Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru (1960)

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

Shinobu Hashimoto (writer)
Eijirô Hisaita (writer)

Release Date:

22 January 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Plot:

A vengeful young man marries the daughter of a corrupt industrialist in order to seek justice for his father's suicide.

Plot Keywords:

Shakespeare's Hamlet | Father Son Relationship | Contract Bidding | Graft | Press Conference

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Toshirô Mifune	...	Koichi Nishi
Masayuki Mori	...	Public Corporation Vice President Iwabuchi
Kyôko Kagawa	...	Keiko Nishi
Tatsuya Mihashi	...	Tatsuo Iwabuchi
Takashi Shimura	...	Administrative Officer Moriyama
Kô Nishimura	...	Contract Officer Shirai
Takeshi Katô	...	Itakura
Kamatari Fujiwara	...	Assistant-to-the-Chief Wada
Chishu Ryu	...	Public Prosecutor Nonaka
Seiji Miyaguchi	...	Prosecutor Okakura
Koji Mitsui	...	Reporter A
Ken Mitsuda	...	Public Corporation President Arimura
Nobuo Nakamura	...	Legal Adviser
Susumu Fujita	...	Detective
Koji Nambara	...	Prosecutor Horiuchi

Also Known As:

The Bad Sleep Well
The Rose in the Mud
The Worse You Are, the Better You Sleep

Runtime:

151 min | USA:135 min | UK:132 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Perspecta Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Netherlands:6 | Finland:K-7 (2005) | UK:PG (video rating) (1992) | UK:A (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Toho Studios, Tokyo, Japan

Company:

Kurosawa Production Co.

Trivia:

The smashed car at the film's dramatic climax is a Studebaker.

Quotes:

Koichi Nishi: They starved you and my father with scraps from their table, killed you as scapegoats, and still you can't hate them.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kurosawa: The Last Emperor (1999) (TV)

Kurosawa does Nippon Noir with style

The Bad Sleep Well is a great film, with excellent acting from all the actors, especially my favorite Japanese actor, Takashi Shimura as Moriyama. Kurosawa shows in this film that no one can or will ever top his skill at doing tableau shots. The wedding scene in the beginning of the film, where the reporters are standing just outside the doors of the reception hall, commenting on the goings on within, is fantastic. The ending seems very abrupt, almost as if they ran out of time while making the film, keeping this one out of the same league as other Kurosawa classics (7 Samurai, Stray Dog, Yojinbo).