Past Film/Video | Classics

The Last Gunfight

(Ankokugai no taiketsu, Kihachi Okamoto, 1960)

35MM Print

 Black-and-white still of three people looking intently at something; the person on the left has short, slicked-back dark hair and is wearing a suit, tie, and trench coat; the person in the middle has dark, short, voluminous hair and is wearing gloves and a light-colored jacket; the person on the right has short, dark hair and is wearing a black leather jacket.

In The Last Gunfight, Toshirō Mifune plays a police detective accused of corruption who is demoted and sent to work in Kojin, a city plagued by gang violence.

The detective’s first case is to investigate the murder of a mob boss’s wife—the same boss whom he later rescues in a savage gunfight. The detective befriends the gangster, but their relationship is quickly complicated as the mob boss seeks revenge for his wife’s killing.

As the New York Times notes in a recent reevaluation of the film, Mifune is “the cool center of the psychedelic action, underplaying the stereotypical tough guy and giving a wry spin to his punch lines, like his kiss-off to an overanxious bar hostess: ‘Easy, a bed won’t run away.’” (95 mins., 35mm)

See the complete Mifune + Okamoto lineup.

Black-and-white still of three people looking intently at something; the person on the left has short, slicked-back dark hair and is wearing a suit, tie, and trench coat; the person in the middle has dark, short, voluminous hair and is wearing gloves and a light-colored jacket; the person on the right has short, dark hair and is wearing a black leather jacket.

The Last Gunfight © 1960 Toho Co., Ltd.

Black-and-white still of two people crouched behind a bar; the person on the left has one hand gripping the bar counter and the other gripping the arm of the person on the ground next to them.

The Last Gunfight © 1960 Toho Co., Ltd.

Black-and-white still of a gunfight where three people are crouched on the ground with guns pointed in front of them, along with two unconscious people on the floor in what appears to be a living room.

The Last Gunfight © 1960 Toho Co., Ltd.

Prints courtesy of The Japan Foundation.

FILM/VIDEO PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
Cardinal Health
Kaufman Development


ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Rohauer Collection Foundation

WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
The Wexner Family
Greater Columbus Arts Council
The Columbus Foundation
Ohio Arts Council
American Electric Power Foundation
L Brands Foundation
Adam Flatto
Mary and C. Robert Kidder
Bill and Sheila Lambert
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Nationwide Foundation
Vorys, Sater, Seymour, and Pease


ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Mike and Paige Crane
Pete Scantland
Axium Packaging
CampusParc
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
President Kristina M. Johnson and Mrs. Veronica Meinhard
Nancy Kramer
Huntington
Lisa Barton
Johanna DeStefano
Russell and Joyce Gertmenian
Liza Kessler and Greg Henchel
Ron and Ann Pizzuti
Joyce and Chuck Shenk
Bruce and Joy Soll
Jones Day

Close

Past Film/Video

The Last Gunfight