Stray Dog

“A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo’s sweltering streets for the stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, cop and criminal’s lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami’s own dark side. Starring Toshiro Mifune, as the rookie cop, and Takashi Shimura, as the seasoned detective who keeps him on the right side of the law, Stray Dog goes beyond a crime thriller, probing the squalid world of postwar Japan and the nature of the criminal mind.”
— Criterion.com

“Stray Dog…is, I think, Kurosawa’s first masterpiece. And that’s the excitement you feel when you watch the movie today: it’s the thrill of seeing a great filmmaker come of age.”
— Terrence Rafferty, Criterion.com

Film Details

Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Year: 1949
Running time: 122 min
Format: 35mm
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Producer: Sôjirô Motoki
Cinematographer: Asakazu Nakai
Editors: Toshio Gotô, Yoshi Sugihara
Print Source: Janus Films

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