Takashi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune are on the hunt in Kurosawa detective story
STRAY DOG (Akira Kurosawa, 1949)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
June 3-5, $13, 11:00 am
Series continues through September 11
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com
Akira Kurosawa’s thrilling police procedural, Stray Dog, is one of the all-time-great film noirs. When newbie detective Murakami (Toshirō Mifune) gets his Colt lifted on a bus, he thinks he will be fired if he does not get it back. But as he searches for it, he discovers that it is being used in a series of robberies and murders that he feels responsible for. Teamed with seasoned veteran Sato (Takashi Shimura), Murakami risks his career — and his life — as he tries desperately to track down his gun before it is used again. Kurosawa makes audiences sweat as postwar Japan is in the midst of a heat wave, with Murakami, Sato, prostitute Harumi Namiki (Keiko Awaji), and others constantly mopping their brows, dripping wet. Inspired by the novels of Georges Simenon, Stray Dog is a dark, intense drama shot in creepy black and white by Asakazu Nakai and featuring a jazzy soundtrack by Fumio Hayasaka that unfortunately grows melodramatic in a few key moments — and oh, if only that final scene had been left on the cutting-room floor. Stray Dog will be screening at 11:00 am on June 3-5 as part of the IFC Center’s Weekend Classics — Kurosawa series, with half of the proceeds from all festival screenings benefiting Japan Society’s Earthquake Relief Fund. Upcoming screenings includeKagemusha (June 10-12), High and Low (June 17-19), and Dodes’ka-Den (June 24-26).