Line #18 Film/StrayDog


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/straydogblog_8434.jpg]]
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3	->''”A [[TitleDrop stray dog]] sees only what it chases”''
4	-->--'''Detective Sato'''
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6	''Stray Dog'' (野良犬 ''Nora Inu'') is an Creator/AkiraKurosawa film from 1949, starring Creator/ToshiroMifune.
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8	Murakami, a rookie homicide cop (Mifune), has his pistol stolen from him by a pickpocket on a crowded Tokyo trolley. The plot follows Murakami in his efforts to track down and find the stolen gun. He's helped in his search by Sato, a more experienced detective (Takashi Shimura), but he's also wracked by guilt because the gun has been used to commit crimes.
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10	One of the first films to deal with the "older detective trains younger detective" plot you can see in films like ''Film/{{Se7en}}'' or ''Film/TrainingDay''.
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12	No relation with the [[Manga/StrayDog manga]].
13	----
14
15	!!Tropes in this film:
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17	* TheAtoner: Murakami wants to catch Yusa because he knows he has committed crimes using his gun.
18	* BigBad: Yusa, the criminal who steals Murakami's gun and uses it for various crimes, driving Murakami's search.
19	* BottomlessMagazines: Averted. Murakami keeps a running tab on how many bullets are left in his gun. In the climactic scene Yusa is down to three bullets. He wings Murakami, but then shoots wild twice and is left with an empty chamber.
20	* TheDeterminator: By God, Murakami ''will'' get that gun back.
21	* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Yusa loves a showgirl named Harumi, and often visits her after her shows. This ends up costing him, as Harumi tips Murakami to his location once she knows of Yusa's evil deeds.
22	* EverybodySmokes: Natch.
23	* {{Fanservice}}: A rather long shot of a room packed full of sweaty, heaving-bosom chorus girls, as they lie down and take a break after a performance.
24	* FeetFirstIntroduction: After Murakami and Sato have spent the whole film tracking down Yusa, he's first introduced by his feet coming down the stairs of the hotel, while Sato phones Murakami from a booth in the lobby.
25	* FilmNoir: A rare non-American or European example.
26	* FromBadToWorse: First, Murakami's gun gets stolen. Then, it gets used in a robbery that will likely cost one victim a chance to marry her sweetheart. It soon escalates even further to where Murakami's gun is used to murder a housewife and even nearly kill Sato. This final crime is what pushes Murakami to the brink of his guilt.
27	* {{Geisha}}: Yusa patronizes a geisha house. Sato follows the investigative trail there at one point and talks to the girls.
28	* GoingByTheMatchbook: Sato sees a matchbook in Harumi's house. He follows this clue to the hotel where the matchbook came from, which is where Yusa is hiding out.
29	* HeatWave: There's one throughout the film, pictured by having everyone using fans all the time.
30	* HeroicBSOD: Murakami gets this when Sato is shot by Yusa. At the hospital, he cries and wails for Sato not to die, and then goes into a depression afterwards.
31	* MirrorCharacter: A major theme of the movie is the many similarities between Murakami and Yusa. Both were soldiers returning after Japan's surrender, both were robbed of their packs on the way home from the war, both became angry at how postwar Japan treated its veterans. But Murakami went one way and joined the police force, while Yusa went the other way, into a life of crime. This is emphasized in the final shot with the two characters, when they both collapse gasping for air after Murakami finally puts the cuffs on Yusa.
32	* OldCopYoungCop: One of the earliest examples.
33	* RedLightDistrict: Murakami winds up searching through a crime- and hooker-filled red light district in search of his gun.
34	* RedOniBlueOni: Hotheaded Murakami and calm, collected Sato.
35	* SkywardScream: Yusa lets one out after Murakami finally catches him.
36	* SmallRoleBigImpact: Yusa only appears in two scenes (and his face is only seen in one), but his violent actions and the pursuit of him by the police drives the second half of the film
37	* TheStoic: Sato. That doesn't mean he doesn't care, though.
38	* TitleDrop: Sato says that "a stray becomes a rabid dog" to explain how Yusa has gone off the chain and may become more violent.
39	* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: While Sato is phoning for backup at the hotel where Yusa is hiding out, the proprietor's wife soothes her crying baby by saying that a cop is there, which Yusa overhears, then bolts and shoots Sato trying to stop him. Thankfully averted as Sato survives.
40	* VillainousBreakdown: Yusa screams and sobs when he's caught by Murakami.
41	* TheVoiceless: Although we hear sounds coming from Yusa, we never once hear him talk.

Context Film / StrayDog