Rusty Knife

Audience Reviews

View All (11) audience reviews

Audience Member A witness to a mob killing blackmails the mob boss and is murdered for his effort. This outs his two buddies who also saw the killing to both the mob and the police, both of whom try to grab them. A decent little noir from Nikkatsu that has Joe Shishido in a tiny role (as the murdered blackmailer). Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member Toshio Masuda's first film noir is pretty good. Its got an engaging plot with some conflicted characters, and the plot evolves and gets deeper with intrigue. The only problem is that its a bit unrefined in theme, and the ending is pretty weak. Other than that, its a powerful and solid entry in Criterion's Nikkatsu Noir collection. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member A very well done noir with twists and turns, dead-ends and bursts of illumination. Its multi-layered plot was very satisfying. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Audience Member Huge Nikkatsu stars of the time, including the up an coming Joe Shishido are all together in the hard boiled crime drama "Rusty Knife", a very fitting name and feel, Yujiro Ishihara and Akira Kobayashi are 2 men wanted by the law and by the Yakuza, on the run from both sides. The violence, tension, the use of light and dark are very well done, a good example of Japanese noir from the period. Just makes you wonder why Ishihara never fixed those ugly crooked teeth during his heyday... Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Audience Member Ever busy Yojiro Ishihara stars in this gritty noir as an ex-gangster who gets roped back into the game when an aggressive D.A. tries to turn him into a witness against a ruthless gang leader, but the boss has other ideas about that, and Yojiro, trying to go straight, and still haunted by the death of an old girlfriend, wants nothing to do with any of them. Naturally, all sides collide, massive corruption is unearthed, a wicked knife fight commences, and the future of Japan's post-war youth and economy comes to rest on the symbolic shoulders of this struggling-to-reform ex-hood. All around entertaining Nikkatsu action drama, with glimpses of fellow stars Akira Kobayashi, Mie Kitahara, and Jo Shishido, in a brief role as a snitch getting pitched from a speeding train. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member Of the Nikkatsu Noir series, this is not one of the best. 1/2way between a Taiyozoku Sun-tribe movie and a noir film, it doesn't satisfy on either count. Akira Kobayashi's character, here a younger "Sun Tribe" kid than Ishihara Yujiro, plays the disaffected youth more than his aniki, and I get it that we're seeing the next step in the Sun Tribe youths, but Yujiro seems restrained here. "Thanks for not letting me kill him," he says at one point. I wish to God he had -- the movie would have been better off if you had. Kitahara Mie is wasted here -- one of her stiffest roles I've seen. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Rusty Knife

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW