In honor of Spike Lee’s latest effort, Highest 2 Lowest, we present the source material for that film: Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 masterpiece High & Low, as well as Lee’s most iconic film, Do the Right Thing.
One of Kurosawa’s greatest modern-dress tales, High and Low (the literal translation of the Japanese title is “Heaven and Hell,” but why quibble?), focuses on shoe company exec Toshirō Mifune (utterly magnificent, as usual), who is in the midst of a high-stakes corporate takeover when he gets word that his son has been kidnapped, and a ransom is expected. But all is not as it seems…
Adapted from an Ed McBain 87th Precinct novel—the only Kurosawa film to directly come from an American source, unless you count the uncredited Dashiell Hammett at the heart of Yojimbo—Kurosawa gives us the ultimate kidnap movie, replete with numerous classic set pieces (the money drop on the bullet train! The drug pass in the dance hall!).
The first half of the film is confined to Mifune’s office, packed with distraught family, cynical advisers, and super-cool detective Tatsuya Nakadai. Moral and ethical arguments rage until the second half, which descends to street level, as Mifune plays cat-and-mouse with the kidnapper. The New York Times calls it “One of the best detective thrillers ever filmed” and they’re not wrong. It’s also one of Kurosawa’s greatest films and, given that he’s The Best, that’s saying a lot.
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