Go to Hell, Hoodlums!

Go to Hell, Hoodlums!
Directed bySeijun Suzuki
Written byGan Yamazaki
Kenzaburo Hara (novel)
Produced byEisei Koi
StarringKoji Wada
Chikako Hosokawa
Emiko Azuma
Mayumi Shimizu
CinematographyKazue Nagatsuka
Music bySeitaro Omori
Distributed byNikkatsu
Release date
  • November 23, 1960 (1960-11-23)
Running time
80 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Go to Hell, Hoodlums! (くたばれ愚連隊, Kutabare gurentai, aka Fighting Delinquents) is a 1960 Japanese film directed by Seijun Suzuki for the Nikkatsu Corporation. It is Suzuki's first color film.[1][2]

Cast

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Plot

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Sadao, a young construction worker, believes himself to be an orphan and in spite of his youthful tempestuousness he is nonetheless a model of honesty and moral integrity: he introduces himself by crashing into the office of a company president in order to claim the indemnity that he owes the foreman's daughter because he caused the man's death by dangerous driving.

Shortly after this altercation, Sadao learns that he actually is the only heir of a noble and rich family from Awaji Island. A messenger tries to convince him by all means to accept the inheritance, but Sadao's moral integrity prevents him from leaving his friends and he refuses to accept this sudden ticket to fortune and high society. When the messenger realizes that the young man is immune to the material temptations such an offer carries, he manages to persuade him with the promise that he will be reunited with his mother.

Pressured by his buddies' enthusiasm, Sadao gives in and leaves for Awaji, where he is welcomed by his aristocratic grandmother. The obaasan ("granny", as he defiantly calls her) is shocked by her grandson's disarming sincerity, a far cry from the hypocritical manners inherent in any high society member. When Sadao finds out that the promise to join his mother was just a trick to attract him to the island, he devotes all his efforts to finding her himself. At the same time spends the family fortune on building a public park and a western-style youth hostel on lands owned by the family. However, he is unaware that a shady speculator has plans to appropriate these lands, and that the businessman's girlfriend is none other than Sadao's mother.

References

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  1. ^ くたばれ愚連隊 (in Japanese). nikkatsu. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  2. ^ 日活アクションの華麗な世界:1954-1971 第七章"小僧アクション"の登場-和田浩治の短い活躍期 p.206-213 ISBN 4624710878
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