Drunken Angel

Original title: Yoidore tenshi

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Toshirô Mifune and Takashi Shimura in Drunken Angel (1948)

A drunken doctor with a hot temper and a violence-prone gangster with tuberculosis form a quicksilver bond.A drunken doctor with a hot temper and a violence-prone gangster with tuberculosis form a quicksilver bond.A drunken doctor with a hot temper and a violence-prone gangster with tuberculosis form a quicksilver bond.

Director
- Akira Kurosawa
Writers
- Keinosuke Uekusa
- Akira Kurosawa
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.6/10

14K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Akira Kurosawa
Writers
- Keinosuke Uekusa
- Akira Kurosawa
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 4 wins total

Photos58

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
In early drafts of the script, the story was almost entirely about Doctor Sanada (Takashi Shimura) and Matsunaga the thug (Toshirô Mifune) was a small supporting part. However, Akira Kurosawa was so impressed with Mifune's performance that he greatly increased the Matsunaga part, to the point where the Doctor and Matsunaga are almost equal in screen-time.

Goofs
Even though the story takes place during the hot summer, breath can be seen coming from characters in several scenes.

Quotes
Dr. Sanada: The Japanese love to sacrifice themselves for stupid things.

Connections
Featured in Kurosawa and the Censors (2007)

Soundtracks
Janguru bugi
Music by Ryôichi Hattori
Lyrics by Akira Kurosawa
Performed by Shizuko Kasagi

User reviews61

Review

Featured review

8/10

Yoidore tenshi: Best Toho film I've seen thus far

Drunken Angel returns Toho to their bleak, dark roots and on this occasion it certainly worked no end.

It tells the story of the tremulous relationship between an alcoholic doctor and his violent mafia member patient. The doctor see's his younger self in the Yakuza and set's about going the extra mile to help him despite being fought every stage along the way.

After a series of mediocre Toho films I was already losing faith in the Kurosawa hype, therefore this came as a really pleasant surprise to me.

Powerful, hard hitting and wonderfully constructed Drunken Angel is by far the best Toho movie I've seen thus far.

The Good:

Well written

Some poignant moments

The Bad:

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Bullets come out of a persons body in the same condition they went in

I'd have let them get typhus......and that's reason no.57579853789 why I should never have kids