My Gun Is My Passport / Glass Johnny Looks Like a Beast

MY GUN IS MY PASSPORT (KORUTO WA ORE NO PASUPOTO) 1967, Nikkatsu, 89 min. Joe Shishido (GATE OF FLESH) and Jerry Fujio are hitmen hiding out in a remote, dust-blown trucker’s inn while waiting for the coast to clear. But, needless to say, complications ensue. Takashi Nomura was a journeyman director at Nikkatsu, who often turned out real gems that went largely unsung or underrated. In Japanese with English subtitles.

GLASS JOHNNY LOOKS LIKE A BEAST (GARASU NO JONI – YAJU NO YO NI MIETE), 1962, Nikkatsu, 108 min. Joe Shishido is an ambitious, bike racetrack tout who becomes inadvertently involved in a triangle with a vulnerable prostitute (Izumi Ashikawa) and her brutal yakuza pimp (George Ai). Director Koreyoshi Kurahara reportedly used Fellini’s LA STRADA as a template, taking a decidedly Italian neo-realist approach to this gritty tale of low-lifes scrambling to survive on the ragged edge of nowhere. In Japanese with English subtitles.