Aside from being referenced in True Romance and starring in Kill Bill Vol. 1, I’d not actually seen any Sonny Chiba films. So I took a chance on Doberman Cop (1977; Doberman Deka), which is based on a manga, and has Chiba playing a cop from Okinawa, trying to solve the murder of a young woman from his town. The big city cops treat China’s straw-hatted character like a yokel and mock him for his spiritual beliefs and his gift of a pig – however, he’s the only one who can get to the bottom of things. That and he has the strength of ten men, and can beat up a whole room if he needs to. This was a compelling noir detective action film with a serial killer, a yakuza backed pop starlet and a motorcycle gang of youths all in the mix. Chiba is a charismatic presence, and there’s a nice vein of humour in the fish-out-of-water story. Director Kinji Fukasaku (Battle Royale) has a restless, documentary style approach with the camerawork, which adds a kinetic kick to the action sequence. And the jazzy pop soundtrack is tops too. Recommended.
VHS Tracking 