THE CURBSIDE CRITERION: STRAY DOG
(We here at Hammer to Nail are all about true independent cinema. But we also have to tip our hat to the great films of yesteryear that continue to inspire filmmakers and cinephiles alike. This week, “The Curbside Criterion” continues where HtN staff can trot out thoughts on the finest films ever made. This week Brad Cook gets to the bottom of the new Blu-Ray release of Akira Kurosawa’s police genre flex, Stray Dog.)
Akira Kurosawa is rightly remembered for his epic samurai films, but he was a great all-around filmmaker, as evidenced by 1949’s Stray Dog, out now on 4K Ultra HD from Criterion. It stars a young Toshiro Mifune in his third of many collaborations with the acclaimed director.
Mifune plays rookie detective Murakami, who has his pistol stolen from him on a crowded trolley. His investigation leads him into the shadowy underworld of post-war Tokyo, and after a forensics test determines that his pistol was used in a robbery, Murakami teams up with veteran detective Satō (Takashi Shimura, another Kurosawa veteran) to find the gun before it’s used in any more crimes.
Stray Dog was the tenth film in Kurosawa’s prolific career and the second one he released in 1949. It showcases his ability to slowly build tension, in this case using the summer heat to add to the oppressive mood, and Mifune displays flashes of the raw power he would later wield to great effect in The Seven Samurai and other films.
This one is also notable not only for its use of a police procedural plot but also its use of the buddy cop movie trope. Thankfully, Satō never says he’s too old for this shit, although Murakami does clash with his superiors and must use his wits and physical skills to prevail in the end. I doubt this is the first buddy cop movie, but it has to be one of the earliest examples of such a plot device.
Stray Dog has a checkered history on home video that’s been marred by sub-standard presentations in the past, so the restoration Criterion gave it for this 4K Ultra HD release is very welcome. While it’s not flawless, the image quality has been cleaned up considerably, and given the fact that this is one of Kurosawa’s lesser movies, I doubt much more money will be put into restoring it.
The bonus features found here are scant, unfortunately. There’s also a Blu-ray included in this edition, and both discs serve up a 2003 commentary track by film scholar Stephen Prince, author of The Warrior’s Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa. It’s one of those great “film class on a disc” tracks that offers a comprehensive examination of the film in the context of cinema during the post-war years in Japan.
Also included on the Blu-ray platter is the 33-minute Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create segment about the making of Stray Dog. Hailing from 2002, it’s part of a Toho Masterworks series, and it features interviews with Kurosawa (archival, of course), production designer YoshiroMuraki, and actress Keiko Awaki, among others.
The obligatory booklet is actually a fold-out leaflet that includes an essay by film critic Terrence Rafferty and an excerpt from Akira Kurosawa’s book Something Like an Autobiography, along with technical credits for the restoration.
– Brad Cook (@BradCWriter)
