98: Toshirô Mifune Can Get It!

Lions, Towers & Shields

Shot in the postwar ruins of occupied Tokyo, Akira Kurosawa’s early buddy-cop thriller will make you feel every drop of sweat in its sweltering summer heat wave. A rookie cop (Toshiro Mifune) loses his gun to a pickpocket; the gun ends up in the hands of a desperate ex-soldier with nothing to lose. As his weapon gets used in a series of escalating, awful crimes, the young detective and his savvy mentor (Takashi Shimura) must race through the underworld to track down the shooter and get it back. Stray Dog is a top-notch police procedural, but it’s also a surprisingly kind, humane, and empathetic look at a city emerging from wartime.

Stray Dog

Nathan Alderman with Shelly Brisbin, Micheline Maynard and Randy Dotinga

Referenced Works

Stray Dog

Show Notes & Links

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The Movie: review/commentary on a single classic film

• Stray Dog trailer

  • Available to stream, rent or buy digitally
  • On disc: DVD

The Self-Referential LTS

• 26 You Were Made To Be Murdered
• 60 Celebrate The Teresa Wright-Aissance

Next time, we’ll watch

• La Dolce Vita trailer

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