Afraid to Die (1960) User Reviews

Solid yakuza film

[JohnSeal · 7/10 · 11 September 2004]

Novelist Yukio Mishima stars as the hired gun for a down at heel yakuza clan in this top notch action flick. Unlike the previous reviewer, I think Mishima's performance is excellent, especially for those who go for that brooding James Dean attitude. Karakkaze yarô (Afraid to Die) was superbly shot in brilliant colour by cinematographer Hiroshi Murai (Sword of Doom, Samurai Assassin) and the widescreen Daieiscope process is well utilized by director Yasuzo Masumura. There are some wonderful and memorable set pieces, notably a completely twisted night club scene featuring a naughty song about bananas, and the final scene involving Mishima and an escalator. Well worth a look.

A pretty ordinary gangster film that espouses a rape myth...

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 2 August 2011]

Yukio Mishima was a very unusual man--and you might find it interesting reading more about his real-life exploits. The story is anything but dull. The same, however, cannot be said about "Afraid to Die"--a decent yakuza film but one that seemed amazingly ordinary (aside from a part of the story I'll talk about below).

This movie begins with a botched assassination. It seems one mob boss wanted revenge on Mishima but his assassin accidentally got the wrong guy. For the rest of this movie, Mishima hides out from his rival until the abrupt ending. In the interim, Mishima's character broods A LOT, schemes and even rapes a lady. This rape really troubled me, as right after attacking her, he 'shows his vulnerable side' and she falls in love with him. And throughout the rest of the film he mostly treats her like trash...and she slavishly follows--even when he does the most abominable things to her. Although the film is technically decent, it just seemed pretty grotesque because of this whole rape me/love me story line. See it for yourself and see what you think.

Okay, but kind of generic

[zetes · 7/10 · 29 April 2002]

Afraid to Die, one of the four Yasuzo Masumura films that Fantoma has recently released on DVD, contains several examples of the directorial mastery of the same man who directed Giants and Toys and Bind Beast - in fact, the entire film is skillfully directed - but the script is terribly dull. Also working against the film is Yukio Mishima. He was the original draw for the film. He was a famous novelist at the time, probably the most famous in Japan, and his fans desperately wanted to see him in a film. Unfortunately, he's not a very good actor. I guess his poor performance is just as well blamed on the script, though. His character fluctuates a lot. We're supposed to like him, or at least sympathize with him, but that's not really possible. He's a pure scumbag. Afraid to Die is worth watching. It's not very long, and, like I said above, there are a couple of great scenes. One particular death scene is alone worth the price of a rental, if you're lucky enough to find it on your local video shelf. If you're thinking about buying any of Fantoma's Masumura DVDs, this one's not really worth it. Definitely buy Giants and Toys and Blind Beast. I haven't yet seen Manji. I did order it, though, so by the time you read this I could have already posted a review. Check it out. For Afraid to Die: 7/10.

Afraid to Die

[random_avenger · 7/10 · 28 October 2010]

Yukio Mishima (1925-1970) was one of the most celebrated Japanese writers, nominated for the Nobel Prize for literature three times. Besides his literary work, Mishima is best known for his attempted coup d'état in honour of the emperor and his subsequent ritual suicide, but he also had a relatively short acting career. His best known performance is probably the lead role in Yasuzo Masumura's 1960 yakuza tale Afraid to Die.

At the beginning a yakuza named Takeo Asahina (Mishima) is released from prison after serving a few years for stabbing a member of a rivaling yakuza clan, the Sagara. Afraid of Sagara's revenge, Asahina tries to maintain a somewhat low profile while continuing his criminal businesses with his educated associate Aikawa (Eiji Funakoshi) and also begins an abusive relationship with a cashier girl Yoshie (Ayako Wakao) who doesn't approve of his dangerous lifestyle, a sentiment shared by the pharmacist girlfriend of Aikawa. The Asahina and Sagara clans then keep trying to one-up each other in their businesses, such as blackmailing a medicine company and kidnapping each others loved ones. Takeo has promised to leave his old life behind, but the dangerous circumstances are putting him under great pressure.

