Ever watch an older foreign film and immediately wonder why a major Hollywood studio didn’t attempt to remake it? Sometimes you sense that a story might not translate properly for an American audience. Eighteen Years In Prison could have easily come to America after its Japanese release in 1967. The movie is a throwback to the Warner classic gangster films at its core. This would have been a perfect film for James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart during that era. There’s even a romance that wouldn’t set off alarms at the Hayes Office. There is a richness to Eighteen Years In Prison as it digs deep into post-World War II life in Japan.
Kawada (By a Man’s Face Shall You Know Him‘s Noboru Ando) and Tsukada (Sympathy the Underdog‘s Asao Koike) were supposed to be kamikaze pilots except the war ended before they were given a fatal mission. In the wreckage of post-War Japan, the duo has taken up a life of crime. They hijack a truck carrying sugar in the middle of the night. But Kawada and Tsukada aren’t hard-hearted black-market crooks. They are giving part of their loot to bereaved widows and others who lost family members in the military. This includes the young woman Hisako Ishioka (Big Time Gambling Boss‘ Hiroko Sakuramachi) who is so grateful for Kawada’s work. Her brother had served with him. Later he saves her when her attempt at prostitution goes extremely bad with U.S. soldiers. Kawada and Tsukada have a dream of setting up a market that would be able to help the families. In order to fund this project, they plan on ripping off a large amount of copper. The heist goes wrong and the two are pinned in by the cops. Kawada offers to be the distraction while Tsukada takes off with the truck. It’s a serious sacrifice since Kawada gets sent to a rather nasty prison. He will never get to spend time with Hisako. During his orientation talk, the main guard Hannya (Big Time Gambling Boss‘ Tomisaburô Wakayama) gives him and others a taste of the pain to come. He gets assigned to the furniture making section. Turns out that his fellow inmates are also rather nasty. They intend for the new guys to have industrial accidents so they can steal sterilizing alcohol from the hospital ward. Kawada isn’t down with it. His fighting back gets him the admiration of other prisoners. Outside the prison, Tsukada has changed the business plans. Instead of a market to benefit and uplift the community, he’s used the money to create a red-light district and become a mobster with his own henchmen. When word gets back to Kawada as to what’s going on, he’s not happy. Can bars keep his fury from exploding on his former military comrade?
Eighteen Years In Prison isn’t an outright Yakuza film, but it helps set the vibe for the genre that Toei films would dominate for the next decade. The two main characters are Robin Hoods forced to steal items from a Japan where supplies are limited. They mean well at first. Although after Kawada gets locked up, Tsukada goes gangster. Noboru Andô is so perfect as Kawada. He is a man who exudes loyalty and projects fearlessness. Asao Koike matches him with his ability to transform into a backstabbing weasel as he goes for vice profit over supporting the community. Director Tai Kato brings all these elements and talents together for a tight story that takes it up a level. Noboru Andô was a Yakuza member who had zero acting training before getting involved in movies. You can’t tell it here since he emotionally bares it all on the screen. He had quite a bit of natural talent to go with his huge cheek scar. Eighteen Years In Prison is another masterpiece of Japanese crime cinema that is finally given a chance to break out in America.
The Limited Edition has only 3,000 copies avaliable.
Video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The 1080p image brings out the details of the prison set and the wreckage of post-war Japan. You can see the sweat on characters clearly. The Audio is Japanese LPCM 2.0 Mono. Everything sounds clear. The movie is subtitled in English.
Tony Rayns (24:17) gives us the biographies of both director Tai Kato and actor Noboru Ando. Kato got out of the military at the end of World War II and worked low level jobs in movies until he moved himself up to the director’s chair. He made a lot of genre films. Noboru was a real Yakuza and got his large cheek scar in a fight with aKorean mobsters. After serving time in prison, he found a Japanese studio wanted to adapt his lifestory into a film starring him. He mostly played mobsters and wasn’t a trained actor. He mainly looked tough on the screen. Eighteen Years In Prison has him acting with range and not playing a Yakuza member in the film.
Tall Escapes (16:57) is the history of Japanese prison movies by Tom Mes. He points out that there were no prison movies made before World War II. About half the films he discusses have been released in America. Hopefully the other half will eventually get released on Blu-ray
Trailer (3:04) hails this as Noboru’s first Toei film. They give us the jazzy soundtrack and the life behind bars.
Booklet includes an essay by Tom Mes and an interview with Noboru Andô from 2002. He admits that a lot of Toei executives were tied into the Yakuza.
Radiance Films present Eighteen Years In Prison: Limited Edition. Directed by Tai Kato. Screenplay by Kazuo Kasahara & Shin Morita. Starring Noboru Andô, Shinobu Chihara, Reiichi Hatanaka, Minoru Hodaka, Shinzô Hotta, Ken Kawabe, Asao Koike, Hôsei Komatsu, Masaomi Kondô, Michitarô Mizushima, Tsuyako Okajima, Hiroko Sakuramachi, Akira Shioji, Akecho Sogamawariya, Tomisaburô Wakayama & Shingo Yamashiro. Running Time: 91 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: July 30, 2024.
