High and Low

From Akira Kurosawa, director of "Yojimbo" and "Sanjuro" comes a tense, taut film of a modern "perfect crime" with more excitement than even Hitchcock could create.

An executive mortgages all he owns to stage a coup and gain control of the National Shoe Company, with the intent of keeping the company out of the hands of incompetent and greedy executives. He needs the same money, though, to pay the ransom that will possibly save a child's life. His resolution of that dilemma -- the certain loss of the company vs. the probable loss of the child -- makes for one distinct drama, and an ensuing elaborate police procedure makes for a second.

Direction

Akira Kurosawa

Screenplay

Hideo Oguni

Ryûzô Kikushima

Eijirô Hisaita

Akira Kurosawa

Evan Hunter