Vidas Secas

Director - Nelson Pereira dos Santos
Writer - Nelson Pereira dos Santos & Graciliano Ramos

Cast Character

Atila Torio - Fabiano
Maria Ribeiro - Sinha Vitoria
Orlando Macedo - Soldado Amarelo
Joffre Soares - Fazendeiro
Gilvan Lima - Boy (as Gilvan)
Genivaldo Lima - Boy (as Genivaldo)

Vidas Secas begins in northeast Brazil with a family looking for work. In a pan shot we see the family in the distance of the barren desert. The father, Fabiano, feeds his children a little bit of rice and his wife, Sinha, enough food to survive. They eat their pet parrot in desperation of food. Sinha says it is useless to continue and that they'll never get there. She complains how the sand hurts her feet. The sun beats sow on them while the boy falls down and cries. Fabiano tells him to get up and keep walking. An excellent triangular shot has Sinha framed on the right taking more space with Fabiano in the distance - she is domineering, cold and distant.

They arrive at a small ranch which Fabiano investigates. The dog Baleia brings some joy to the son in their miserable existence. Their clothes are tattered and worn - hopeless of their lives. They look to the sky remarking it will rain soon. She clenches her husband which eases his need for her affection. This intimacy though turns her off and she releases him keeping her distance. She rewards the dog who catches a squirrel for them to eat. The house they find might prove fruitful for farming. They hope only to have a leather bed one day like that of Tomas whose house they are in.


The man who visits tells them to leave but Fabiano tells him he can be a good cowhand. He tells the man that for every four calves born he will keep one. The man agrees to the deal. They herd the cattle and are so poor out of boredom the boy makes a little toy cow out of feces. They brand the cattle and attempt to tame them if possible. The wife figures out their accounts and at 100,000 for each hired hand soon they can afford their dream - a leather bed. They want to be dandies. Fabiano takes a trip to town to hopefully settle his accounts. He pleads with the boss that the money is not enough but the boss counters that he has lent him money all year and the little money he gets is a result of interest. The man tells him he can take it or leave it. Fabiano tells him that it isn't right and that he isn't a slave. Desperate Fabiano finally complies.

Outside he tries to sell a pig and is met by a man who tells him he must pay taxes. The tax official and Fabiano argue and he lets Fabiano go home not wanting to waste time. The family travels to a small town and go to church. Fabiano leaves and goes to a bar instead. A public official offers to play a card game with Fabiano in the bar. The official gambles everything and Fabiano leaves. He meets him outside and harasses him. He steps on Fabiano's foot and calls for the police. The official lies to the police about Fabiano insulting him and resisting arrest. Fabiano is severely whipped appealing to the official's sadistic humor. Now in jail Fabiano cries at his sudden and immense loss. The other prisoner helps him by putting his shirt under Fabiano's head making a small pillow. Meanwhile his family waits while a performance ensues outside.

The boss comes to the jail and has Fabiano released. He is given a shotgun and offered a job by some bandits but after seeing his family he declines. At home a superstitious doctor heals Fabiano. The boy asks his mother what hell is and she tells him it's where the damned go. He asks if she's ever been there and she hits him and he runs outside to cry. He looks at the house and says, "Hell." He looks at the landscape and says, "hot pokers." He looks at his father and says, "the damned." He talks to his dog and realizes the poverty and his father's unlucky damned existence and mother's scorn proves he is already in Hell.

Sinha says she wants to die and get her life over with. She looks around and gathers undrinkable water. She sees dead land, dead opportunity and dead souls. She argues with her husband as why he had to gamble their money away. He argues why she had to buy expensive shoes. Cooled off she looks outside saying the sun will kill the cattle. Fabiano curses the birds who drink the cattle's water. The sun burns through. They stare at it. She prays. He smokes his cigarette saying the cattle will eventually catch fire and there is no use waiting. They hyperventilate dying of thirst. The boss comes and tells him he will get his cattle tomorrow. They disappear and Fabiano searches for them. He stumbles across the man who beat him and contemplates killing him. He hears the cow he lost and must decide between the two. Desperate for food Fabiano searches for the dog to kill and eat. He shoots it.

Broken with despair Sinha turns to the only thing that comforts the desperate - optimism and idealism. She asks Fabiano if he thinks they will find a better place. He says, "maybe yes, maybe no." She says they will have a new life somewhere with plenty of crops. She says the boys will go to school - learn to read and do math. They keep walking until they see the barren landscape accepting the hell that is ahead of them.

