SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Syl Robert Ryan and Robert Stack play two American men and veterans from World War II who are now in Japan. There along with other American men, they form their crime gang where they rob, steal, and kill along the way. There is a beautiful woman played by Japanese actress Shirley Yamaguchi in the role. This was filmed ten years after World War II with great location shots. The film has plenty of intrigue, violence, and interest to hold up. I thought the script could use some work. Eddie Spanier (Played by Robert Stack) and Sandy Dawson (played by Robert Ryan) do impressive work in their performances. Stack and Ryan steal the film's scenes. There are colorful moments in this film even with a weak script. The film was beautifully photographed in color.

seymourblack-1 Samuel Fuller's "House Of Bamboo" is a violent crime thriller which initially makes a strong impact because its visual style is so radically different to that seen in his earlier film noirs. Whilst Fuller's normal directness, lack of sentimentality and well staged action sequences are all in strong evidence, the use of cinemascope and colour photography add a new dimension and create a very fresh and stunning backdrop to the action.This movie (which is a remake of "The Street With No Name") was the first Hollywood film to be made in post-war Japan and is remarkable for how successfully it captures the splendour of the local landscape and how well it integrates its beautifully photographed location footage into a story which is quite dark.Near Mount Fuji in 1954, a military train is robbed by a bunch of criminals who steal its cargo of guns and ammunition. An American army sergeant is killed and the subsequent joint American/Japanese investigation is helped some weeks later when, after another robbery, a wounded criminal called Webber (Biff Elliot) is found with injuries caused by the same type of bullets which were used in the train robbery. Before he dies, Webber doesn't disclose the names of his accomplices who left him for dead but does mention that he has a Japanese wife called Mariko (Shirley Yamaguchi).Webber had an American friend called Eddie Spanier (Robert Stack), an ex-con who turns up a little later and makes himself known to Mariko before attracting the attention of local gangster Sandy Dawson (Robert Ryan). Dawson's gang is made up of ex-G.I.s and they regularly carry out robberies which are organised using military style planning. There is a rule that if any gang member gets injured during a robbery, one of the other gang members will kill him to avoid any risk of him talking if he gets caught by the police.Eddie and Mariko embark on a relationship and she lives with him as his "kimono girl". Dawson recruits Eddie into his gang and fellow gang member Griff (Cameron Mitchell) immediately becomes jealous of how close the two men become as he'd previously been Dawson's "ichiban" (number one boy).Eddie reveals to Mariko that he's actually Eddie Kenner, an undercover agent working for the military police and she subsequently acts as a go-between with Eddie's superiors. Things then get rather tense for Eddie when Dawson calls off a planned robbery when it becomes clear to him that the authorities know about it and he's determined to find and punish the informant."House Of Bamboo" features a great deal of violence with numerous people getting garroted, a few gang members getting killed and a spectacular shoot-out in a top class set piece which concludes the action. There's also a cultural rift as neither the Americans or the Japanese show any respect or appreciation of each other's cultures and Mariko is even snubbed by her neighbours because of her relationship with an American.This story of deception, betrayal and ruthless criminality is made even more entertaining by its characters and some of the interesting pairings that it features. Apart from the aforementioned apparent incongruity of a dark, gritty crime drama being played out in scenery which is light, colourful and extremely beautiful, there's also an American who has no interest in the Japanese language or culture pairing up with a Japanese woman. Dawson also provides some interest in this regard as he dumps his number one boy because he becomes attracted to Eddie.Robert Ryan's performance as the cunning psychopath is both powerful and subtle as he's seen on different occasions being menacing, less guarded when talking to Eddie and during one robbery, acting out of character by disobeying his own rules. The supporting performances are also generally good.

RanchoTuVu Dishonorably discharged Ex-US army soldiers run a crime ring in post WW2 Tokyo. Led by Sandy Dawson (Robert Ryan), they, perhaps mistakenly, kill an active duty soldier during a job they pull as the film opens. Robert Stack plays an army agent sent over to infiltrate the ring, a group of army rejects memorably led by Robert Ryan. The finale is a totally gripping roof- top chase high over Tokyo's crowded streets. The film captures a sense of Japanese life and has impressive cultural depth, probably thanks to ace director and writer Sam Fuller. The idea itself of dishonorable discharges forming a crime ring in Tokyo is fairly well inspired, and is taken into impressive detail as the some of the guys in the gang try to be the ichi ban or number one next to Robert Ryan. Ryan has seldom looked better, capturing a smug sense of control with underlying ruthlessness. Stack as the army's secret agent, isn't bad either.

secondtake House of Bamboo (1955)If you ever wondered if a film noir lead male could just be anyone, that he doesn't need talent beyond being tough and muttering terse nuggets, watch Robert Stack struggle in this film. He tries to pump up all the stereotypes, but he's playacting all the time, and because he's in most of the movie, it falls flat over and over. This is a slow-going, strained movie, and even though it's ambitious in many ways, it will mostly seem routine. All of this took me by surprise, because some of director Samuel Fuller's famous films, like Naked Kiss, are anything but routine.Not that this isn't a gorgeous film. Joe MacDonald is a first rate black and white photographer (film noir and other films), and he applies his visual sense to every scene. All in Cinemascope color! Yes, if you don't mind a relatively dull movie and can just watch, this one is really terrific pageantry. It uses the wide screen better than most, the framing and blocking really worth the ticket alone. And everything is done on location in Japan in the 1950s, just when the country is trying to shed itself of American occupation. Because of this there are many scenes that are almost travelog stuff, and all the streetsides scenes and interiors, the views along the canal and the big overviews at the end, are just superbly photographed.Of course, then you have to ask about all the many films made by Japanese filmmakers at the same time...some of which are not only more authentic, but much better movies all around. There's no use trying to apologize. The acting is totally uneven (the scenes with Robert Ryan come to life, a testimony to his presence and energy), and the plot is dull, lacking a conflict that is clear. There's only so far you can take ambiguous tension in a pretty movie like this. This is a retelling of sorts of a more gripping (and in some ways more formulaic) film, Street with no Name, which is a classic of its type. So kudos absolutely to Fuller for taking this to Japan, and for making it fresh in at least that one sense. We still could benefit from a more tightly conceived scenario, and maybe a less culturally stereotyped view of the city, where sure they had very mixed feelings about brash Americans.MacDonald's photography rules on this on. For example, look at the scene 50 minutes in, and see how simple it is to transform an ordinary conversation to something that has visual sophistication. There's a lot to look at. Keep watching and you'll see more astonishing visuals and set design (if you can call the locations shots that, with smoke pots and running men with tracking camera), all at a gravel pit. Really first rate.