By now you’ve noticed this year’s Noir City slate concerns heists—all the films so far have involved foolproof plans to make a big score. 1964’s Kenjû zankoku monogatari, aka Cruel Gun Story is about a crew that wants to rob a race track, same as in Kubrick’s The Killing. Japanese superstar Jo Shishido leads his minions on a caper that goes wrong almost immediately and eventually erupts into pyrotechnic violence. If there’s a lesson here it’s don’t get on Shishido’s bad side. Though he’s preternaturally cool (really, we can’t think of another star who could make exchanging close quarters gunfire while smoking a cigarette look believable), restraint in the face of aggression isn’t his strong trait. When he has something serious to say, it’s going to come from the muzzle of a gun. This is another Noir City offering that most sites don’t label as film noir, but the influences are certainly there, and in fact the film is part of The Criterion Collection’s five film Nikkatsu Noir DVD box set. We’ve seen Kenjû zankoku monogatari described as Nikkatsu Studios’ crown jewel. We don’t know about that. We’d call it an imperfect but entertaining effort.
