Big Shots Die at Dawn

April. 09,1961      
Rating:
6.3
Trailer Synopsis Cast

An early Okamoto yakuza film, though it's not in the Underworld series (along with The Last Gunfight and The Big Boss) despite being alternatively known as "Death of the Boss." While Okamoto did not write this film and took on the project because he was assigned and "just doing [his] job" according to an interview with Chris Desjardins in Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film, he did express a general excitement about working in action cinema (which shows through in this film's energy.)

Similar titles

Gray Wall Gear
Gray Wall Gear
The stage of this work is Saitama, a suburb of Tokyo in the early Heisei period. Immediately after the bubble burst gangster countermeasures law, there were gangsters who defended the last territory and young people who freely controlled the city. The youth conflict escalated day by day and became a force that surpassed the yakuza, and the runaways were sent to juvenile prisons one after another, where exclusive rules awaited.
Gray Wall Gear 2022
Dolls
Dolls
Dolls takes puppeteering as its overriding motif, which relates thematically to the action provided by the live characters. Chief among those tales is the story of Matsumoto and Sawako, a young couple whose relationship is about to be broken apart by the former's parents, who have insisted their son take part in an arranged marriage to his boss' daughter.
Dolls 2004
Brother
Brother
A Japanese Yakuza gangster's deadly existence in his homeland gets him exiled to Los Angeles, where he is taken in by his little brother and his brother's gang.
Brother 2001
Kill Bill: Vol. 1
Prime Video
Kill Bill: Vol. 1
An assassin is shot by her ruthless employer, Bill, and other members of their assassination circle – but she lives to plot her vengeance.
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 2003
Wasabi
Wasabi
Hubert is a French policeman with very sharp methods. After being forced to take 2 months off by his boss, who doesn't share his view on working methods, he goes back to Japan, where he used to work 19 years ago, to settle the probate of his girlfriend who left him shortly after marriage without a trace.
Wasabi 2002
Taxi 2
Taxi 2
A cabdriver and a cop race to Paris to rescue a love interest and the Japanese minister of defense from kidnappers.
Taxi 2 2000
AKP: Job 27
AKP: Job 27
A Yakuza hitman travels to North America for his 27th job, only to find lingering memories of lost love through a chance encounter with a beautiful prostitute.
AKP: Job 27 2014
Versus
Versus
Set in the present where a group of ruthless gangsters, an unknown woman and an escaped convict have met, unwittingly, in The Forest of Resurrection, the 444th portal to the other side. Their troubles start when those once killed and buried in the forest come back from the dead, with the assistance of the evil Sprit that has also come back, come back from ages past, to claim his prize. The final standoff between Light and Dark has never been so cunning, so brutal and so deadly. This is where old Japanese Samurai mysticism meets the new world of the gangster and the gun. Gruesome, bloody and positively bold.
Versus 2000
Fireworks
Freevee
Fireworks
Detective Nishi is relieved from a stakeout to visit his sick wife in hospital. He is informed that she is terminally ill, and is advised to take her home. During his visit, a suspect shoots one detective dead and leaves Nishi's partner, Horibe, paralyzed. Nishi leaves the police force to spend time with his wife at home, and must find a way to pay off his debts to the yakuza.
Fireworks 1998
Blood of Revenge
Blood of Revenge
Osaka, 1907: Asajiro lives between a rock and a hard place: he has to keep his business clean and running, tame his late oyabun’s hot-blooded son and suffer the throes of his impossible love for beautiful geisha Hatsue.
Blood of Revenge 1965

Reviews

Fluentiama
1961/04/09

Perfect cast and a good story

... more
TaryBiggBall
1961/04/10

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

... more
Brainsbell
1961/04/11

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

... more
Haven Kaycee
1961/04/12

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

... more