Caught Kurosawa's Stray Dog the other night.

Link to the only other thread in which Stray Dog comes up.

As commentator S. Prince notes in the opening credits to the Criterion DVD, "Stray Dog" catches Kurosawa as he's moving into full command of his artistry. There's still some odd decisions, most notably in the work of some characterizations, but on the whole, the film is a solid, engaging crime story that dabbles in subverting our expectations of the genre.

Det. Murakami's Colt is lifted by a pickpocket and sold on the black market. When its used in a crime spree, he's wracked with guilt and anxiety as he and his mentor, lifetime cop Sato, track down the buyer.

Toshiro Mifune plays Murakami and veteran Kurosawa player Takashi Shimaru inhabits the role of Sato. Its interesting to see these actors in a similar relationship to their later roles in "The Seven Samurai", but with Mifune's characterization wildly different than his crazed ronin in the latter film.

Murakami's inactivity was the only thing that bothers me about the film--he's moping for great stretches of the film, basically doing his detective work through annoying his leads until they finally give him what he wants so he'll go away. But Sato-san, now that's a great character, and Kurosawa plays the contrast between his black & white, grizzled ease and Murakami's tense moral fraught well. Even at one point, Sato-san makes the comment that maybe Murakami isn't cut out to be a cop if he's this tense.

Kurosawa delves a bit into the differing viewpoints of reform-minded Murakami and black hats and white hats worldview of Sato. He tips his hand as to which point of view he's holding with the opening credit sequence.

Good all-around cop film. Some great imagery, esp in the final confrontations.

I saw Stray Dog when I was in college, and it became the first Kurosawa movie that I REALLY got into. Now that I've seen it multiple times, I can see how it gets shaky in spots (and it's maybe 10 minutes too long). But it's one of my favorite movies. And one of the first to show me that Kurosawa did something other than samurai pictures.

Well, you must have had more ambitious college tastes than me.

What I liked about Stray Dogs was that it puts forth the unabashed proposition that people can make two choices when faced with difficult circumstances: 1) rise above the situation, or 2) be sucked down into reprobation and that there's no return from either. No room for nuance, or reform. Only punishment.

Murakami and Yusa faced the same situation--upon returning home from the devastating war, each had their rucksack stolen from them. Yusa despairs and turns to a life of petty and then violent crime. Murakami resolves to work toward ending that type of injustice by becoming a cop. When Murakami learns of his shared past experience with Yusa, he tells his partner Sato that he feels an affinity towards him--maybe that's too strong a word, but he feels sympathy for him.

Sato reacts with scorn--don't psychoanalyze him. I just hate him. I hate all these criminals.

Its an interesting perspective, a surprising "right-wing" POV from a well-established auteur. Reminds me of Milius.

Not sure I agree 100% with your take. It's been awhile since I've seen this so forgive me if my memory is a little fuzzy. I recall a scene where Murakami and Sato are questioning a woman (a streetwalker or petty criminal of some kind?) about a possible lead on where the gun is. Sato takes his time, shares a cigarette with her and generally treats her like a human being. Murakami on the other hand, is so desperate and impatient that he wants to jump right in and demand that she tell them. You could argue that Sato is just being shrewd but I don't think that's the case. At that time and in that place they could have easily beaten it out of her if they wanted to.

The scene at the end has always stuck with me also. Murakami has tracked down the thief and gets in foot chase with him. When he finally catches the thief, they both collapse on the ground from exhaustion. The thief curls up in the fetal position and just sobs as a group of school children walk by singing. That scene really hit me in the gut and I think it shows Kurosawa's empathy for that fallen character.

I took that as a plain reference to the shot of the panting dog over the opening credits. Then, we see Murakami and Sato in the hospital, where Sato basically tells him that there's plenty of more bad guys to catch, so don't spend any time worrying about this one.

Perhaps Kurosawa is trying to subvert the whole good guy/bad guy dichotomy, but to me it plays straight.