Part of the NO BORDERS, NO LIMITS: 1960s NIKKATSU ACTION CINEMA Retrospective

Among actor Tetsuya Watari and director Toshio Masuda's favorite Nikkatsu films (and a remake of the director’s 1958 film RED QUAY), VELVET HUSTLER—also known as LIKE A SHOOTING STAR—stars Watari as Goro, a Tokyo hitman who likes his women like he likes his cars: fast and dangerous. After rubbing out a rival gang boss, he leaps into a conveniently parked red convertible and hotfoots it to the other side of Japan. After a year of lying low, he has wound up the kingpin of the Kobe underground, hanging out in smoky lounge bars by the downtown port area, keeping the US marines on leave from Vietnam in check, while avoiding both Uzu (Tatsuya Fuji), the suspicious police detective who has trailed him all the way down from Tokyo, and the mysterious hitman (Jo Shishido) sent to kill him. But Goro is bored of life with his current moll Yukari and pines to leave vulgar Kobe to return to the sophisticated big city. This desire gains greater impetus when he gets embroiled with Keiko (Ruriko Asaoka), the strikingly beautiful daughter of a jeweler who has recently been embezzled by his employee and future son-in-law. Amused by his rugged charm and over-zealous attempts at bedding her, Keiko soon finds herself drawn into a more dangerous world than the one she is accustomed to. Takeo Kimura's bright and baroque art direction defined Nikkatsu's product for the decade, but it was the stars that kept the audiences coming, so without imposing an overbearingly visual style on the story, Masuda mainly lets his actors do their job, which may account for his status as one of the most popular and profitable of Nikkatsu's directors at the time. Among all the background shenanigans of fistfights and colorful cabaret numbers, the relationship between Watari's toe-tapping, finger-snapping rogue and Asaoka's pristine rich girl takes centre stage.

Synopsis adapted from the FAB Press book NO BORDERS, NO LIMITS: NIKKATSU ACTION CINEMA by Mark Schilling, additional contributions to this synopsis by Jasper Sharp (midnighteye.com). Films, posters, and still photos copyright Nikkatsu. All rights reserved.

A larger edition of the series was originally presented at the 2005 Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy. The 10th anniversary edition of the festival will be held April 18-26, 2008.

Special Thanks to Marc Walkow.

Presented by Outcast Cinema.