Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon
| Golgo 13: Kûron no kubi | |
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| Directed by | Yukio Noda |
| Produced by | Callan Leung |
| Written by | Takeshi Matsumoto Nobuaki Nakajima Takao Saitô (comic) |
| Starring | Sonny Chiba |
| Music by | Harumi Ibe |
| Cinematography | Shigeru Akatsuka |
| Edited by | Akira Suzuki |
| Distributed by | Toei |
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Release date
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Running time
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93 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon (ゴルゴ13 九竜の首 Gorugo Sātīn Kûron no kubi?) is a 1977 action movie starring Sonny Chiba as the international assassin Golgo 13. It was the second live-action movie based on the Golgo 13 manga.
Master assassin Golgo 13 (Sonny Chiba) is hired by an American crime syndicate to kill Chou Lei Fang, a powerful member of the syndicate's Hong Kong branch who has been selling their drugs through his own channels. At the same time, he has to keep an eye out on Smith (Callan Leung), a hard-boiled Hong Kong detective who is hell-bent on taking down Chou and his drug-manufacturing organization.
One night, an undercover officer named Lin Li (Etsuko Shihomi) follows Chou and infiltrates his drug factory, but she is shot and captured by his henchmen. The next day, Smith locates Chou's factory after a group of children find Lin Li's communicator, but Lin Li is killed during a shootout and the factory is destroyed. By this time, both Chou and Smith have been made aware that Golgo 13 is in Hong Kong. Smith has a personal vendetta on Golgo 13, who assassinated a foreign diplomat he was assigned to protect a year earlier. Because of this, Smith urges the police chief to issue a warrant to arrest Chou before Golgo 13 gets to him first. The next day, during a ceremony to open a public swimming pool funded by Chou, Golgo 13 prepares to shoot the drug lord from a nearby building, but a female Caucasian assassin named Leika gets to Chou first. While Smith and his men presume it was Golgo 13 that killed Chou, Golgo 13 suspects someone in Hong Kong higher than Chou ordered the hit. The American syndicate offers Golgo 13 an extra US$100,000 to track down the mastermind. Shortly after Chou's funeral, his widow Li Hua and Leika are killed by Golgo 13 while attempting to trap him and put him down.
Golgo 13 travels to Japan to follow Poranian diplomat Polansky (Jerry Ito), who had strong ties with Chou. There, he discovers that Polansky is seeking U.S. asylum from the FBI in exchange for vital information related to Chou's drug trafficking network. At the same time, Smith follows the trail and manages to arrest Golgo 13 when the assassin returns to Hong Kong. Smith attempts to interrogate Golgo 13, but to no avail, as the assassin is released after police discover that it was Leika who assassinated Chou. On his way to the U.S. Embassy, Golgo 13 is ambushed by a hitman named Schilz, but he kills Schilz, despite being shot in the leg. Meanwhile, Smith and his team discover that Polansky has been receiving drug shipments from all over Southeast Asia, but the police cannot touch him due to diplomatic immunity. Golgo 13 recovers from his wound and heads for Sekirei Island, where Polansky is hiding. Despite having no jurisdiction, Smith and his men raid Sekirei Island. Polansky attempts to escape via helicopter, but Golgo 13 - who is hanging by the side of a cliff, guns him down, sending him out of the helicopter and crashing into the ocean. His body and the briefcase containing evidence of his involvement with Chou's assassination are recovered by Smith's team.
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