Intimidation (1960)
7/10
Will the worm turn?
9 April 2021
The story is about two men whose lives and careers seem to be going in very different directions. Nakaike is a rather spineless man who is stuck in a job with no hope of promotion. At the same time, his co-worker (and friend) Takita has seen a huge rise in the bank where they work because he's manipulative. In the past, he used Nakaike's sister horribly. Then, he dumps her to marry the corporate boss' daughter. And, incidentally, the boss' daughter had been dating Nakaike! All in all, while Takita is not especially smart, he's astute at manipulating and sleeping his way to the top.

Now, despite the big celebration for Takita's big promotion and upcoming marriage occurring at the beginning of the film, things are not well for him. Soon a blackmailer arrives and announces he has proof that Takita had made a string of illegal loans and he'll turn him in...provided he steal 3,000,000 from the bank and give it to him! Where does it go from there? See the film.

"Intimidation" is not a big budgeted film...it's much more like a Japanese B-movie. Its run time of 65 minutes is indicative of a B and much of the film seems to scream out B as well...such as some of the very broad acting, excessive exposition at the beginning (because of the short run time) and the use of a ridiculous dummy in the cliff scene towards the end. My feeling is that technically and artistically speaking, it's no triumph...and the ending seems a bit confused and drawn out....but it STILL manages to be very entertaining and enjoyable. A great movie? Nah...but one that will keep your interest.
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