CHIPMUNK. The lead actor looks like a chipmunk. It needs too be said because that's all you see initially. Apparently it was a result of cheek surgery.

Once you get past that this movie is a little treat. A Noir/Yakuza/Spaghetti Western mash-up that actually works.

Like "The Killers" we are in the company of a two-man hit team. With a tricked-out car complete with a massive two-way radio they are much in demand from the Yakuza. Then the job goes wrong and it's time to get out of town. However there's a gal at the motel who complicates matters.

The music is a combination of cool jazz (which could be in a contemporary Caine movie ) and a touch of the Morricones for the cowboy-like action sequences. It shouldn't work but it is really effective.

Imagine, if you will, that instead of making westerns, Sergio Leone had decided to make crime thrillers on the model of RIFIFI, but set in Japan. That's something like what you get here. Jô Shishido is a hit man hired to kill a rival crime boss muscling in on other territory. While waiting for his flight out of town, the dead man's son shows up and offers to make a deal for the assassin's head. Jules Dassin might want us to think there is honor among thieves, but Leone never would, and neither does the director of this movie, Takashi Nomura.

It had a deliberately 1950s 'B' movie look, with its b&w photography and "stolen shot" camerawork, but the constantly moving camerawork and stunt gags are clear signs that this is serious film making.... and talented, too; Nomura is not that well known, but this is a good flick. Harumi Ibe's soundtrack starts out sounding like Morricone, but then switches to jazz arrangements for the crime story.

Jô Shishido, Chitose Kobayashi and Jerry Fujio star in this impressive fusion of styles. The film is a Japanese film noir movie with strong overtones of an Italian spaghetti western! Talk about an unusual combination--but it really worked well.

Jô Shishido is a top assassin (like he was in "Branded to Kill") that has been recruited by the mob to kill a rival mobster. Watching Jô setting up and executing this hit was pretty exciting--like watching a master at his craft. However, in a twist, after completing the job, the son of the now-dead mob boss decides on a truce with the rival mob--and to cement the merger, the son demands the death of the assassin...as well as his assistant (Jerry). Suddenly two mobs are out to kill them and it looks as if there's absolutely nothing they can do to stop this. Along the way, the duo meet up with a young lady (Chitose)--a woman whose fiancé was killed by the same mobsters trying to kill Jô and Jerry. She befriends them and tries to help them...it it's possible. All this leads to one of the best film noir/action movie endings I've seen in a long time when it's just Jô and a team of dirt-bags out for his head.

The film is very stylish and well made throughout. I wasn't the least surprised to see Jô Shishito in the film, as he made a ton of gangster films during this era. However, people not familiar with him might be a bit surprised, as he looks a bit like a chipmunk--thanks to cheek implants intended to make him look 'distinctive'. I could say more about this excellent film but won't, as it might tend to ruin the suspense--and the ending is very, very suspenseful.