Director: Junya Sato (1977)132min.
Cast: Mariko Okada, Yusaku Matsuda (Munesue), George Kennedy (Shuftan), Toshiro Mifune, Joe Yamanaka, Broderick Curoford, Rick Jason, Hajime Hana, Koji Tsuruta, Hideo Murota, Kinji Fukasaku, Tanie Kitabayashi
Staff: Based Nivel-Seiichi Morimura, Screenplay-Zenzou Matsuyama, Cinematgraphy-Shinsaku Himeda, Music-Yuji Ohno, Puroducer-Haruki Kadowaka, Poem-Yaso Saijo
A murder case occurred in first class hotel. Only clue was victim African American's last word "kiss me". Detective Munesue flew to N.Y. where the victim was from, team with detective Shuftan. Based on a best-selling mystery novel.
Yusaku never had unfavorable comparison when he appeared on screen with Mr.Kennedy. Story itself was a bit stale, but we could enjoy location in N.Y. Also trailers that spotted on TV were excellent by beautiful theme song.
From 1976 to 1992, the president of big publishing company Kadokawa produced movies that connected with their novels sales. It works successfully, found some idle stars, and contributed to Japanese film industry a lot. Big budget, big stars, and disappointing ware their keyword though.