A lot of the responsibility regarding the effectiveness of the film lies on the shoulders of Mishima as the protagonist Asahina. Luckily he handles the role pretty well and looks convincing as the skinny but tough gangster who has to maintain a hard surface despite his hidden fears. Actually, it is this eponymous fear of death that I wish would have been examined more in the film; I would have loved to see more of nightmarish noir atmosphere at the expense of straightforward crime movie plot. Even though the mood does not quite reach truly powerful levels until the final scenes, technical details are well created throughout, from the dark streets to the seedy nightclub where Asahina's ex-girlfriend Masako (Yaeko Mizutani) performs as a cabaret singer. I enjoyed the loud jazzy music too, even though it is used quite sparingly.

The film does present some commentary about the nature of life of crime; for instance, Asahina's comments about how money should mean more than anything for a yakuza and his feelings of commitment to the family tradition (his father was also a yakuza). The cymbal-playing toy monkey and the impressive escalator scene at the end can also be understood as symbols for the inescapable criminal lifestyle. Even so, for the most part the plot focuses on the increasing tension between the two clans instead of artistic symbolism; this would be completely OK if said mental strain came across as even harder than it does now. Now I feel the tightening atmosphere leaves some room for improvement, as already mentioned above.

In any case, as a traditional crime story Afraid to Die works decently and contains plenty of things to enjoy. Besides Mishima, the veteran actor Takashi Shimura and the sinister-looking Shigeru Kôyama deliver good performances as Asahina's tattooed yakuza uncle Gohei and an asthmatic hit-man Masa respectively. Visually the movie is fine too. I have yet to see more of Mishima's work as an actor, but based on this movie he would have had potential for a much longer career in film. Anyway, personally I liked Afraid to Die and would not hesitate to recommend it to crime movie fans.

Solid but Not Spectacular

[Uriah43 · 6/10 · 10 April 2016]

After serving in prison for two years and seven months, a Yakuza gangster named "Takeo Asahina" (Yukio Mishima) is within hours of finally being set free. However, an assassination attempt is made just hours before his release which unnerves him to the point that he requests to remain even longer. Unable the fully comply, the warden agrees to allow him to stay an additional twelve hours to temporarily keep other potential hit men in the dark concerning whether or not the assassination attempt was successful. What then follows are repeated attempts by Takeo to distance himself from a couple of personal relationships in order to confuse his rivals in the "Sagara gang" so that they cannot target those close to him. Unfortunately, this becomes more difficult for him when a new woman named "Yoshie Koizumi" (Ayako Wakao) enters his life. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that I found this to be an enjoyable gangster film for the most part. One particular aspect that I found somewhat amusing was the manner in which Takeo's use of common sense to avoid being killed was interpreted as cowardice by his associates. Be that as it may, I often find that cultural differences like this make some films even more appealing. In any case, although I liked the acting of both Yukio Mishima and Ayako Wakao, I thought that the story dragged in certain places which tended to make the film seem solid but not necessarily spectacular. For that reason I rate this movie as slightly above average.

Afraid to Die - Not Bad Noir

[arthur_tafero · 6/10 · 18 April 2024]

A film directed by Karakkaze Yaro and stars Yukio Mishima as a Bogart-looking Yakuza, who tries to go straight for his new found hard-working girlfriend. There is a great beginning to the film, which I will not reveal, and it maintains a bit of suspense as we proceed through the sleazy underground of Tokyo, and the sleazy people that live there.

Our hero does meet a decent girl, however, and tries his best to go straight. But getting out of the Yakuza is virtually an impossible task, as you will see from the film. Worth viewing for the characterizations. The storyline is a bit hackneyed after the opening scene, however.

Mishima wasn't much of an actor, but just seeing this Nobel Prize level writer playing a tough talking gangster is enough.

