Black Tight Killers (Ore ni sawaru to abunaize)
Japan (1966) Dir. Yasuharu Hasebe
For the sake of clarity, the eponymous assassins in this 60s Japanese pulp curio don’t go around murdering people for wearing black tights, they are the ones wearing said leg wear. That would be an odd prejudice even for Japanese cinema.
War photography Daisuke Hondo (Akira Kobayashi) barely manages to leave war torn Vietnam after his mission comes to an end and returns to Japan. During the flight, stewardess Yoriko (Matsubara Chieko) mends Hondo’s only shirt for him, and when they land, her offers to buy her dinner to say thank you. They have a nice night out which is ruined when Yoriko is kidnapped and Hondo is framed for murder.
The victim was a man named Lopez who was pursuing Yoriko all evening, whilst the real killers were a trio of women dressed in black (including the tights). Hondo is released from police custody after his American friend Bill confirms Hondo’s alibi, then they work together to find Yoriko. However, every time Hondo follows up a lead he is thwarted by either the Black Tights or another criminal gang, both of whom after Yoriko.
Ardent fans of Japanese cinema will at many points during Black Tight Killers wonder to themselves if this isn’t less unruly version of a Seijin Suzuki film. There is a valid reason for this – director Yasuharu Hasebe served as assistant director to Suzuki for eight years before being allowed to make his own film, and this is the result. That is not to say this is a Suzuki rip-off but his influence looms heavy over much of the presentation.
During the late ‘60s, Japanese cinema was experimenting just as much as the rest of world was, embracing special changes and pop culture influences that saw the chaste and sensible supplanted by freer, esoteric attitudes. Hasebe and writers Ryūzō Nakanishi and Michio Tsuzuki don’t just follow in Suzuki’s footsteps in this regard, they cherry pick ideas from the west too.
We’ll look at this more later but first, the story needs a little expansion, as it is not quite as straightforward as the above summary implies. Hondo plays protector to Yoriko during their post dinner drinks at a bar where she spots Lopez watching her. As Hondo goes to sort Lopez out, he manages to give Hondo the slip and make his way towards Yoriko, whilst Hondo finds Bill in another area of the bar.
Returning to find Yoriko has left, Hondo gives chase and finds Lopez nearby being beaten and murdered by three of the Black Tights whilst Yoriko hid. Meanwhile, two shady men in trench coats hiding in the shadows also witness this, and tell the police it was Hondo who killed Lopez. Yoriko is kidnapped whilst Hondo is calling the police and despite his best efforts is unable to stop the car.
Via Bill, Hondo is introduced to a man claiming to be Yoriko’s uncle who gives Hondo a lead. Calling for a taxi, Hondo instead accepts a left from a young woman Akiko (Akemi Kita) who proves to be more than a pretty face and a reliable ride when he gets in trouble with the thugs. Yes, you guessed it, she is one of the Black Tights but Hondo isn’t aware of this yet.
In fact few people are, as their day job is Go Go dancers at a trendy bar, beneath which is their secret lair where Yoriko is being held. Why? Like the Lopez gang and a Japanese gang, Yoriko’s father is said to have hidden some gold he got from the war on a remote island somewhere, believing Yoriko knows the exact location. The gangs want it because they are greedy; the Black Tights want it as like the gold, they are from Okinawa and want it returned to its rightful place.
Yoriko spend most of the film being kidnapped by each of the gangs in turn, but only the Black Tights turn good and help Hondo rescue Yoriko after he manages to power out of their deadly traps. It is quite a ride for Hondo to earn their trust, having slept with Akiko and survived many assassination attempts by her associates, they seem dawn to him; tiny spoiler – when each one meets their end, their last words are praising Hondo.
Even though Hondo is the hero, the Black Tights are bestowed with the Bond-esque gimmick weapons representing the western influence I alluded to earlier. Tape measures become swords, golf balls are bombs and they even have Ninja gum, though the most deadly would the razor sharp 7-inch records Akiko throws – this wouldn’t work today as I doubt you could do much damage by chucking an MP3 file at someone.
Having pilfered the kitsch daftness from the Batman TV series, and the hi tech excess of James Bond and his comedy impersonators like Matt Helm, Hasebe’s domestic homage is in the oneiric intervals in which the Black Tights perform dance routines or in the dream Hondo has about Yoriko that incur the Suzuki references. Hasebe is not as maverick or arcane with his application of these moments as his mentor though, and with just 87-minutes to play with, this is just as well.
Considering Hasebe went on to become a Roman Porno director in the ‘70s, one might expect this debut effort to display nascent elements of this – alas for you horndogs, the exact opposite is true. The women may suffer from wardrobe malfunctions but nothing is shown, whilst one of the Black Tights who lost her top makes sure to cover herself whilst dying in Hondo’s arms!
Black Tight Killers is a cult film in waiting, in that it is a bit of frivolous fun to pass the time but remains on the periphery of serious reverence for a reason. This new Blu-ray release from Radiance films should earn it some new fans however, the bold HD transfer giving this colourful pre-psychedelic trip a nice boost.
