Stray Dog (1949) – Film Review

Director: Akira Kurosawa
Cast: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Awaji
Certificate:

By Sarah Morgan

Although they eventually fell out, the names of Akira Kurosawa and Toshirô Mifune will always be linked in Japanese cinema.

One of their earliest collaborations, Stray Dog, dating back to 1949, is now being released in a newly restored 4k version; it must look even better than it did to cinemagoers 76 years ago.

For those accustomed to seeing Mifune in aggressive, action hero mode, you may be in for a surprise. He’s young, naive and rather dashing here, playing Murakami, a wet-behind-the-ears rookie homicide detective.

“Sordid underbelly”

After leaving a shooting range following an overnight stakeout, he heads for home, his weariness not helped by the stifling conditions of a heat wave. Perhaps that’s why he lets his guard slip for a second, allowing a pickpocket to steal his pistol. Although he gives chase, the villain makes good his getaway.

Embarrassed and full of remorse, Murakami is determined to get the weapon back, so volunteers to join the squad tasked with investigating the crime. It’s led by wily old campaigner Sato (Takashi Shimura), who takes him under his wing, and soon the duo find themselves delving into the sordid underbelly of post-war Tokyo.

On the face of it, that’s the description of a fairly standard crime thriller or police procedural, but as you might expect from a film-maker of Kurosawa’s renown, there’s a lot more going on here under the surface.

Stray Dog can be enjoyed merely as a straightforward cops-and-robbers tale, but it also offers insights into what life was like in Japan immediately after the war under American rule.

“Bond in adversity”

It cleverly reveals how browbeaten soldiers felt on their return home. Mifune’s character points out that he and the thief are opposite sides of the same coin – on realising he could be sucked into a life of crime, he opted to try to do something positive by joining the police force; the thief, however, succumbed to his lawless instincts.

The film has also been credited with being one of the first to introduce the idea of ‘buddy cops’, something we take for granted today. Mifune and Shimura’s on-screen alter egos have little in common, but form a bond in adversity; they could easily have continued in a string of sequels (if the film had been made in Hollywood today, you can bet they would).

While few would describe Stray Dog as one of Kurosawa’s masterpieces, for me, it’s top rank. Intelligently told, beautifully performed and brilliantly directed, it stands the test of time.