Luchino Visconti: Rocco and His Brothers

Director - Luchino Visconti
Writer - Luchino Visconto, Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Vasco Pratolini

Cast Character

Alain Delon - Rocco Parondi
Renato Salvatori - Simone Parondi
Annie Girardot - Nadia
Katina Paxinou - Rosaria Parondi
Alessandra Panaro - Ciro's Fiancee
Spiros Focas - Vicenzo Parondi
Max Cartier - Ciro Parondi
Rocco Vidolazzi - Luca Parondi

The film Rocco and His Brothers begins with the arrival of the Parondi family arriving in Milan. They are thrilled and mesmerized at the windows and lights of the big city after leaving a small one in the south. Rosaria shows the conductor the photos of her oldest son Vicenzo who lives in Milan. We are introduced to Vicenzo during a banquet. Ginetta is his girlfriend. The family meets up with him and Rosaria is angry when she sees Vicenzo isn't wearing black for his father's death. The other family is a bit displeased with Rosaria's unannounced visit. She is also argumentative and a bit of a killjoy. The other family continues to argue with her and threaten her to leave. Rosaria leaves angry that they are celebrating when her husband and Rocco's father has recently died.

Vicenzo now has to deal and take care of his uninvited family. Their first night in the new house they are met with snow which they are thrilled to see. He meets up with Ginetta who is angry that he doesn't visit her anymore. The two families are having problems so they have to meet elsewhere. He meets Nadia who has been kicked out of her home and introduces her to his mother. The brothers tell the girl they are looking for jobs. She sees newspaper clippings of Vicenzo who is a boxer. The girl is provocative and in one second the family instantaneously guesses what her profession is. He houses her because her father kicked her out and once she leaves Rosaria yells at Vicenzo for bringing in a woman who could be a prostitute.

The brother takes up construction jobs in the city while Vicenzi practices boxing. Rocco and Simone stay and practice boxing as well. Simone gets offered a chance to train at Cerri's gym despite his late age. Simone gets his first fight and everyone in the audience calls him names. Simone shows promise and wins his first fight. The crowd riots outside over the loss of the favorite boxer while Ginetta is taken home by her brother and away from Vicenzo.

Nadia enters Simone's life as he is the winner of the fight and says he has passion for his profession like she does. He tells her he enjoys it. She says she left her home town so she could be in a place where she could sleep alone. She says she played hide and seek hiding her identity in fear of others. Luca visits his brother Ciro and gives him a boxing poster. He tells him Simone gave it to him. Rocco finds a job at the dry cleaners and finds it hard to manage the many orders. Luckily his coworkers like him.

Simone becomes overconfident with his new success and starts taking advantage of Rocco. Rocco delivers a message to the gym manager telling him that Simone will be gone for the next two days. The boxing manager talks to Rocco about Simone saying he needs more practice despite his talent. The manager tells Rocco to stay with Simone to keep him away from certain people at the training center. He tells Rocco morals make a good athlete possibly hinting at his relationship with Nadia. He says he should avoid alcohol, women and cigarettes. Simone promises to take Nadia to the Bellagio Hotel before the year is over. It is expensive and she is testing how much she can squeeze from Rocco.

Simone goes back to the dry cleaner to return a shirt he borrowed without asking which angers the woman there. She argues with him and they kiss. Simone and Rocco talk and Rocco tells him that the jewelry from the boss at the dry cleaner went missing. Everyone there suspects Rocco stole it when Simone was responsible. He pretends to be unaware. Nadia picks up Rocco in her car and tells him she knows Vicenzo. She shows him a decoration and tells him Simone said he bought it, but she tells him he stole it. She feels Rocco's body and tells him he is warm. She says she won't see Simone anymore and says to tell him not to look for her. When Rocco goes home he tells his brothers he saw the boss and not Nadia. He keeps their encounter a secret to see how things will develop. He tells Simone that Nadia left him.

Rocco decides to join the army after getting a pink slip at his job. Rosaria writes to Rocco telling him Vicenzo and Ginetta have married due to his accident. Ciro left his job to work at Alfa Romeo. He meets Nadia in the street by chance and says she will treat him to a coffee. She tells him she went to jail and he is surprised but tells her he knew someone who went as well. He tells her he wants stability in his life - a house, a car and food. She tells him her life hasn't been ideal but he counters that if she believes it will be better it will come. He is an idealist happy with the bare necessities as long as it's honest. Rocco returns home to see his excited mother. He tells her he is disappointed to not see Ciro. Rosaria tells Rocco she doesn't want to see Gianetta because there are still problems between both families. Thankfully she says Vicenzo visits her a lot.

