Stray Dog (1949)

Stray Dog (1949)

starring Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura

directed by Akira Kurosawa

122 minutes

Detective Murakami's (Toshiro Mifune) gun is stolen. He tries to track down the stolen gun while he waits to learn what disciplinary action will be handed down. He tries to quit at one point Police Inspector Nakajima, Murakami's boss, tears up his resignation. Nakajima instead makes Murakami work with Chief Detective Sato (Takashi Shimura), a senior detective, to find the missing pistol.

The investigation follows the trail of the missing gun from the pickpocket who took it, to the fencing operation that resold it, and beyond. Robberies and murder are committed with the stolen gun. Murakami is tortured by the knowledge of what his carelessness has wrought even as Sato tries to reassure him that if it wasn't his gun it would have been another one.

The investigation eventually leads Murakami and Sato to Harumi Namaki, a dancer who knows the man who has the gun. She is very reluctant to help them find the killer. She sympathizes with the killer. 

Thoughts

I want to say more about the story but I don't want to give away the ending.

This is the first Japanese film (which is not anime) that I have watched in a little over 7 years. This is the earliest film directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring Toshiro Mifune that I have seen. Mifune starred in all five of Kurosawa's films that I have seen. The other four movies are Rashomon, The Seven Samurai, The Hidden Fortress, and Yojimbo. At least four of the actors in this movie were also in The Seven Samurai. 

There is a connection between Murakami and the killer. They had similar experiences after the Second World War ended. One man became a police officer and the other was debilitated by his experiences and turned to crime. This comes up on more than one occasion in the movie but it is not dwelled on too heavily.

There isn't much in the way of action in this movie. Most of it is the slow process of tracking down the killer. I found it to be entrancing. I was not bored and I didn't want to stop watching but I can understand how some people might feel differently.

I was very impressed by this movie. I was a little worried three-quarters of the way into the movie about how it was going to end. It wasn't clear to me at that point how I would feel after it was over but the ending really brought everything home. It isn't perfect but I thought it was damn good. It probably won't satisfy everyone but clearly I was satisfied by the experience of watching it.