Pigs and Battleships
| Pigs and Battleships | |
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Theatrical poster for Pigs and Battleships (1961)
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| Directed by | Shohei Imamura |
| Produced by | Kano Ōtsuka |
| Written by | Hisashi Yamauchi |
| Starring |
Jitsuko Yoshimura Yōko Minamida |
| Music by | Toshirō Mayuzumi |
| Cinematography | Sinsaku Himeda |
| Distributed by |
Nikkatsu (Japan) European Producers International (U.S.) |
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Release date
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Running time
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108 min |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Pigs and Battleships (豚と軍艦 Buta to gunkan?) is a 1961 Japanese film by director Shohei Imamura. The film depicts the mutually exploitative relationship that exists between the U.S. military and the lower elements of Japanese society at Yokosuka. It is based on the novel by Kazu Otsuka.
The film focuses on Kinta, a member of the Himori Yakuza, who has been put in charge of the gang's pork distribution and his girlfriend Haruko, who works at a bar. Kinta is shown working with other gangsters, beating up a local shopkeep who caters to Americans and paying the people who work on the hog farm. When Kinta goes to visit Haruko in the afternoon she leaves without speaking to him and Kinta finds out through her sister that Haruko is being paid 30000 yen to go on a date with a sailor (and that her mother has already spent the money). Haruko returns to Kinta later that night, although Kinta is unhappy because of the earlier events. Haruko reveals that she is pregnant and expresses her concerns about Kinta’s work.
Another gangster calls on Kinta early in the morning and they go out on a small boat to a larger boat where the body of a man who ran afoul of the gangsters is loaded on for them to dispose of. One of the other gangsters asks Kinta about being the fall guy, which Kinta reluctantly says he is willing to do. Haruko gets an abortion, and the doctor charges Kinta extra knowing that the Yakuza have money. A few days later, the body from the boat washes up on the wharf and is found by Kinta’s father. Kinta and his boss hide the body before Kinta’s father returns with the police, but Kinta’s father notices that Kinta’s feet are dirty and figures out that Kinta hid the body, leading to a fight. Haruko pushes Kinta to leave the gang and run away with her but Kinta refuses because he does not want to be a “wage slave”.
Meanwhile, one of the gangsters, Ohachi, is tasked with disposing of the body by burying it on the pig farm. Kinta’s boss, Tetsuji, gets mad at the other gangsters when he finds out that they set Kinta up as the fall guy without consulting him, and it is revealed that the “big boss”, Himori, has some doubts about Tetsuji. The boss calls for a celebration, where they drink, play games and cook one of the pigs. As they are eating the pig Ohachi reveals that he was too lazy to bury the body so he simply boiled it and put it into the pig feed, disgusting the other gangsters. Tetsuji, who is ill, becomes so sick that he has to go to the hospital. Kinta finds out that his boss only has 3 days to live, information that Tetsuji forces out of him. Tetsuji is distraught and pays a gangster named Wang to kill him at some point in the future.
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