Simone starts to have problems at the gym with his coach about his performance. It is suffering because he doesn't take it seriously. Cerri is angry he took on country people and sees them as lazy and not serious. He sees Simone and Rocco boxing and Simone has new life breathed into him. Cerri watches Rocco fight and likes what he sees. Rocco begins dating Nadia seriously as time progresses.

At the fight Simone is not in good shape. He threatens to throw in the towel and the coach tells him to not be a coward. He begs to end the fight and they forfeit. Cerri tells Rocco he must take over Simone's spot as Simone fooled everyone concerning his potential. As they heal Simone one of the men reveal to Simone that Rocco has been seeing Nadia. She has quit her old profession and is now going to stenography school. Simone's friends tell him they saw Nadia with Rocco by the river. They run there and Simone sees the two kissing. They argue and Simone asks why does Rocco have to see someone he used to be with. Rocco tells him that he Simone hasn't seen her in two years. Simone calls for his friends to come over and demands an apology from Rocco. He asks why and Simone slaps him. Simone grabs Nadia while his friends hold Rocco back and Simone rapes her in front of Rocco. He can't do anything to stop him. She leaves and Simone beats him shortly. He threatens to continue fighting him at home. They fight and he leaves Rocco bloody on the street.

Rocco goes to Vicenzo's house. He tells him nothing happened and asks if he can stay there. When he meets Nadia again she says she feels defiled and truer to her old profession after the cruelty Simone dealt her. Rocco says only she can help him. Nadia says Rocco will regret his decision. She goes to Simone and goes through the motions to appease Rocco. She reveals this to Simone who is shocked from the previous night to understand. Nadia tells Simone he will never go back to him. He kisses her but she is lifeless.

Now Rocco is Cerri's new prizefighter. He teaches him tricks how to fake out the opposing boxer. Rocco wins. He tells Ciro he won because of all the hatred building up inside of him. Ciro meets with his girlfriend and the father takes a liking to him. His mother now lives with Simone's girlfriend. She says she regrets bringing her sons to the city in hopes they would be rich but instead following in their father's footsteps. She is most angry that her son Simone is dating a prostitute now. Ciro fears that young Luca will become like Simone. Rocco tells Ciro Simone didn't change he is demoralized because his self-esteem is shattered.

Later a man tells Luca outside the Principe Teatro to tell Simone he will be waiting for him in the bar. He meets him and asks why he isn't boxing. He tells him he needs money. The man talks to him in the dark with his face unseen. It shows this man is channeling Simone and telling him what he really wants to hear - the voice from inside. He tells Simone he is finished as a boxer and as a man he is a wreck. The man calls him disgusting. They fight and he beats Simone.

At Rosaria's house they have an arrest warrant for Simone. Rocco goes with the police to see why they are after Simone. Rosaria asks his girlfriend why they are looking for him. She calls him a delinquent. Rosaria says she has no right insulting others considering her profession and that she is to be embarrassed to look out the window with her around. She tells her she has ruined Rocco and once she leaves he will return to his virtuous ways.

Later we see a man who says Simone owes him 400,000 lire. Rocco says he will get the money. He says to ask Cerri to be a guaranter of the money. He can pay for Simone's legal troubles as Cerri promised him a 10 year contract. Simone can no longer handle his defeat as he doesn't box anymore. He can't even watch others fight because that could be him up there. On top of that his brother Rocco has the big fight that day.

Simone finds Nadia after a tip off at a bar. He tells her they can start a new life together. She says that's impossible so he grabs her. She flees afraid and tells him he is disgusting and that she is going to jail. She walks away only to have him pull out a knife tailing her. She welcomes him and he stabs her killing her. He cleans his hands in the dirty river unable to wash his sin away. Later we see Rocco wins the fight. They celebrate with a huge feast after Rocco's victory. The whole neighborhood comes into their home dining and wining. Vicenzo makes a toast. Rocco pledges one day he will go back to the country. Rocco says, "Remember, Luca, that our country is the land of the olive trees. Of moonshine and rainbows."

