Tokyo Drifter

Tokyo Drifter centres on Tetsuya Hondo, known as Phoenix Tetsu, a loyal gang member whose boss, Kurata, has shut down his own criminal organization and left Tokyo behind. A rival boss, Otsuka, offers Tetsu a place in his operation, and when Tetsu refuses, Otsuka sends the hired gunman Tatsuzo, called the Viper, after him. As the Viper closes in, Tetsu also begins to suspect that someone from his own former circle has turned on him.

The film was directed by Seijun Suzuki, working from a screenplay by Kōhan Kawauchi, and produced by Tetsuro Nakagawa for Nikkatsu. It is the twenty-first of the twenty-six films Suzuki directed, coming between Tattooed Life and Fighting Elegy, both released in the mid-1960s. Tetsuya Watari plays the title role, with Chieko Matsubara as Chiharu, Hideaki Nitani as Kenji Aizawa, Tamio Kawachi as the Viper, Eiji Gō as Tanaka and Tomoko Hamakawa as Mutsuko.

Released in Japan in April 1966 and running 83 minutes, the film blends action, crime and thriller elements around its wandering protagonist. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.1 from 216 votes, while a critics' score of 7.3 from 14 reviews puts critical and audience responses closely in line with each other.