Japan High and Low sits in the top 6% of Japan films on this catalog — ranked #266 of 4,579 by TMDB audience score.
Synopsis
天国と地獄
“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.”
A shoe company executive who has mortgaged everything he has becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped and is conflicted over whether he should pay the ransom.
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #266 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (94th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +1.4 points above the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Crime productions specifically: #10 of 402 (top 2%).
Audience Engagement
750 audience reviews — more than 96% of Japan films in our index.
Review volume (96th percentile) outruns trending popularity (75th) — a durable title with sustained audience attention.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with High and Low. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From TOHO
Crime + Drama in Japan
203 Japan titles in our catalog blend the Crime and Drama genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding High and Low itself).
The 1962–1964 Japan Window
Among 58 Japan films we catalog from this window, High and Low places #2 — near the top of its class.
The 1960s Japan Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 1960s in Japan, 202 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when High and Low premiered alongside 14 others.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 14 other Japan films in 1963.
The 173rd Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on High and Low, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- manager · 3
- chauffeur · 2
- shoe · 2
- baby-snatching · 1
- emaciation · 1
- film noir · 12
- blackmail · 11
- japanese noir · 8
- ransom · 6
- police · 105
- kidnapping · 72
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Japanese |
| Production Companies | TOHO, Kurosawa Production |
| Runtime | 2h 22m |
| Release Date | March 1, 1963 |
| IMDb | tt0057565 |