Simone comes to the house unable to look at his mother. He say she needs to talk to Rocco alone. Simone tells Rocco he killed Nadia is self defense. He confesses to killing her. Rocco cries uncontrollably. Rosaria says it's jealousy that drove him to this. Ciro says to report him. Rocco doesn't want to report him but Ciro leaves to do just that. The next day Luca tells Ciro he reported Simone. Ciro still idealistic feels he could have reached Simone to save him.

Fritz Lang: M

Director - Fritz Lang
Writer - Fritz Lang and Thea Von Harbou

Cast Character

Peter Lorre ... Hans Beckert
Ellen Widman ... Frau Beckman
Ing Landgut ... Elsie Beckman
Otto Wernicke ... Kommissar Lohmann
Theodor Loos ... Kommissar Groeber

M begins with a circle of children playing a game warning of a nasty old man in black who will come to chop them up. A woman yells at them from the balcony to stop singing that song. A little girl plays with a ball on the street and bounces it on a reward sign of the murder of Klaus Klawitzky and his sister Klara. A shadow emerges on the poster asking the girl what her name is - she says Elsie Beckman. He buys her a balloon of a figure meanwhile her mother calls to her outside her apartment. A rolling ball outside and balloon stuck in the power lines shows her fate after meeting the mysterious stranger.

Newspapers explode with the headline news. The killer writes to the newspapers telling them his plan is not finished and is still in progress. The man has killed 8 children. At the table men read about the story. They read about how the killer lures them in with fruit, candy or a toy and that he has left no clues. Tensions fly as one man accuses another of being the murderer. Everyone is suspicious of anyone talking to children on the street. A great shot of two men arguing has the bigger one accusing the smaller one is accompanied with a low angle shot of the bigger man making him look powerful and a high angle shot of the shorter man making him look smaller and submissive.

The murderer's article is shown on the front page. Two politicians argue whether his article should even be shown causing fear for the citizens. They try take to fingerprints but are unsuccessful. They blow up the fingerprint bringing in a graphologist to examine it. Looking at his handwriting they see his broken letters determining he has an actor's personality and he has a strong and pathological sexuality. They do a primitive form of handwriting analysis. They find empty candy wrappings and setup a radius to investigate the serial killer. They search everywhere proving their investigation fruitless. Police search the forest and cheap hotels and check identities of vagrants. Police investigations prove bad business for bars as customers flee. The police demand to see their papers. Anyone without papers goes to police headquarters. The police apprehend a multitude of guns, brass knuckles, flasks, watches, burglar drills and wallets from people in the bar. Everyone is a suspect. Even the criminals are angry as it proves a detriment for business with police looking everywhere for the killer. There is an interesting shot as the camera dollies in to a heated discussion of the killer to build tension and dollies out once the tension subsides. Once rational conversation takes over the camera is at rest.

They wait for Shranker the head criminal. He tells them the killer is bringing too much heat on other criminals causing problems for business. Police talk and suggest having more raids and implementing spies among the police force. They are concerned that people are largely indifferent outside the hype of the story because there is no accuracy in their details. They plan to visit every asylum that houses criminals with his condition. They conclude the killer must be a beggar as they are the least suspected and can be anywhere without anyone paying notice.

The police desperation heightens as they hire unemployed union workers to patrol certain streets. They obtain a list of all mental patients who have been recently released. One police officer goes into a possible suspect's home to try to get a writing sample or pen that had the same color the killer used. A great shot has Hans Beckert, the killer, looking in the window of a storefront with the reflection of a fractured diamond around his face. This shows his fractured state of mind. He sees a little girl in the reflection of a diamond mirror and almost faints. When she is near another storefront window there is a clever dropping arrow and spinning circle Fritz Lang employs to hint at sexual penetration.

When the girl is away and safe Hans Beckert drinks to take his mind off his compulsions. The detectives find things in his trash bin of no use other than a letter to Ariston which rings a bell for one of them. The killer constantly whistles a tune which the blind balloon seller recognizes. A man sees the killer in the store with a kid. He marks M on hishand with chalk and presses it on the killer's back complaining about littering. The M in the story is ambiguous but it most likely is short for mark, murderer or molester. The girl points out the mark which she cleans. This terrifies him and he runs off. He is now surrounded by three people on the street but escapes to an alley.

