The Age of Assassins (殺人狂時代, Satsujinkyō jidai) is a 1967 Japanese film directed by Kihachi Okamoto.

The Age of Assassins
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKihachi Okamoto
Starring
CinematographyRokuro Nishigaki
Edited byYoshitami Kuroiwa
Production
company
Distributed byToho
Release date
  • 4 February 1967 (1967-02-04)
Running time
99 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Plot edit

A nerdy young college instructor named Shinji Kikyo returns home one day to find himself the target of a mad assassin. Surviving somewhat miraculously, he fends off other assassins and, with the help of the reporter Keiko Tsurumaki and the car mechanic Bill Otomo, eventually discovers that a "population control" association is really an assassination squad led by Shogo Mizorogi, who has been training patients in a mental asylum to become killers. Along the way, it starts to appear that Shinji may not be the mild-mannered academic he seemed at first, but a well-trained secret agent.

Cast edit

Tatsuya Nakadai Shinji Kikyo
Reiko Dan Keiko Tsurumaki
Hideo Sunazuka Bill Otomo
Hideyo Amamoto Shogo Mizorogi
Keiichi Taki Ikeno
Seishirô Kuno Man with crutch
Tatsuyoshi Ehara Aochi (as Tatsuya Ebara)
Yasuzō Ogawa Mabuchi
Atsuko Kawaguchi Yumie Komatsu
Wataru Ōmae Oba-Q
Shin Ibuki Atom
Hiroshi Hasegawa Solan
Masaya Nihei Pappy

Release edit

The Age of Assassins was released in Japan on February 4, 1967.[1] The film was released in the United States by Toho International with an international title of Epoch of Murder Madness in 1967.[2]

Reception edit

The critic Chris Desjardins has written that "Age of Assassins is another sharp-edged lampoon that works just as well as an action film, and compares favorably with such other brilliant, tongue-in-cheek mod sixties masterpieces as Elio Petri's The Tenth Victim and Seijun Suzuki's Branded to Kill."[3]

References edit

Footnotes edit

  1. ^ Galbraith IV 2008, p. 236.
  2. ^ Galbraith IV 1996, p. 95.
  3. ^ Desjardins, Chris (27 May 2005). Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film. I.B.Tauris. p. 90. ISBN 9781845110901. Retrieved 6 November 2016.

Sources edit

External links edit