A Colt Is My Passport
| A Colt Is My Passport | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Takashi Nomura |
| Written by | Shūichi Nagahara Nobuo Yamada Shinji Fujiwara (Novel) |
| Produced by | Takeo Yanagawa |
| Starring | Joe Shishido Jerry Fujio Chitose Kobayashi Ryōtarō Sugi |
| Cinematography | Shigeyoshi Mine |
| Edited by | Akira Suzuki |
| Music by | Harumi Ibe |
| Distributed by | Nikkatsu |
Release date |
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Running time | 84 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
A Colt Is My Passport (拳銃は俺のパスポート, Koruto wa Ore no Pasupōto) is a 1967 Japanese yakuza film directed by Takashi Nomura for the Nikkatsu Corporation. It is based on the novel Tobosha by Shinji Fujihara.
It stars Joe Shishido as a hitman and Jerry Fujio as his partner; reprising his usual roles of contract killer, Shishido's performance in the film launched him beyond doubt as a hard boiled action hero, not only in Japan but in the whole genre, and remained his personal favourite of the most of 100 films he made at Nikkatsu.
The film was strongly influenced by French New Wave and crime films directors such as Jean-Pierre Melville, Jacques Becker or Henri Decoin and by Sergio Leone-style westerns. Nomura's use of still shots in the opening sequence has been compared to manga art techniques.
This film was made available in North America when Janus Films released a special set of Nikkatsu Noir films as part of the Criterion Collection, also including I Am Waiting, Rusty Knife, Take Aim at the Police Van, and Cruel Gun Story.