Hans Beckert escapes to an office building outside. A man pulls out a gun and demands the guard open the gate and 15 men rush in the building. A guard is jumped and men investigate the building to find the murderer. They try to get in one room but avoid it so to not set off the alarm. Instead they drill a hole from the ceiling above to get in. Behind one door is Hans Beckert and one of the men hears him as he tries to flatten a nails to use as a lock pick to escape. It's amazing how throughout the whole film Hans Beckert says almost nothing yet his body language by actor Peter Lorre is so expressive. When he hears the henchmen outside his door he is shocked. They eventually come in the room.

News comes as the guard hits the alarm and the henchmen hurry their search to find Hans. They spot him and carry him out the building. They question the guards and the last henchman who was caught. In a flashback sequence the inspector incorrectly concludes they were after the safe. Nothing is stolen.Franz asks Karl Lohmann what the murder squad is for fearing for his life. Franz says he doesn't want to be part of a murder investigation but the inspector says it is too late. Franz reveals they were looking for the child murderer and the inspector loses thought. When asked Franz tells the inspector they took him to an abandoned distillery.

The mob throws Hans into a cellar and in a wide pan shot 200 people look at him. The blind man acutely hears his voice, recognized it and says their is no mistake. When shows the pictures of the dead children he panics and tries to escape. They get him and the mob wants him dead. He demands to go to the police instead but the mob laughs. The head in charge says for him to go to a jail would be useless as he would be pardoned or escape. Hans says he can't help what he does. He tells the mob of criminals they should learn a trade or skill and that he can't help himself. He has no control over what he does. He says he tries to escape himself only to see the ghosts of those he has killed.

The head in charge says because Hans has to murder he himself must be executed. The mob agrees. The lawyer argues that Hans should be put in an asylum. He argues Hans isn't guilty because his compulsions are not voluntary. The lawyer keeps arguing for him to be handed over the police. They rush to Hans until off camera a police enters and everyone raises their hands. The ending has women lamenting no matter the verdict it won't bring their dead children back.

Takeshi Kitano: Kid's Return

Director/Writer - Takeshi Kitano

Cast Character
Ken Kaneko ... Masaru
Masanobu Ando ... Shinji
Leo Morimoto ... Teacher
Hatsuo Yamaya ... Boxing Club Manager
Michisuke Kashiwaya ... Hiroshi

Kid's Return begins with two high-school students performing a manzai comedy act. It is the central hobby of both characters Masaru and Shinji. Shinji delivers goods to a house and meets up with his friend, Masaru, who is looking for a job. He tells Masaru he is not still taking boxing lessons. They are both aimless and want to enjoy their youth without any responsibilities. Instead they want to live their youth through each other. Masaru offers him a ride through the city. Instead of going to history class they ride their bike in the quad. On the roof they make a man out of materials with a paper drawing of the teacher's face and a flashlight as a penis and two ping pong balls as the testicles. They hang it outside and the window and wiggle the ropes controlling the fake flashlight penis making everyone snicker inside the classroom. The teacher sees it and catches the constructed man.

At the cafe they talk of trying to be stand up comedians. When they return to school Masaru shakedowns two scared students for their money telling one to empty his socks. He seems to have gone through this before to hide it there. Shinji watches but doesn't participate. The two are unlikely friends and Masaru is the cocky extrovert and Shinji is the loyal introvert. At the cafe a shy student, Reiki, leaves a love letter for the waitress and as Shinji and Masaru leave Masaru takes the letter. They read the letter while biking and laugh at Reiki's love confession to Sachiko.

As they get in trouble for throwing a dart to a kid's head in class the office workers and principal tell them they don't need to be good students and they don't even need to come to class. They just ask them to leave other students alone. One teacher comes in to park his car and tells them they should have been expelled a long time ago. Later he finds his car torched in a pan shot starting from the students watching on the staircase to the sad teacher's sad defeat by his car. When kids don't have money that they can take from them Masaru punches one and tells him to get a job.

At the office again Shinji and Masaru are accused of setting the teacher's car on fire. They decide as the two are too stupid to fall in with the Yakuza they should become comedians. Surprisingly they take his advice and practice comedy routines. The two go to an adult video store and are told to leave. They return with painted mustaches, different accents and changed shirts with makeshift ties trying their luck again. Tired of listening to their routines the store clerk gives them two movie tickets to make them go away.

