Hollywood went on a Japanese kick after World War Two with sympathetic depictions of that country booming in the wake of their support in the Korean War: this, Sayonara, Joe Butterfly, Teahouse of the August Moon, etc. This was at the forefront - Sam Fuller's taken the story of another movie and added his own unique touches.
The marriage works well - the structure is a very sound one (as most undercover stories are), with Robert Stack infiltrating a group of ex servicemen committing violent robberies in Japan under the control of Robert Ryan. We find out Stack's undercover around 15 minutes in - the same point when we did re: Paul Walker in The Fast and the Furious.
I feel this movie has influenced a lot of other movies, right down to its homoeroticism... Ryan basically falls in love with Stack making old flame Cameron Mitchell jealous; Ryan winds up shooting Mitchell when the latter is nude in the bath because he believes he's a traitor, the discovers it's Stack. The film throws in the guys having "kimiko girls" to make sure we all know they're straight, but not Ryan... I think Fuller was being up front about him.
There is stunning CinemaScope photography and location work in Japan - it's a treat for the eyes. Robert Stack can be dull but Fuller's loosened him up and he's not a bad hero. Robert Ryan is a superb villain, though the film lacks a character scene or two to flesh out his relationship with Stack and Mitchell. (It didn't feel real Ryan would be so invested in Stack so quickly). Stack's romance with Shirley Yamaguchi is very sweet. I was surprised Sessue Hayakawa's role wasn't bigger.
The Fuller touches are plentiful - Biff Elliot's death on the operating table, Ryan shooting Mitchell in the bathtub, the final shoot out on the spinning wheel.
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