High and Low (1963 film)

High and Low is a 1963 Japanese police procedural crime film about an executive of a Yokohama shoe company who becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom.

Directed by Akira Kurosawa. Written by Ryūzō Kikushima, Hideo Oguni, Eijiro Hisaita, and Akira Kurosawa, based on the novel King's Ransom

by Evan Hunter.

From Success to Bankruptcy by Ransoming Another Man's Son

Kingo Gondo

  • A woman wears a hat on her head, but shoes carry all her weight.
  • A man must kill or be killed.

Ginjirô Takeuchi

  • I'd rather be told the cruel truth than be fed gentle lies.
  • Taking the wrong boy was a lucky break. Did you know Mr. Gondo that it's only extortion when you threaten a person or his kin? In other words, this doesn't count. But you have to pay anyway. You're a fool to pay, but pay you must.
  • ...Besides, it's amusing to make fortunate men taste the same misery as the unfortunate.
  • You think I'm shaking out of fear, but I'm not! It's just the physiological reaction from being in solitary too long. Just leaving the cell makes me shake. I'm not afraid of death. I don't care if I go to hell. My life has been hell since the day I was born. [laughs] But if I had to go to heaven, then I'd really start to tremble. [laughs]

Reiko Gondo

  • [to her husband, about their son Jun] He takes after you. He likes violent games.

Inspector Tokura

  • Mr. Gondo, I know it's late to be saying this... but you have the right to protect your own livelihood. It's our duty to help you. We want to save the child, but not by sacrificing you.
  • For Mr. Gondo's sake, be bloodhounds!

Other

  • Aoki: No human being can kill an innocent child.
  • Kawanishi: I know how much this money means to you, but a human life means more.

Dialogue

Kingo Gondo: Why should you and I hate each other?
Ginjirô Takeuchi: I don't know. I'm not interested in self-analysis. I do know my room was so cold in winter and so hot in summer I couldn't sleep. Your house looked like heaven, high up there. That's how I began to hate you.
Reiko Gondo: What just happened?
Kingo Gondo: Nothing.
Reiko Gondo: It certainly didn't look that way.
Kingo Gondo: Don't worry. You wouldn't understand. It's business.
Reiko Gondo: You always say that to keep me quiet.
Reiko Gondo: Success isn't worth losing your humanity.
Kingo Gondo: A woman can't understand. This isn't about wanting to become president. I just want to make shoes my way.
Inspector Tokura: That Gondo is all right.
Chief Detective 'Bos'n' Taguchi: Usually I waste no love on the rich. I didn't like him at first.

Cast

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