Masaru tries to shakedown two students again and their hired guard punches him knocking him to the ground. Without Masaru the next day at school it is Shinji who is bullied. They go to a boxing ring to join and practice. At the adult video store other students dress in pathetic disguises with drawn ties, glasses and cheap suits to pretend to be older executives. The woman sells them the tickets and when they are gone complains how stupid they are. When they return to the restaurant Masaru sees the Yakuza boss and tells him thanks for the food from the other day. The boss tries to buy them cigarettes and alcohol but they tell him they can't have it since they must be healthy to box. Masaru decides his boxing name will be "Dynamite Punch." He tells the boxing president he wants a true fight and one kid offers to take him on only because they hate each other. Masaru fights dirty and beats the kid. He wants Shinji as a boxing partner. When they fight Shinji shows to be a better boxer consistently beating Masaru.

Shinji and Masaru become estranged as Shinji excels at boxing and Masaru quits school and joins the Yakuza. At the cafe Sachiko listens to the persistent Reiki who flirts with her and tells about his financial job he will have soon. Shinji at the cafe sees Masaru walk in with the Yakuza and sees that he is now a guard. Shinji watches the boxing match of one his fellow boxers from the club. Shinji wins his first fight and becomes one of the best boxers in the gym beating everyone. Another boxer leaves the gym and tells Shinji when he becomes a boss and Shinji becomes a champion boxer they will meet again. One of the coaches tries to convince Shinji to cheat at boxing. He tells him he can put metal in his pants and later remove them when weighed to convince the club president he has lost weight so he can still drink beer.

Reiki finds he cannot handle the business world as it is too cutthroat for him. He decides to be a taxi driver instead barely making enough money survive. The club president tells Shinji his friend Hayashi isn't respectable and he shouldn't drink as it affects his performance. Hayashi gives Shinji some pills to lose weight. Shinji's performance suffers and his coach yells at him for softening up after a poor jog. Shinji doesn't do well in the fight so his coaches throw in the towel to forfeit the fight and Shinji loses. Shinji and Masaru reunite and Masaru tells him nothing has changed. Shinji asks if their fate is sealed and Masaru tells him it hasn't begun.

Raoul Walsh: The Roaring Twenties

Director: Raoul Walsh
Writers: Jerry Wald & Richard Macaulay

Cast Character
James Cagney Eddie Bartlett
Priscilla Lane Jean Sherman
Humphrey Bogart George Hally
Gladys George Panama Smith
Jeffrey Lynn Lloyd Hart
The Roaring Twenties begins in World War I in the trenches during 1918. Eddie Bartlett (James Cagney) and George Hally (Bogart) are comrades. George calls Lloyd scared of the gunfire behind enemy lines but Eddie defends him saying they are using real guns not water pistols. At the base they receive letters from home. George is angry he gets a picture from an ugly girl and Eddie is happy he gets one from an attractive girl. They talk about what they will do after the war. George says he will be in the saloon business but prohibition will set in next year. Eddie wants to go back into the taxi cab business. After the armistice America focuses on the length of women's skirts, their short hair, the cost of living and prohibition.

Eddie tries to get his old job back at the cab place to no luck. No one after the war can get a job and employers don't care that they served in the war. To take his mind off this stress he visits Jean Sherman - a woman who wrote him letters in the war. He meets her and unfortunately she is only in high school which makes Lloyd laugh. When the Volstead Act takes place speakeasies spring up to fight prohibition. Now a cab driver Eddie is asked to deliver a package to a bar and is arrested not knowing that it is alcohol which he has. The woman Panama Smith is acquitted but Eddie is charged and sentenced to 60 days in jail. Panama says thanks and dismisses him. His friend Lloyd represents him but loses the case. Danny, his roommate, bails him out and Panama pays the fine.

She takes him to a speakeasy behind a store. The cops come in and out and cause no problems because of the bribes. She offers him work and he begins smuggling alcohol. Eddie starts making gin in his bathtub to avoid being fleeced. Problems arise when supply cannot meet demand. Eddie makes enough money to launder into his cab business. He hires two ex-cons and not the other guy in the group who was in jail because he says he was framed. He funnily only wants dishonest criminals who fit the job description and have pride in their work. He goes to collect money from a theater director and notices Jean Sherman. Now older and wiser she tries to avoid him. After some coaxing he takes a ride with her and walks her home not pushing his luck.

He introduces Jean to a bar owner so she has a job where she can sing at. She auditions and the two aren't wowed. With some convincing he gets her the job paying the difference in her salary to make her feel special. He shows her his bootlegging operation and the way they fake certain alcohols driving the price up. Jean sings show-tunes at the bar Eddie is at and he is enamored. He gives her some jewelry but she is dumbfounded. Eddie is afraid she doesn't want to be too serious because of the line of work he is in.

