimbo" and "For A Few Dollars More" Japanese gangland style. Adapted from a crime novel by Shinji Fujiwara, starring Jo Shishido as hired hit man Shûji ordered along with his partner, Shun (Jerry Fujio) to take out a former rival of another syndicate. And upon leaving, they are then get themselves double crossed for the purpose of money to capture and then execute the hit man responsible. Who are then stranded in a seedy hotel until further orders. It is their he builds a rapport with a young female worker of the Nagisakan hotel, Mina (Chitose Kobayashi). The last of 5 of the Nakkatsu Noir Criterion box set.
Consist of remnants of "Yojimbo" and "For A Few Dollars More" Japanese gangland style. Adapted from a crime novel by Shinji Fujiwara, starring Jo Shishido as hired hit man Shûji ordered along with his partner, Shun (Jerry Fujio) to take out a former rival of another syndicate. And upon leaving, they are then get themselves double crossed for the purpose of money to capture and then execute the hit man responsible. Who are then stranded in a seedy hotel until further orders. It is their he builds a rapport with a young female worker of the Nagisakan hotel, Mina (Chitose Kobayashi). The last of 5 of the Nakkatsu Noir Criterion box set.
That ending killed it for me!
microx9600213 November 2020
I loved this movie for the first 2/3rds, the cinematography, the style, the soundtrack, plus it kept my interest. Then, we get to the barge scene and it went down hill from there, with a ridiculous ending! 6/10 for effort!
Stylish blend of genres
gbill-748777 January 2021
A yakuza film that blends in elements of 007 gadgetry and a spaghetti western soundtrack and vibe. The chubby cheeked Joe Shishido plays an assassin who, along with his buddy, finds himself being hunted after a hit. It's a pretty simple story but I liked it for that, and for all of its cool male fantasy elements. One of those is a car which has a secret brake installed in the backseat, you know, in case you get carjacked! It's awful contrived to get to the ending - I mean, why did he drug and leave his partner to begin with, and why didn't the bad guys just take him directly off the boat during the exchange? But I didn't mind, because the film is so stylish.
Melville's Samurai, Japanese style!
RodrigAndrisan7 October 2021
Superb music by Harumi Ibe, reminiscent of a western with music by Ennio Morricone. The film is not really a masterpiece, but it's not bad. The final scene is the most spectacular. There is also a girl who falls in love with the killer... Watch the film!
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