Dr Takashi Shimura (Sanada) is a local doctor in Japan shortly after the war has ended. The district he works in is in decay and is ruled by gangsters. The scary gang leader in this particular locale is Toshiro Mifune (Matsunaga). He gets the girls and he doesn't pay for things on market stalls - he's the main man. One problem, though, he's ill with TB and visits the Dr. Here begins an unlikely friendship. It's tempestuous. And you can say that again! One day, the previous gang leader Reizaburo Yamamoto (Okada) is released from prison and returns to town.....
The film mainly concentrates on the relationship between Dr and patient and we get a lot of humour out of this interaction. They are both nuts! And they both like a drink. If you're going to boss the town, don't get yourself into a drunken, paralytic stupour. You need to be in control. You don't find the drug dealers at the top of their game actually taking the drugs they distribute. They run things as a sobering business. Just a top tip for anyone interested in pursuing this avenue.
The film develops at a slow pace but it is more of a character study of the 2 main actors. The "drunken angel" refers to the Dr as he can't help his passion for putting people right but he's also a bit of a lush. I had a doctor like that until recently. He retired early to spend more time drinking in the local pubs. He also didn't mince his words just like our drunken angel of the film.
The film mainly concentrates on the relationship between Dr and patient and we get a lot of humour out of this interaction. They are both nuts! And they both like a drink. If you're going to boss the town, don't get yourself into a drunken, paralytic stupour. You need to be in control. You don't find the drug dealers at the top of their game actually taking the drugs they distribute. They run things as a sobering business. Just a top tip for anyone interested in pursuing this avenue.
The film develops at a slow pace but it is more of a character study of the 2 main actors. The "drunken angel" refers to the Dr as he can't help his passion for putting people right but he's also a bit of a lush. I had a doctor like that until recently. He retired early to spend more time drinking in the local pubs. He also didn't mince his words just like our drunken angel of the film.