Later Eddie gets a ship pretending to be a coastguard while he tries to pirate a ship with alcohol. He comes in contact with is old friend George Hally. He robs George's ship but thankfully it isn't George's booze. George warns Eddie of Nick Brown who the booze belongs to. George says he knows the suppliers and because Eddie knows how to peddle it they should join. Eddie gladly accepts. As bootlegging increases so does crime and violence inevitably. Along with this the invention of the tommy-gun brings the era of drive by shootings.

George and Eddie head to the suppliers knocking out the guards on the way. They load the trucks with booze and the night watchman takes over the shift. George knocks him down realizing it was is old sergeant who mistreated them. George kills him. Back at the bar Lloyd and Panama talk and she sees he notices Jean who he likes. At the club George tells Eddie that Lloyd is going to move in on his girl. Lloyd and Eddie listen to the radio in Jean's room and they hear the news report of the liquor storage facility being robbed. Lloyd asks about Pete Jones on the radio who was killed. He was their sergeant and Lloyd doesn't like all this heat on them. After an attempted assassination on Eddie they knock the guy out and throw him out the club.

Eddie and his crew open a new spot called the Panama Club. George tells one of the henchmen he is tired of being a stooge. Jean says to Lloyd she will tell Eddie about their relationship. Danny, Eddie's roommate, is killed and is left with a note hinting that the man he robbed, Nick Brown, was behind it. Tired of being lackey George warns Nick Brown that Eddie is going to pay him a visit. In the restaurant the nervous customers give away the setup and a following shootout ensues. Nick Brown dies. Upon returning home Eddie warns George if he finds out he was in on it he will kill him. Panama tells Eddie that Jean has been having an affair with Lloyd. Jean quits the place. Once he sees the two on the street he hits Lloyd then leaves them alone accepting his loss.

The stock market crash follows. Eddie's business suffers and needs money to save his company so George plays hardball and buys his taxi company for $250,000. Businesses close and people lose everything. Roosevelt is elected ending prohibition. Eddie goes back to being a cab driver and picks up Jean who notices him. He is not interested in her stories about Lloyd and their child after losing everything. Two men later come to Jean's home threatening her about Lloyd's investigation. Knowing that George is behind it she rushes to Eddie to try to fix it. She finds him at the Panama Club and pleads with him. Eddie finally considers.

Spoilers

Eddie visits George and pleads him not to kill Lloyd as he and Jean have a kid. George says he would be doing Eddie a favor with all that Jean has put him through and says no. He says his associates will accompany him home permanently. Eddie turns the table and kills George. Running out Eddie is shot. He stumbles and dies on the steps of the church. He dies in the way he wanted the least ... humbly.

Akira Kurosawa: High and Low

Director - Akira Kurosawa

Writers - Ideo Oguni (screenplay) &

Ryûzô Kikushima (screenplay)

Cast Character

Toshiro Mifune ... Gondo

Kyogo Kagawa ... Gondo's wife

Tatsuya Mihashi

... secretary Kawanishi

Yutaka Sada

... Aoki (chauffeur)

Kenjiro Ishiyama ... Taguchi (inspector)

Tsutoma Yamazaki ...

the kidnapper

Takashi Shimura ... police commissary

An executive of a shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped and held for ransom. - IMDB

The film High and Low begins with National Shoes company trying to make a deal. They go through strategies on how to market shoes from durability, price and fashion. One man argues the seller's shoes are too durable which prevent repeat business making a financial loss for the company. The boss owns half the company and they are afraid of what will happen to their position. They don't have enough of a percentage of stocks to take over.

They try to persuade Gondo to join them so they have 34% of the company. Baba says he will take over since he orchestrated the plan to force out the former boss if everything goes accordingly. Kingo Gondo complains about the buyers shoddy shoes and that although the boss is old fashioned he makes high quality shoes. When Gondo refuses to join their scheme the other man threatens to join the boss and vote him out. Baba tempts Kawanishi, Gondo's assistant, to help them and they will make him a director. Kingo Gondo coaches his son how to play to win and his wife tells him - referring to the business deal - "Success isn't worth losing your humanity."

