Drunken Angel
| Drunken Angel | |
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Original Japanese theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Akira Kurosawa |
| Produced by | Sōjirō Motoki |
| Written by |
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| Starring | |
| Music by | |
| Cinematography | Takeo Itō |
| Edited by | Akira Kurosawa |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Toho |
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Release date
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Running time
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98 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Drunken Angel (酔いどれ天使 Yoidore Tenshi?) is a 1948 Japanese yakuza film directed by Akira Kurosawa. It is notable for being the first of sixteen film collaborations between director Kurosawa and actor Toshiro Mifune.
Sanada (Takashi Shimura) is an alcoholic doctor in postwar Japan who treats a young, small-time hood named Matsunaga (Toshiro Mifune), after a gunfight with a rival syndicate. The doctor diagnoses the young gangster with tuberculosis, and convinces him to begin treatment (and quit boozing and womanizing). The two enjoy an uneasy friendship until the gangster's former boss, Okada, who is also the former abusive boyfriend of the doctor's female assistant, is released from prison and seeks to take his gang over once again. Matsunaga then stops following the doctor's advice, slipping back into old habits and going to night clubs with Okada. Matsunaga realizes that Okada is not a true friend when Okada threatens to kill the doctor if he doesn't reveal the female assistant's whereabouts, and then finds out that his boss is grooming Okada and merely using Matsunaga as a pawn to be sacrificed against the rival gang. When the doctor leaves his house to report Okada to the police, despite the doctor's orders to remain in bed, Matsunaga slips out to confront Okada (who has also managed to steal Matsunaga's girlfriend Nanae) but Matsunaga is killed in the ensuing knife fight. A local shop-owner woman who had feelings for Matsunaga plans to take Matsunaga's ashes to be buried on her farm, where she had offered to live with him, and the doctor learns that one of his younger patients had followed his advice and has been fully cured of tuberculosis.
While looking for an actor to play Matsunaga, Kurosawa was told by one of the casting directors about Mifune, who was auditioning for another movie where he had to play an angry character. Kurosawa watched Mifune do this audition, and was so amazed by Mifune that he cast him as Matsunaga. On the film's Criterion Collection DVD, Japanese-film scholar Donald Richie comments that Kurosawa was impressed by the athletic agility and "cat-like" moves of Mifune, which also had bearing in his casting.
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Wikipedia