Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

Aedonerre I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Alex da Silva Dr Takashi Shimura (Sanada) is a local doctor in Japan shortly after the war has ended. The district he works in is in decay and is ruled by gangsters. The scary gang leader in this particular locale is Toshiro Mifune (Matsunaga). He gets the girls and he doesn't pay for things on market stalls - he's the main man. One problem, though, he's ill with TB and visits the Dr. Here begins an unlikely friendship. It's tempestuous. And you can say that again! One day, the previous gang leader Reizaburo Yamamoto (Okada) is released from prison and returns to town.....The film mainly concentrates on the relationship between Dr and patient and we get a lot of humour out of this interaction. They are both nuts! And they both like a drink. If you're going to boss the town, don't get yourself into a drunken, paralytic stupour. You need to be in control. You don't find the drug dealers at the top of their game actually taking the drugs they distribute. They run things as a sobering business. Just a top tip for anyone interested in pursuing this avenue. The film develops at a slow pace but it is more of a character study of the 2 main actors. The "drunken angel" refers to the Dr as he can't help his passion for putting people right but he's also a bit of a lush. I had a doctor like that until recently. He retired early to spend more time drinking in the local pubs. He also didn't mince his words just like our drunken angel of the film.

William Samuel Drunken Angel is not a movie driven by plot or action, it is above all a character study of a hard living Yakuza gangster and the doctor determined to save his life. It may not be exciting or humorous, and I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, but it works quite well as a relationship movie- albeit not the kind you're probably used to.The good doctor (the "drunken angel" of the title, played by Takashi Shimura) is an interesting character. For one thing, he drinks- a lot. At one point he sheepishly admits to a colleague that he drank the medicinal alcohol he was allotted. And his bedside manner leaves much to be desired. His manner is brusque, and he's not afraid to shout at his patients or call them idiots. But his ruff style belies the fact that he is deeply dedicated to his profession, and to those placed in his care.But he's never had to deal with a guy like Matsunaga (Toshiro Mifune). This guy is the patient from hell. Supremely self confident, not inclined to follow instructions, and more than willing to beat you up if he doesn't like what you have to tell him. And although he doesn't want to face it, he has a deadly case of TB. If he wants to live, he'll have to straighten out and give up drinking, smoking, and the girls. But when an old 'friend' gets out of jail, his position in the underworld is threatened, and reform may be too much to ask for.It's amazing that no matter how many times Matsunaga screws up, no matter how crass or violent he gets, the doctor never gives up on him. When he shows up knee walking drunk, the doc puts him up for the night. When he gets a late-night emergency call, he goes to care for him. The doctor complains bitterly, saying that he's had it and he refuses to see the patient anymore, but we know it's only bluster. For all his flaws, the doctor is far too dedicated to give in.Drunken Angel is also a message movie about the dangers of hard living and the lack of honor among thieves. As his illness worsens, Matsunaga discovers that his so called friends were only interested in his wealth and influence. His old friend Okada, sensing weakness, wants his territory. The big boss sees him only as a pawn whose condition can be exploited. Even his steady girlfriend wants nothing to do with a terminally sick man.And as severe as his illness was, Matsunaga could have lived if he had only followed the doctor's orders. But his friends and his surroundings were as deadly as the TB. The very way he lived his life was as sick as his lungs, his outlook and values as rotten as the bog that runs through the neighborhood. And yet deep down he was not a bad man. Kurosawa understood that showing an evil, repulsive man coming to a bad end would be no different from countless other morality plays. By giving us a character we can sympathize with, he has conveyed his message all the more powerfully.

Luis Guillermo Cardona Happy encounter between master Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune great actor. Started the shooting of the film, the script was fully focused on the character of Dr. Sanada, a temperamental physician, sharp and heavy drinker, but at the same time noble and condescending, who played the wise actor Takashi Shimura, member of the filmic family of Japanese director. It was to show the ambivalent relationship of singular physician with some of his patients, and Mifune's character, a gangster named Matsunaga, who arrives to take you off a "nail", was intended as one more among Sanada's patients... but behold, the amazing performance of Toshiro delighted the visionary director leaves, and soon, his character is extended to the point of putting one on one with which interprets Shimura. And thus would begin a relationship that would lead to outstanding a number of films that are today the most significant part of which gave us the Far East ("Stray Dog", "Rashomon", "Seven Samurai", "Throne of Blood", "Yojimbo", "Red Beard"...).The story is set in a poor village, where gangsterism is a source of survival and power. The rain water inundated streets unpaved, and the mud then, becomes a leitmotif for Kurosawa reveals the sinking of being in the midst of alcohol and irresponsibility, and perhaps, the abandonment of a State for all miss opportunities.The Sanada and Matsunaga characters, move in an interesting love-hate, I accept you-you rejection, live and die, that accounts for human ambivalence where what seems is not as it seems.The doctor's character is also quite interesting, because he realizes the man with no pretensions, no worries of enrichment, and the ability to perform so naturally, falls in the act shamelessly unfair, in the sentence harsh and in the alcohol allows him to escape, at times, a reality that don't is offering great prospects. It is thus a portrait of ordinary people, viewed sympathetically and with the clearest assessment features. It is clear that Kurosawa, knew well the people.

Michael_Elliott Drunken Angel (1948) *** (out of 4) Straight-forward and simple drama about the troubled relationship between a low level gangster (Toshiro Mifune) dying of tuberculosis and the drunken doctor (Takashi Shimura) trying to save him during post-war Japan. There are a lot of different genres on display in this early Kurosawa film including noir, gangster and an odd couple drama. The three don't always mix too well together but Kurosawa's great direction mixed with the great lead performances make this a must see even if the gang would go onto much better films. What works the best here are the performances by Shimura and Mifune. The two men work extremely well together because they make their characters so well rounded to the point where you feel as if you know everything about the men. Mifune really digs deep into the gangster and this leads to many well acted scenes including the drunken one where the gangster must finally realize how serious his disease is. Shimura clearly steals the film as the angry and often times bitter, if still caring, drunken doctor. The amount of anger he displays with his character while still making us understand why he cares so much is perfectly done by the actor. Cheiko Nakakita and Reizaburo Yamamoto are also very good in their supporting roles of the nurse and gang boss. The cinematography is also top-notch especially a dream like sequence where the dying gangster invisions himself as a zombie-like creature. This scene is very effective as is another where spitting blood is involved. I think at times the film is way too over dramatic and this includes many scenes dealing with the "swampness" of Japan. Even with that said, this is still a very impressive drama that fans of Kurosawa will want to check out.