Aoki, Gondo's chauffeur, looks for his boy Shinichi who has disappeared. Gondo receives a phone call from a kidnapper saying his boy has been kidnapped in exchanged for 30 million Yen. They see their son Jun in the house and he hasn't been kidnapped. It was Aoki's son who was. After the detectives record the phone call Gondo tells them this is not just about losing his money, the kidnapper wants to humiliate him since he has such a high executive position. In Japan everything is about saving face so humiliating someone is the worst social thing one can do. His wife, Reiki, tries to reason with Gondo saying he was willing to pay for his son's safety so why can't he pay for the chauffeur's?

Considering the fact that Gondo has mortgaged everything and used all the money he has to buy more stocks in the company he is truly trapped. To further this tension they are stuck in the house giving a claustrophobic, tight tension throughout. As the kidnapper calls in he keeps the phone calls short to avoid being traced to his location. Gondo decides not to pay the money as his whole life's work is too important to lose. His wife pleads but tells her she is spoiled and knows nothing of true poverty.

Gondo wants to go ahead and buy out the company but Kawanishi can't advise him to. He says if he goes ahead with the deal the public will hate him for buying the company and sacrificing a child causing no one to want to buy his shoes. Kawanishi wanted him to pay the ransom to force him out of the company. Everyone tries to play guilt trips on this man when acquiring power is at stake. Kawanishi admits to planning with the three other buyers. Detective Nakao says Gondo doesn't have to pay as it is his livelihood after all. He does ask him to bluff so they at least have the kidnapper's location when they meet.

The kidnapper calls and tells him to open the drapes. The detectives hide flat on the ground. He asks Gondo if he is up to anything suspicious. He keeps the calls short and to the point to avoid being traced. They listen to the taped call and hear a coin drop determining it must be a payphone.

On the train Gondo receives a phone call telling him to throw the two briefcases of money out the window before they stop to Atami. They find Shinichi at the stop. For once in the story the detectives have compassion for Gondo seeing he sacrificed control of the company and 30,000,000 Yen for the chauffeur's boy. As the kidnapper listens to the radio and reads the newspaper about the case he grows angry as people show sympathy for Gondo's incredible sacrifice. The kidnapper grows even more jealous because of Gondo's talent, wealth and personal character. The title High and Low is appropriate given its associations with heaven and hell, success and poverty, comfort and despair. Everyone sees Gondo's house on the hill and his success is a part for all to see.

After a lengthy meeting narrowing down payphone locations and paint samples of the stolen car they narrowed down six stolen vehicles - one that has a gray color like the paint scratch left at the scene. They have the license plate number and a possible lead. They also compile a list of money with the serial numbers given out. One detective says he saw a man with a boy in his car sleeping heading to Fujisawa. Chief Detective Toguchi feels the executives were behind the kidnapping to force Gondo out and take control of the company.

When one of the detectives listens to the tapes again they hear a trolley and show it to the employees who work there who point out where it is. It is on the Enoshima Line. Aoki has Shinichi now and drives him around to see if he remembers the location of where he was taken. He does with luck and the detectives meet with them before entering the house. The two accomplices are dead from heroin overdose. Detective Nakao rules that is was homicide due to the unusually high purity.

Back at Gondo's apartment they see a pink smoke in the distance and Chief Detective Taguchi rushes to the garbage dump and questions the man working there. He tells him a man brought a box to be burned. They trace the man from the worker's assertion that the guy works in Internal Medicine. There they see a man with a cut on his hand - the same that little Shinichi drew.

The detectives forge a letter from his accomplices demanding more drugs or else they will call the police. This will lead the detective to arrest him for a more serious crime than kidnapping. They tail him as he buys a red carnation as a sign for the drug dealer. As they dance they cleverly hold hands to exchange money and dope. He goes to a slum and picks up a junkie and takes her to a small inn. He uses her desperation to test the drug on her which she dies. The suspect notices Gondo looking at shoes in a storefront window. When Takeuchi, the kidnapper, returns home the detectives ambush him. They arrest him and seize almost all the money he stole before.

In the newspaper it says Takeuchi will get the death penalty. In jail he requests to talk to Gondo. They talk and Gondo tells him he's working in a small shoe company to rival National Shoes. He tells Gondo his small room was so hot in the summer and so cold in the winter and looking up at Gondo's house looked like heaven. He tells Gondo he hates him for this. He tells Gondo his life from the beginning has been hell. In the two sided window we see reflections of each other behind each character. What can be interpreted by this is that inside Gondo is a peasant afraid to be poor which drives him to be rich. Inside Takeuchi is a man desperate using whatever threats to be powerful and placed behind him is a man brought down to fear who has nothing to fear.