Jûsangô Taihisen' Yori: Sono Gosôsha o Nerae / Take Aim at the Police Van (1960) - A Disgraced Guard and a Feminist Businesswoman Stop a Killing Spree - 7/10 (27/11/24)

Take Aim at the Police Van, originally known as Jûsangô Taihisen' Yori: Sono Gosôsha o Nerae, is a Japanese film noir that unfolds as an investigative thriller through seventy-nine minutes. The movie was made by renowned director Seijun Suzuki who had become a regular choice for Nikkatsu Studios by the early sixties before experimenting wildly with visual effects and being kicked out in 1967. Mizushima Michitaro incarnates the film's sincere protagonist and his grounded depiction provides much depth to the film while his acting experience of thirty-five years makes for a charismatic screen presence throughout. He is paired up with rising star Watanabe Misako who shines as charismatic feminist with remarkable courage, smart decisions and dedicated independence. 

In this particular film, Mizushima Michitaro plays a guard who is supposed to bring a group of prisoners to a new location in the middle of the night. The van gets ambushed and two prisoners are brutally murdered. The guard is suspended for six months and decides to investigate the motive behind those assassinations. He starts by observing a third prisoner who survived the ordeal who seems to have ties to a shady call girl agency. Said agency is led by an enigmatic young woman whose father is in jail. She starts investigating the mysterious case as well as she believes a mysterious concurrent called Akiba might be the mastermind behind the crimes. The disgraced guard and the ambitious businesswoman team up in order to make justice prevail despite opposition from arrogant police officers and nagging business partners alike. 

This film noir convinces on several levels. The movie oozes with sinister atmosphere thanks to excellent lighting techniques, gloomy camera work and appropriate settings on isolated roads in the middle of the night or in decaying industrial areas on the outskirts of rapidly developing towns. The acting performances are great as Mizushima Michitaro convinces as unusually old lead actor while Watanabe Misako is ahead of her time by portraying a strong feminist femme fatale. The film's finale is particularly intense and will leave a lasting emotional impression upon genre fans, thus bringing the movie full circle as it reconnects to its gripping overture. 

However, this film is also weaker than many other Japanese films noirs that saw the light of day in the late fifties and early sixties. Despite its short running time, the movie has noticeable lengths and especially its middle section drags on for far too long. The script is thin and takes much time to unfold between the intense opening ten minutes and the conciliatory final ten minutes. The film's side characters remain shallow and the supporting actors and actresses aren't given any chance to showcase their talents significantly. 

At the end of the day, the coolest thing about Take Aim at the Police Van, originally known as Jûsangô taihisen' yori: Sono gosôsha o nerae, might actually be its catchy title. Its gloomy atmosphere, excellent lead actress and lead actor as well as its gripping opening and closing scene keep this film from drowning in mediocrity. The middle section's exhausting lengths, weak script and shallow side characters incarnated by a cast that fails to stand out reduce this movie to a film noir that only just qualifies as good average movie that tends to be slightly overrated in hindsight. My sincere recommendation is to watch several other Japanese genre films of the same era instead while this particular film here is only of interest for adamant fans of the lead actor, the lead actress and the controversial director in particular.