[Barev2013 · 9/10 · 29 November 2014]

Karakkaze Yaro" (Afraid to Die) a 1960 gangster film by little known Japanese master of arty off-beat action dramas, Yasuzo Masumura, turned up in the series "Japanese Film Noir" at San Sebastian 2008. This film is especially remarkable for the one full-on leading role performance by famous and infamous Japanese writer, Yukio Mishima, playing a gangster-yakuza opposite Wakao Ayako, one of the most beautiful and popular Japanese leading ladies of all time. Mishima isn't much of an actor, but just seeing this Nobel Prize level writer playing a tough talking gangster is enough. The film ends with a bravura sequence -- one of the most famous in Japanese cinema -- of Mishima stabbed by a hit man from a rival gang, dying on the up escalator of a Japanese department store during the Christmas rush. This is one I have been waiting for years to catch up with, and when it surfaced at San Sebastian in September, I was not disappointed. Another rare screen appearance by Mishima was in the masterful police thriller "Black Lizard" by Kinji Fukasaku, 1968 opposite Miwa Akihiro, Japan's leading Drag Queen entertainer and said to have been his main love interest off screen at the time. Half a dozen Mishima novels have been made into successful films and he has himself been the subject of various films, notably Paul Schrader's "Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters", 1985.

Avarage yakuza flick with disturbing content.

[stellan-sjolin · 3/10 · 30 June 2018]

SPOILER: This is really not a bad movie, if you enjoy the genre that is. Somewhat ordinary, but quite solid entertainment. Or would have been if not for a very disturbing rape preformed by the main actor, which leads to the rape wictim actually falls for him and they start a relationship. In which he keeps abuse her, among other things he tries to force her to do an abortion. If they portrayed this as him being an ashole abusing a woman who loves him, it would have been ok, but they dont. It is quite clearly angled as her being a weak woman who needs/deserve this.

This ruins the movie. I could not enjoy this it at all. But at least the bastard gets shot in the end.

Mishima mish-mash...

[poe426 · 5/10 · 21 October 2007]

It was in late 1970 that I first became aware of Yukio Mishima. There was a shocking spread in a photo-news magazine (Life or Look, I don't remember which) that showed him, wearing a military uniform and a headband emblazoned with the traditional red rising sun, on a balcony, fist outstretched, addressing a crowd below him. According to the article, he and his associates had taken over a government building and were loudly advocating a return to the old (samurai) ways. He was booed by the crowd. Going back inside, he promptly committed seppuku. A companion (a man who, I have since learned, was his lover) decapitated him before himself committing suicide. Being a kid, I found all of this mind-boggling. Years later, I sought out his books and read them (including THE PATRIOT, which reads for the most part like a dress rehearsal for his own death). Coming across AFRAID TO DIE, I felt compelled to rent it. Mishima, whose actions proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he wasn't afraid to die, wasn't (based on just what I've seen here) a very charismatic actor. In fact, there are scenes where he looks downright amateurish just trying to throw down a shot of booze on camera- and the scene at the end where he's trying to walk back down an escalator that's going up is so bad it's hilarious. I know for a fact that Mishima was a great writer. I know for a fact, too, that his acting debut was something less than stellar. (AFRAID TO DIE is a very well crafted movie, make no mistake about it, but it's also very slow. Mishima's performance doesn't help.)

Interesting Mishima's vehicle

[searchanddestroy-1 · 13 August 2023]

First let me say that I totally ignored that the famous Japanese writer Mishima was an actor too. This is for me a solid, tough and sometimes disturbing crime film, with heavy noir accents inspired I guess by the American movies of this period. I mean the overall atmosphere. Mishima was a truly good actor, convincing, at least for such a performance. The characters relationship is very weird and hard to understand from the Western countries point of view. Maybe Mishima put a lot of himself in this role. This film deserves to be more widely known. I have seen far far worse in terms of Yakuza plots.