A Colt Is My Passport (1967)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- One of Japanese cinema's supreme emulations of American noir, Takashi Nomura's 'A Colt is My Passport' is a down-and-dirty but gorgeously photographed yakuza film starring Joe Shishido as a hard-boiled hit man caught between rival gangs. Featuring an incredible, spaghetti-western-style soundtrack and brimming with formal experimentation, this is Nikkatsu at its finest.
- Actors:
- Jô Shishido, Chitose Kobayashi, Jerry Fujio, Shôki Fukae, Zenji Yamada, Eimei Esumi, Jun Hongô, Akio Miyabe, Toyoko Takechi, Kôjirô Kusanagi, Ryôtarô Sugi, Takamaru Sasaki, Asao Uchida, Zeko Nakamura, Kanjûrô Arashi
- Directors:
- Takashi Sudo
- Producers:
- Takeo Yanagawa
- Writers:
- Shinji Fujiwara, Hideichi Nagahara, Nobuo Yamada
- Aka:
- Koruto wa ore no pasupoto
- Genres:
- Action & Adventure, Classics, Drama, Thrillers
- Countries:
- Japan
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Reviews (1) of A Colt Is My Passport
Cheekbones, Gunmen, and Spaghetti-Western Swagger - A Colt Is My Passport review by griggs
It’s funny how different the air feels. Classic American noir is all compression and claustrophobia — everything squeezed into alleyways. Here, in this Japanese neo-noir, the world feels wider, like trouble has room to move.
A Colt Is My Passport plays like a mash-up: hardboiled hitman thriller, yakuza business, with a spaghetti-western swagger drifting through the score. It’s lean and brisk, and it even tosses in a Bond-ish flourish (the sneaky second brake behind the driver’s seat). And Joe Shishido turns up looking like he’s smuggled two extra cheekbones through customs — you can’t not stare.
The rough edges show. Some of the violence plays more theatrical than visceral — big reactions, bodies flying — and the low-budget seams peek through. Still, there’s real confidence in the staging and plenty of cool in the stride. Not quite top-shelf, but a stylish getaway worth taking.